In 1969 the movie titled Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid became my all time favorite western bank-robber, train-robber, love story. Starring Paul Newman, Robert Redford, and Katherine Ross the film portrayed the adventures of the Hole In the Wall Gang. The characters were so lovable I cheered for them to get away from the posse who chased after them. As a very young man I thought Katherine Ross was the hottest thing on planet earth, that is after my beloved wife Barbara. Based on a true story the movie became a wildly popular film because of Paul Newman, and Robert Redford who played such lovable bad-guys. The theme song for the film came from Burt Bacharach who composed “Rain Drops Keep Falling On My Head,” a song that still plays in my mind. This week on my library visit I spotted a book titled Butch Cassidy: The Lost Years. In true see it, like it, take it fashion, I checked it out.
This story begins in 1950 when a man named Porter enters a general store in a small Texas town searching for a man named Jim Strickland. Four men play cards when the scene opens, and Porter enters asking if any of the four know a man named Jim Strickland. One of the four, a very old cowboy, responds by asking Porter to step outside with him so they can speak privately.
They sit on the front porch of the general store drinking Coca Cola when the cowboy begins to tell a story about Jim Strickland. From there the book becomes a can’t put it down read. The old cowboy spins a yarn about Jim Strickland implying that he may really be Butch Cassidy. At the end of the movie Butch Cassidy, and the Sundance Kid get into a shoot out with the Bolivian army. The director left us wondering how these two could have survived the odds. He made the viewers believe the army killed them. This book reveals that Butch survived, escaped, and went into hiding. Butch spent several years in several countries before finally returning to the United States to lead a life of obscurity.
This story was a fun read, and author William W. Johnstone created some cool characters in creating a hypothetical new life for Butch Cassidy.
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Filed under: Book Review, family, Movie Review, Music | Tagged: Burt Bacharach, Butch Cassidy, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Jim Strickland, Paul Newman, Robert Redford, United States, William W. Johnstone | 2 Comments »
