Name:______Date:______Period:______Film Study 2 – Ms. Jones

Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid

1. How does the film call attention to the fact that we’re watching a period film in cinematography, editing, and sound? What prologue is provided in the opening credits?

2. Why do the filmmakers open with sepia cinematography?

3. How is Butch Cassidy indirectly characterized by the close-ups that are cut in montage when he visits a bank?

4. How is the Sundance Kid indirectly characterized? Why do the filmmakers only focus on him with a long take and not film the face of the person he’s gambling with for so long?

5. Why do the filmmakers fade into color after Butch and Sundance leave?

6. What do Butch and Sundance both desire? What are their dreams? Why? Where do they envision living their lives? Why?

7. How and why does Harvey challenge Butch as leader? How does Butch outsmart and beat him? What idea does Butch steal from Harvey?

8. How is Butch indirectly characterized by this angle and his actions in the heist?

9. Who tries to recruit men to fight the Hole in the Wall Gang, and how is it received? Why? Who overhears him, and how do the filmmakers reveal this with camera movement?

10. What does the Sundance Kid desire from a woman? Is he picky? How do the filmmakers build suspense when we first meet Etta Place, and when is this suspense released?

11. What is the relationship like between Butch and Etta? What is the purpose of the “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on my Head” scene? How does it affect characterization and mood?

12. Why doesn’t money last long with Butch? What is humorous at the robbery of the Overland Flyer, and when does this tone shift? Why?

13. When Butch and Sundance flee, they move from right to left. Why is this movement appropriate, or how does this movement indirectly characterize them?

14. How are the men who chase Butch and Sundance indirectly characterized? What is their effect on Butch and Sundance? Why do we never see their faces? Who are those guys?

15. Who is Joe Lefors and how is his costume of the white-brimmed hat significant? Who else is with him? Why?

16. What do Butch and Sundance do to flee? What is humorous about this scene?

17. How is Etta’s relationship with both Butch and Sundance ironic given her job? Why does she decide to go with them? What is the one scene that she says she’ll miss?

18. Why does Butch discard the bicycle he purchased? What can this bicycle symbolize? Why?

19. Why does the film fade into sepia once more? What is implied through a montage? Why are photographs, not video, used logistically and/or artistically in this montage?

20. How is Bolivia different from the United States? How do the filmmakers convey the shift cinematically? How does each character react to the changes? Why?

21. Why do Butch and Sundance return to robbing despite the new setting and desire to be dynamic characters? What external conflict or struggle do they encounter, especially with language? Who teaches them Spanish? Why?

22. How does sound affect tone in the trio’s Bolivia robberies? When does the non-diegetic/background score cut off? Why?

23. How does Etta change in Bolivia? How do Butch and Sundance use her gender to their advantage?

24. What does the arrival of a white-brimmed hat mean? What do Butch, Sundance, and viewers infer? Why?

25. What is ironic about Butch and Sundance seeking employment at a mine, their boss asking if Sundance can shoot, and their jobs?

26. Why is it appropriate that Butch and Sundance are filmed via low angle when they are ambushed? What happens to their boss? When does the power shift?

27. What does Butch do for the first time, and why is this action significant? Why is this scene filmed in slow motion? Why does the scene fade to black?

28. What does “going straight” mean in this film’s context? What is the subtext? Can Butch and Cassidy go straight? Why or why not?

29. Why does Etta choose to leave, and what does this action foreshadow? Why do the men let her go?

30. How does Butch change after Etta’s departure? Why? How are Butch and Sundance recognized?

31. How does the mise en scene suggest Butch and Sundance’s entrapment?

32. Why isn’t there a non-diegetic/background score in this last scene? Why is all the sound diegetic?

33. Despite knowing their fate, how do Butch and Sundance act or behave? What do they say to each other? Why?

34. Why is the army called, and how do the filmmakers imply its power cinematically? Why are so many high angles used? What is the only fate that awaits Butch and Sundance? Why?

35. How do Butch and Cassidy approach death? What do they discuss? Why?

 Why do the filmmakers let the diegetic sound continue during the freeze frame? What does the sound imply? Why does the film fade into sepia one last time?