• It is a collaborative masterpiece. Roy Hill is a solid director (the Sting) but here he’s aided by an oscar- winning (and sharp as hell) screenplay by William Goldman, Oscar-winning photography by Conrad Hall (one of the best of all-time), costumes by Edith Head ( 8 Oscar wins 35 total nominations), and of course arguably the best work from both Paul Newman and Robert Redford
  • That washed out color opening is masterful. First we have the scenes of Newman looking at banks and then the close-up of Redford playing poker. The film’s visual style is based on the black and white old-timey film reel opening and the black and white photographs. Roy Hill/Hall goes slowly into the film several times after these interludes before going into color
  • 4 Oscars- I love the cinematography and writing but you can keep that Burt Bacharach “Raindrops keep falling on my head” song and scene
  • As said in the movie Newman is affable as hell—gregarious—Redford is the strong silent—they’re both so damn impressive
  • As entertaining a screenplay and film as you’ll see– filled with sarcasm (repetition of “who are those guys?” and “they fall alone will kill us”—countless lines like this)
  • 5-6 zooms—feels like the universal minimum in 1969
  • I actually love the Bolivia travel montage- I love how Hall/Conrad wash out the photography of the bicycle prior to leaving
  • Strother Martin is great in his scene
  • Called by many an significant buddy movie and I see that- from 48 Hours to Lethal Weapon and the like- it’s influential as a story genre, a box office smash and the two (already) stars went into the stratosphere—such great rapport- these two characters clearly love each other
  • Slow motion falls of the Mexican gang like the wild bunch – same year
  • The final freeze frame is a stylistically transcendent moment—the audio carries over, the photography. Washes out. – it’s a watershed moment—400 Blows, Goodfellas, Jules and Jim and Butch Cassidy when it comes to freeze frame
  • A masterpiece