Movies

Great outdoor cinematography highlight this darn good Western. The story of an aging outlaw returning home is engaging and the morality tale is delivered decisively. It has a number of dramatic details that make it believable (taking a slice of meat off the dead horse and roasting it on the campfire).In all the expanse of the Bolivian landscape the humanity and characterizations are not lost and we care about Butch Cassidy, his lady love, and even the ex-Pinkerton who discovers, then assists our anti-hero on his way to settle the score.All the elements of classic Westerns are at work here and the pace is methodical and maintained for a rhythmic ride. The gun-play is realistic and never stylized and the result is a new Western with an old West feel.

Glad to see they can still make nice westerns like this one. The whole movie is beautifully shot with amazing nature scenery. It's the story about an aged Butch Cassidy that goes by the name James Blackthorn now and that lives a retired life somewhere in Bolivia. He was supposed to be dead, killed with his comrade the Sundance Kid. So the story goes back an forth between the young Cassidy and the old Blackthorn, but it stays mainly focused on Blackthorn. In the flashbacks Nicolaj Coaster-Waldau and Padraic Delaney play Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. But the star of this movie is Sam Shepard. He is cut for this role and puts down a very good performance playing Blackthorn. The richness of this movie are the stunning locations and if you are a nature lover for this alone it is already worth a watch.

Westerns are all about cinematography, and Blackthorn is no exception.Wide, sweeping vistas are the order of the day -- but this time, they're something new: South America, and in particular, Bolivia. This tale of an aging-exiled American outlaw and his attempts to return home may seem a bit straightforward and tame, but in the end it's not and you'll be glad to have spend the hour and forty-five minutes partaking in this latest great example of the genre.The directing isn't too bad either and the actors generally deliver their lines well, although a few are a bit over-read.For a modern western that's not an adolescent fantasy and has a great deal of heart, it gets 9/10.