Recently, we learned that actor and director Paul Newman lost his battle with cancer. Having spent all these years explaining to those tired of listening that Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is my favorite movie of all time because all the dialogue you’ll ever need is contained in William Goldman’s gem of a script, the sense of loss is acute.
I parked Newman’s car the year before the film’s release while working as a valet during high school in Los Angeles. He drove into Senor Pico’s in the Century City area of LA in a convertible Volkswagen bug, then called a Cabriolet. In a quiet, cocky but not disrespectful way, he told me, “It‘s a five speed. Don' try to go forward in reverse.“ He had stunningly blue eyes.
The following year, my first wife and I went to see Butch on our first date We went to one of the once grand but by then badly fading movie palaces on Market Street in San Francisco, and sat in the nearly empty balcony. As fans of the film know, the beginning of the movie (along with several other sequences and the ending) is in sepia tone, fading later into color. As Newman first appears in sepia tone, piercing the quiet anticipation in the theater come peals of high pitched laughter…from the balcony …from my date, who had heard from me all about the blue eyes…
I can’t count the number of times I’ve quoted from William Goldman’s superb script to make a point, but it’s in the thousands, I’m sure. It’s a true testament to the forbearance of those with whom I work and live (or to the quality of the script) that none of them has ever said, “enough, already, with the Butch Cassidy!” Lines like, “If he’d just pay me what he’s payin’ them to make me stop robbin’ him, I’d stop robbin’ him!” And, “Secretly, I knew you wanted to know, so I told you.” And, “The sheer tonnage of what you don’t know is enough to….” I’m consumed with giddiness when I realize I’m with people who’ve never heard me quote Butch or Sundance!
Sure, Newman made lots of other movies, and I’ve enjoyed many of them. Some are classics. Cool Hand Luke is another particular favorite. I enjoyed Color of Money. But for me, he’ll always be Robert Leroy Cassidy…Butch to you and me.
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