Butch and Sundance: the Early Years

What do you do when you have a smash hit film that becomes an instant classic, that breaks box-office records, and that audiences flock to see. Easy – you do a sequel, of course. However, doing a sequel becomes a little problematic if your two leading characters are dead at the end of the film. That was the problem faced by Twentieth Century-Fox in 1969 with their monster hit, Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid, written by William Goldman, directed by George Roy Hill, and starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford in what some would say were the most iconic roles of their long and illustrious careers. So, nothing happened because what could happen? But a decade later, in 1979 someone finally came up with a way to bring back Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid – not in a sequel, put a prequel. Back in 1979 prequels were a rarity – in fact, some folks say that Butch and Sundance: The Early Years was the first film to actually use the term prequel. Whether that’s true or legend, there certainly weren’t many true prequels prior to it. 

Richard Lester was hired to direct. Lester had already helmed such classics as A Hard Day’s Night, Help!, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Petulia, The Three Musketeers and The Four Musketeers, the hugely underrated Juggernaut and Robin and Marian, and many others. His quirky style ended up being perfect for Allan Burns’s quirky script for Butch and Sundance: The Early Years. The casting was inspired – up-and-comers Tom Berenger and William Katt were cast in the Newman/Redford roles and at times the resemblances were uncanny. Rounding out the cast were such terrific supporting players as Michael C. Gwynne, John Shuck, Christopher Lloyd, Peter Weller, and Brian Dennehy. 

The resulting film wasn’t a hit. But, over the years, thanks to home video and cable, the film has developed a real cult following and deservedly so, because the film is an absolute delight. One of the things that makes the film work so well is the great score by Patrick Williams. For Butch and Sundance: The Early Years, Williams wrote an eclectic score – playful, beautiful, filled with adventure and bravado, tenderness, and gorgeous melodic themes. It works perfectly in the film, complementing the visuals, the comedy, and the drama, a real old-fashioned honest-to-goodness film score by a master composer. 

Almost the entire score for Butch and Sundance: The Early Years was recorded twice. Some cues remained exactly the same in both orchestration and writing, while other cues had slight differences in orchestration and timing, while other cues had quite a bit of different material. We present the entire score as used in the film (along with an unused cue), and then, as a bonus we present the original versions of cues where they differed from the rerecorded cues. 

Tracklist