TEHRAN – Cinematheque of Tehran’s Iranian Artists Forum (IAF) will be screening Monday the 1969 American western buddy film “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” directed by George Roy Hill.
It is the 637th program of IAF Cinematheque and follows a review session attended by veteran film critic Javad Toosi.
The 110-minute film will be exhibited in Persian subtitles. The screening is scheduled for 5 p.m. at IAF’s Naserihall, Mehr reported.
Broadly based on facts, the film tells the story of Robert Leroy Parker of Wild West Outlaw, known as Butch Cassidy (Paul Newman), and Harry Longerbaugh, partner of the Sundance Kid (Robert Redford), who runs from Crack America’s spirit after the strings of a train robber. The pair and Sundance lover, Etta Place (Katherine Ross), flees to Bolivia to escape Posse.
The film won 22 awards, including Best Writing, Cinematography and Golden Globe Oscars for Best Original Score.
The film was released on September 24, 1969, and initially received lukewarm reviews from critics, but has received extensive acclaim in the subsequent decades. In 2003, the film was chosen for the preservation of the US National Film Registry, stating that the Library of Congress was “culturally, historically or aesthetically important.”
The American Film Institute ranked 50th on the original list as the 73rd best American film on the “AFI’s 100 Years… 100 Films (10th Anniversary Edition)” list.
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance kid were ranked the 20th greatest hero in “100 Years of AFI…100 Heroes and Villains.” The film was selected by the American Film Institute as the seventh most impressive western in history on AFI’s 10 top ten list of 2008.
The film is based on a pair of outlaws who robbed banks and trains in the early 1900s. Butch Cassidy and Sundance’s kids have grown their reputation. Rather than committing all the robberies in the Northwest of the United States, as some have suggested, one expert says it is likely that nine major thefts have been carried out.
The real Cassidy and Sundance fled to South America as depicted in the film. However, members of their family believed that they would not die there.
The film was selected for this week’s IAF Cinematheque program and died as one of the recently passed away lead actors.
Redford was an American actor, director and producer, and was celebrated with a magnetic presence as a top-notch man during the American New Wave. Throughout his career spanning over 60 years, Redford has won extensive awards and numerous awards, including the Academy Award, the BAFTA Award and five Golden Globe Awards.
He has also received a variety of honors, including the 1996 Screen Actors Guildlife Achievement Award, the 2002 Academy Honorary Award, the 2005 Kennedy Center Award, the 2016 Presidential Medal of Freedom, and the 2019 Honorary Cáser.
On September 16th, Redford passed away at the age of 89 at his home in Sundance, Utah.
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