The buddy film formula has been used for decades with players such as Martin and Lewis, Crosby and Hope, Abbott and Costello and Laurel and Hardy marking its success. However in 1969, when “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” was released, the formula was re-written and tabulated for two screen icons/sex symbols.

While slow at times and with a weak romance story, “Butch and Sundance” remains one of the most beloved buddy films of all time.

Based on the exploits of the historical characters, Paul Newman and Robert Redford are Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, leaders of the Hole-in-the-Wall Gang. After robbing a few too many trains, a special posse starts tracking Butch and Sundance through towns, rivers and mountains.

The film follows the end of Butch and Sundance’s memorable story. And, according to the film’s tagline, “Not that it matters, but most of it is true.” The famed and Oscar-winning screenplay by William Goldman (“Misery,” “Princess Bride,” “All the President’s Men”) took several liberties with their story, and the audience is forever thankful.

The most powerful, and least historically feasible, scene in the film is the climactic demise of the protagonists. After several weeks of eluding the posse, Butch and Sundance have finally been cornered by soldiers in Bolivia. While hiding inside a building waiting for the final shootout, Butch and Sundance plan their escape to Australia. However, what the audience and soldiers waiting outside know is that the infamous duo will not make it to the island continent. In a bold photographic ending, Butch and Sundance are freeze-framed the moment before they are shot and killed, forever immortalizing their living image in the audience’s hearts.

“Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” remains a great example of one of those films people either love or can easily do without. Most critics who find this box-office success over-rated base their argument solely on its merit as a Western. However, Goldman took the Western heroes and didn’t constrain them by genre.

“Butch and Sundance” is a melting pot, or hodgepodge, of genres including drama, action, Western and comedy. While a unique dynamic, this film falls short in its attempt for a romance side plot perhaps in biting off more than they could chew. Katherine Ross (“The Stepford Wives,” “The Graduate”) is a school teacher and Sundance’s love interest; however, she has very little bearing in the film’s plot.

Of all the genres “Butch and Sundance” teeters on, the comedic moments are the most beloved and defining. Ranging from the repeated line, “Who are those guys?” to the gunpoint strip tease, “Butch and Sundance” makes the audience laugh despite a rather risqu‚ subject matter.

Of all the reviews and appraise this film has received over the years, Conrad L. Hall’s amazing contribution is rarely noted. Choreographers and screenwriters receive the least praise of all workers on a film. However, Hall ingrains himself as one of the greatest choreographers of all time with a r‚sum‚ that includes “American Beauty,” “Cool Hand Luke,” “Road to Perdition” and “Marathon Man” among others. In his illustrious career, Hall received three Oscars with the most recent, for “Road to Perdition,” coming post-humously.

The true merit of this film is in its penultimate use of the buddy film genre. Director George Roy Hill seemingly loved “Butch and Sundance” so much that he revisited its success with Redford and Newman in “The Sting.” It’s a fun, action-filled, laugh-’til-you-cry film featuring two of the biggest sex symbols ever to grace the screen.