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Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

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Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Theatrical release poster by Tom Beauvais
Directed byGeorge Roy Hill
Written byWilliam Goldman
Produced byJohn Foreman
Starring
CinematographyConrad Hall
Edited by
Music byBurt Bacharach
Production
companies
Distributed by20th Century-Fox
Release dates
[1]
Running time
110 minutes[2]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$6 million[3]
Box office$102.3 million (North America)[4]

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is a 1969 American Western buddy film directed by George Roy Hill and written by William Goldman. Based loosely on fact, the film tells the story of Wild West outlaws Robert LeRoy Parker, known as Butch Cassidy (Paul Newman), and his partner Harry Longabaugh, the "Sundance Kid" (Robert Redford), who are on the run from a crack US posse after a string of train robberies. The pair and Sundance's lover, Etta Place (Katharine Ross), flee to Bolivia to escape the posse.

In 2003, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".[5][6] The American Film Institute ranked Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid as the 73rd-greatest American film on its "AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition)" list, and number 50 on the original list. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid were ranked 20th-greatest heroes on "AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes & Villains". Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid was selected by the American Film Institute as the 7th-greatest Western of all time in the AFI's 10 Top 10 list in 2008.

Plot

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Original release trailer of the film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)

In 1899 Wyoming, Butch Cassidy is the affable, clever, talkative leader of the outlaw Hole-in-the-Wall Gang. His closest companion is the laconic dead-shot "Sundance Kid". The two return to their hideout at Hole-in-the-Wall to discover that the rest of the gang, irked at Cassidy's long absences, have selected Harvey Logan as their new leader.

Logan challenges Cassidy to a knife fight over the gang's leadership. Cassidy defeats him using trickery, but embraces Logan's idea to rob a Union Pacific train on both its eastward and westward runs, agreeing that the second robbery would be unexpected and likely reap more money than the first.

The first robbery goes well. To celebrate, Cassidy visits a favorite brothel in a nearby town, where the town marshal unsuccessfully attempts to organize a posse to track down the gang, only to have his address to the townsfolk hijacked by a friendly bicycle salesman. Sundance, meanwhile, visits his lover, schoolteacher Etta Place. Cassidy joins up with them the next morning, and takes Place for a ride on his new bike.

On the second train robbery, Cassidy uses too much dynamite to blow open the safe. The explosion demolishes the baggage car in the process and the money flies everywhere. As the gang scrambles to gather it, a second train arrives carrying a six-man team of lawmen. The crack squad pursues Cassidy and Sundance, who try to hide out in the brothel, and then to seek amnesty from Sheriff Bledsoe, to no avail.

The posse remains in pursuit, and it includes renowned Indian tracker "Lord Baltimore" and lawman Joe Lefors, recognizable by his white skimmer. Cassidy and Sundance elude their pursuers by jumping from a cliff into a river far below. They learn from Place that the posse has been paid by Union Pacific head E. H. Harriman to remain on their trail until they are both killed.

Cassidy convinces Sundance and Place that the three should go to Bolivia, which he envisions as a robber's paradise. On their arrival there, Sundance is dismayed by the living conditions and regards the country with contempt, but Cassidy remains optimistic. However, they know too little Spanish to pull off a bank robbery, so Place attempts to teach them the language. With her as an accomplice, they become successful bank robbers known as Los Bandidos Yanquis. However, their confidence drops after seeing a man wearing a white skimmer and fear that Harriman's posse is still after them.

Cassidy suggests "going straight", and he and Sundance land their first honest job as payroll guards for a mining company. However, they are ambushed by local bandits on their first run and their boss, Percy Garris, is killed. They kill the bandits, the first time Cassidy has ever shot someone. The duo concludes the straight life is not for them. Sensing they will be killed should they return to robbery, Place decides to return to the United States.

Cassidy and Sundance steal a payroll and a burro used to carry it, and arrive in a small town. A boy recognizes the burro's livestock branding and alerts the police, leading to a gunfight with the outlaws. Cassidy has to make a desperate run to the burro to get ammunition, while Sundance provides covering fire. Wounded, the two take cover inside a building. Cassidy suggests their next destination should be Australia. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to the two men, the local police have called on the Bolivian Army. The pair charge out of the building, guns blazing, into a hail of bullets from the massed troops who have occupied all the surrounding vantage points. The film ends with the sound of gunfire on a freeze-frame shot of the two bandits.

