Dear Tom Cruise, Please Let This ‘Butch Cassidy’ Rumor Be False

Posted by Robin Ruinsky (robin@filmschoolrejects.com) on April 6, 2009

butch-cassidy-sundance-kid

tom-cruise1I’ll just throw my prejudice down like a gauntlet in this first paragraph. I’m not a fan of John Travolta or Tom Cruise. And God Bless the late great Paul Newman, but I don’t care if Cruise got his blessing for a remake of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, the idea of Cruise as Sundance and John Travolta as Butch Cassidy, makes me want to hurl. And I don’t usually use the word hurl so I have to be pretty worked up to add it to my vocabulary.

It’s not merely that the 1969 film was written by William Goldman, directed by George Roy Hill, showcased great performances and chemistry by Robert Redford and Paul Newman AND had a score by Burt Bacharach that somehow while ignoring everything about the Old West fit the film perfectly. It’s not merely that it’s a great movie.

There’s the fact that while Cruise might be able to summon up a Sundance kid at 46, Redford was 33 and just nailed the role completely. Travolta as Butch Cassidy? Don’t get me started. How wrong for a role can an actor be? Maybe he should put the awful “woman suit” back on from his role in Hairspray and play Etta Place.

I know, I know, I’m being harsh. The word is that making this remake is a “labor of love” for Tom Cruise. Well, Tom, if you love it that much then pay for a pristine print of the film to be released on DVD with a nice little commentary from you which says you love the film so much you decded not to make your own version. You and John Travolta can do a remake of Grumpy Old Men.

My question to all of you movie buffs out there is does this idea make you want to hurl?


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  • Draechon
    That movie has always been in my top 10 films, having been pre-determined even before birth by my mother's love for for all things Robert Redford, and my dad only ever having respected two actors, Steve McQueen and Paul Newman. As for filling Sundance's role, Brad Pitt could have at a younger age, but who could play Butch and fill the shoes of Newman? This movie has it all, and a remake should never have been discussed.
  • Are we sure the rumor isn't just that Cruise wants to start making his own line of organic salad dressings?
  • Or if he loves the film so much then at least attempt a good remake, with actors who coudl play the parts correctly
  • making it INSANELY delicious loll!
  • parent
    A big question in all this is: Should Merrill Lynch and Bank of America be engaged in Hollywood movie making after receiving taxpayer money in the form of the TARP?

    If Merrill Lynch's half-billion dollar contract with MGM/UA/Tom Cruise cannot be broken--like the AIG bonuses--then shouldn't movie executive compensation be set to no more than $250,000 per year? And, if such movie executives make more than that, they should be taxed at the 90% tax rate that the House of Representatives passed concerning people getting the AIG bonuses.

    This movie financing with taxpayer money should be a matter of taxpayer and congressional outrage! It is putting government money at too much risk; especially after the "Valkyrie" and "Lions to Lambs" failures.

    Let your congressman and senators know how you feel.
  • TDC
    NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

    This is terrifying news - Cruise must be stopped, by any means necessary...
  • Wes
    Tom should get back to jumping on couches.
  • Hurl? No, that's not strong enough... how about projectile-vomit? Sure, I could see Brad Pitt, he's a hell of an actor, but Tom Cruise needs to go suck on a tailpipe, preferably that of an 18-wheeler. Die already.
  • I want to start an agency that infiltrates the boards of every major film studio. And everytime someone says something "ridiculously stupid", I want my members to slip them the Matrix pill. And at that very moment replace the stupid idea with one that "is obviously" the smarter choice. The same for all the Big Name Talent with no talent at all. I wanna be the person that says bad idea, try again, as in those V-8 commercials. I like those intelligent actors that have a "I won't work with______________ clause" in their contracts. Studios won't get the fact that we don't want bad remakes if we as the paying public continue to go and see them.
  • I wouldn't mind Cowboy Cruise as long Tranny Travolta wasn't there.
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