Q 01/05

Who directed Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid?

A) George Roy Hill

B) John Sturges

C) Sam Peckinpah

D) Arthur Penn

Answer · why

A) George Roy Hill

Hill reunited Newman and Redford four years later for The Sting, which won seven Oscars including Best Picture and Best Director.

Q 02/05

Who wrote the screenplay, his first original script, and won an Oscar for it?

A) Robert Towne

B) William Goldman

C) Paddy Chayefsky

D) Waldo Salt

Answer · why

B) William Goldman

Goldman researched the outlaws intermittently for eight years; the Writers Guild later ranked the script 11th among the 101 greatest ever written.

Q 03/05

According to Goldman, why did one studio head reject the script the first time around?

A) It had too much dialogue for a Western

B) There was no love interest

C) 'John Wayne don't run away'

D) The ending was too violent

Answer · why

C) 'John Wayne don't run away'

The executive would only buy it if the heroes did not flee to South America. Goldman changed 'a few pages' and suddenly every studio wanted it.

Q 04/05

Which line of F. Scott Fitzgerald's did Goldman say inspired him to tell the outlaws' story?

A) 'The rich are different from you and me'

B) 'So we beat on, boats against the current'

C) 'Show me a hero and I will write you a tragedy'

D) 'There are no second acts in American lives'

Answer · why

D) 'There are no second acts in American lives'

The point was that Butch and Sundance disproved it: they ran to South America and had a second act, becoming more legendary there than in the old West...

Q 05/05

Which actor turned down the role of Sundance because he disliked riding horses?

A) Jack Lemmon

B) Warren Beatty

C) Marlon Brando

D) Steve McQueen

Answer · why

A) Jack Lemmon

McQueen backed out after disagreements with Newman, and Beatty passed because it felt too much like Bonnie and Clyde. Redford simply liked the script.