Cast

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Production

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Screenplay

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William Goldman first came across the story of Butch Cassidy in the late 1950s and researched intermittently for eight years before starting to write the screenplay.[7] Goldman says he wrote the story as an original screenplay because he did not want to do the research to make it as authentic as a novel.[8] Goldman later stated:

The whole reason I wrote the ... thing, there is that famous line that Scott Fitzgerald wrote, who was one of my heroes, "There are no second acts in American lives." When I read about Cassidy and Longabaugh and the superposse coming after them—that's phenomenal material. They ran to South America and lived there for eight years and that was what thrilled me: they had a second act. They were more legendary in South America than they had been in the old West ... It's a great story. Those two guys and that pretty girl going down to South America and all that stuff. It just seems to me it's a wonderful piece of material.[8]

The characters' flight to South America caused one executive to reject the script, as it was then unusual in Western films for the protagonists to flee.[9]

Development

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According to Goldman, when he first wrote the script and sent it out for consideration, only one studio wanted to buy it—and that was with the proviso that the two lead characters did not flee to South America. When Goldman protested that that was what had happened, the studio head responded, "I don't give a shit. All I know is John Wayne don't run away."[10]

Goldman rewrote the script, "didn't change it more than a few pages, and subsequently found that every studio wanted it."[10]

The role of Sundance was offered to Jack Lemmon, whose production company, JML, had produced the film Cool Hand Luke (1967) starring Newman. Lemmon, however, turned down the role because he did not like riding horses and felt that he had already played too many aspects of the Sundance Kid's character before.[11] Other actors considered for the role of Sundance were Steve McQueen and Warren Beatty, who both turned it down, with Beatty claiming that the film was too similar to Bonnie and Clyde. According to Goldman, McQueen and Newman both read the scripts at the same time and agreed to do the film. McQueen eventually backed out of the film due to disagreements with Newman. The two actors would eventually team up in the 1974 disaster film The Towering Inferno. Redford took the role as he liked the script.[12][13] Jacqueline Bisset was a top contender for the role of Etta Place.[14]

Filming locations include the ghost town of Grafton, Zion National Park, Snow Canyon State Park, and the city of St. George. These areas remain popular film tourism destinations, including the Cassidy Trail in Red Canyon.[15]

Soundtrack

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Burt Bacharach and Hal David wrote the song "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head" for the film. Some felt the song had the wrong tone for a Western, but George Roy Hill insisted on its inclusion.[16] Robert Redford, one of the stars of the films, was among those who disapproved of using the song, though he later acknowledged he was wrong:[16]

When the film was released, I was highly critical: How did the song fit with the film? There was no rain. At the time, it seemed like a dumb idea. How wrong I was, as it turned out to be a giant hit.[16]

Personnel

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Release

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Premieres

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The world premiere of the film was on September 23, 1969, at the Roger Sherman Theater, in New Haven, Connecticut. The premiere was attended by Paul Newman, his wife Joanne Woodward, Robert Redford, George Roy Hill, William Goldman, and John Foreman, among others.[18] It opened the next day in New York City[1] at the Penthouse and Sutton theatres.[19]

Home media

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The film became available on DVD on May 16, 2000, in a Special Edition that is also available on VHS.[citation needed]

Reception

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Box office

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The film grossed $82,625 in its opening week from two theatres in New York City.[19] The following week it expanded and became the number one film in the United States and Canada for two weeks.[20][21] It went on to earn $15 million in theatrical rentals in the United States and Canada by the end of 1969.[22] According to Fox records the film required $13,850,000 in rentals to break even and by December 11, 1970, had made $36,825,000 so made a considerable profit to the studio.[23] It eventually returned $45,953,000 in rentals.[24]

With a final US gross of over $100 million, it was the top-grossing film released in 1969.[25]

It was the eighth-most-popular film of 1970 in France.[26]

Critical response

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At the time of release, reviewers gave the film mediocre grades, and New York and national reviews were "mixed to terrible" though better elsewhere, screenwriter William Goldman recalled in his book Which Lie Did I Tell?: More Adventures in the Screen Trade.[27]

New York Times film reviewer Vincent Canby wrote that the film is "very funny in a strictly contemporary way," but said that "at the heart of the film there is a gnawing emptiness that can't be satisfied by an awareness that Hill and Goldman knew exactly what they were doing---making a very slick movie." He described the "Raindrops" sequence as part of an effort to "play tricks on the audience" by "taking short cuts to lyricism." The performers, Canby wrote, "succeed although the movie does not."[28]

Time magazine said the film's two male stars are "afflicted with cinematic schizophrenia. One moment they are sinewy, battered remnants of a discarded tradition. The next, they are low comedians whose chaffing relationship—and dialogue—could have been lifted from a Batman and Robin episode." Time criticized the "Raindrops" sequence and the "scat-singing sound track by Burt Bacharach at his most cacophonous," which it said made the film "absurd and anachronistic."[29]

