About Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Long before Paul Newman and Robert Redford immortalized them on screen, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid captivated Americans from coast to coast. In an era in which cold-blooded killers such as Jesse James and the Younger Brothers terrorized the American West, Butch Cassidy, the Sundance Kid and their Wild Bunch gang took a smart and methodical approach to bank and train robbery. In the 1890s, their thrilling exploits — robbing banks and trains and then seemingly vanishing into thin air — became front-page news and the basis of rumor and myth, captivating Americans from coast to coast. But who were Robert Leroy Parker and Harry Alonzo Longabaugh? What really happened after they formed the Wild Bunch gang? And how did they manage to pull off some of the most spectacular holdups in western history while eluding the Pinkertons, the nation’s largest and most feared private detective force? Separating fact from fiction, BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID explores the last pair of outlaws to flee on horseback into the setting sun of a disappearing West. © 2014 WGBH Educational
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is presented by American Experience | PBS. Its listed runtime is 54 minutes. The source link and publisher attribution are provided with the embedded film.
As a society documentary, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid uses butch, cassidy, sundance as its central frame. Social documentaries work best as invitations to examine systems through lived experience. Distinguish individual testimony from wider claims, and consider which institutions, incentives and inequalities shape the choices shown.
What to consider before watching
- What evidence, testimony or observation does the film use to explain butch, cassidy, sundance?
- Which people, institutions or historical conditions most influence the story told in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid?
- How does American Experience | PBS' framing affect the documentary's emphasis, and which perspectives may deserve further research?
Topics covered in this documentary
Documentary details and original source
- Title
- Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
- Category
- Society
- Runtime
- 54 minutes
- Language
- English
- Publisher
- American Experience | PBS
Free Documentary Vault provides independent discovery, organization and editorial context. The film remains hosted by its original publisher, who controls availability and playback.






