User blog:ARTaylor/50 Years of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

Today marks the fiftieth anniversary of the premiere of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Loosely based on real events, the film follows the titular of duo of outlaws Robert LeRoy Parker, also known as Butch Cassidy, and Harry Longabaugh, the Sundance Kid, as they must flee from an elite posse after a string of train robberies in the American Old West.

The film was a moderate hit with critics at the time but a massive success with fans. The film was the highest grossing of 1969 and, adjusted for inflation, remains the thirty-fourth highest grossing film ever. Due to several re-releases, it made it to the top ten grossing films of the decade. The film won four Academy Awards and was nominated for three more, including Best Picture. Since its initial release, critical reception has greatly increased. The Writers Guild of America listed the screenplay as the eleventh greatest ever written. The film has become considered one of the greatest western films ever made. It has been preserved was selected for the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

The film features the talents of Jeff Corey as Sheriff Ray Bledsoe and Ted Cassidy as outlaw Harvey "Kid Curry" Logan.