Roger Ebert's review of the movie was a mixed 2.5 out of 4 stars. He praised the beginning of the film and its three lead actors, but felt the film progressed too slowly and had an unsatisfactory ending. But after Harriman hires his posse, Ebert thought the movie's quality declined: "Hill apparently spent a lot of money to take his company on location for these scenes, and I guess when he got back to Hollywood he couldn't bear to edit them out of the final version. So the Super-posse chases our heroes unceasingly, until we've long since forgotten how well the movie started."[30] Ebert reaffirmed his review in 1989 stating that he still thought it was a "turkey" and was baffled by its success.[31]

Gene Siskel also disliked the film stating he thought it was predictable and writing that it was “too cute to be believed … not memorable.”[32] Siskel would later admit in 1989 that publishing his negative review was one of his first challenges as film critic recalling that the editorial assistant was shocked that he was giving a bad review to a film starring Paul Newman and would give him a lesson that he had to be honest as a critic, no matter how unpopular his opinion would be.[31]

Accolades

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Award Category Nominee(s) Result Ref.
Academy Awards Best Picture John Foreman Nominated [33]
Best Director George Roy Hill Nominated
Best Story and Screenplay – Based on Material Not Previously Published or Produced William Goldman Won
Best Cinematography Conrad Hall Won
Best Original Score for a Motion Picture (Not a Musical) Burt Bacharach Won
Best Song – Original for the Picture "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head"
Music by Burt Bacharach;
Lyrics by Hal David 		Won
Best Sound William Edmondson and David Dockendorf Nominated
American Cinema Editors Awards Best Edited Feature Film John C. Howard and Richard C. Meyer Nominated
ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards Most Performed Feature Film Standards "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head"
Music by Burt Bacharach;
Lyrics by Hal David 		Won
British Academy Film Awards Best Film George Roy Hill Won [34]
Best Direction Won
Best Actor in a Leading Role Paul Newman Nominated
Robert Redford Won
Best Actress in a Leading Role Katharine Ross Won
Best Screenplay William Goldman Won
Best Cinematography Conrad Hall Won
Best Editing John C. Howard and Richard C. Meyer Won
Best Original Music Burt Bacharach Won
Best Sound Don Hall, William Edmondson, and David Dockendorf Won
Directors Guild of America Awards Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures George Roy Hill Nominated [35]
Golden Globe Awards Best Motion Picture – Drama Nominated [36]
Best Screenplay – Motion Picture William Goldman Nominated
Best Original Score – Motion Picture Burt Bacharach Won
Best Original Song – Motion Picture "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head"
Music by Burt Bacharach;
Lyrics by Hal David 		Nominated
Grammy Awards Best Original Score Written for a Motion Picture or a Television Special Burt Bacharach Won [37]
Laurel Awards Top Action Drama Won
Top Action Performance Paul Newman Nominated
Robert Redford 5th Place
Top Cinematographer Conrad L. Hall 4th Place
Top Music Man Burt Bacharach Won
National Film Preservation Board National Film Registry Inducted [38]
National Society of Film Critics Awards Best Actor Robert Redford 3rd Place [39]
Online Film & Television Association Awards Hall of Fame – Motion Picture Inducted [40]
Satellite Awards Best Classic DVD Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
(as part of Paul Newman: The Tribute Collection) 		Nominated [41]
Turkish Film Critics Association Awards Best Foreign Film 8th Place
Writers Guild of America Awards Best Drama Written Directly for the Screen William Goldman Won [42]

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid also appears on several of the American Film Institute's 100 Years lists.

Legacy

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See also: Hole in the Wall Gang Camp and SeriousFun Children's Network

Over time, major American movie reviewers have been widely favorable. The film holds an 89% "Certified Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 61 reviews with an average score of 8.3/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "With its iconic pairing of Paul Newman and Robert Redford, jaunty screenplay and Burt Bacharach score, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid has gone down as among the defining moments in late-'60s American cinema."[46]

The Writers Guild of America ranked the screenplay #11 on its list of 101 Greatest Screenplays ever written.[47]

In 2003, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid was selected by The New York Times as one of The 1000 Best Movies Ever Made.[48] In 2008, British film publication Empire magazine ranked the film #32 on their list of The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time.[49]

The film inspired the television series Alias Smith and Jones, starring Pete Duel and Ben Murphy as outlaws trying to earn an amnesty.[50]

A parody titled "Botch Casually and the Somedunce Kid" was published in Mad. It was illustrated by Mort Drucker and written by Arnie Kogen in issue No. 136, July 1970.[51]

Also in 1976, a made-for-television sequel to the film was released. Wanted: The Sundance Woman more heavily features Katharine Ross as Etta Place.[52]

In 1979, Butch and Sundance: The Early Days, a prequel, was released starring Tom Berenger as Butch Cassidy and William Katt as the Sundance Kid. It was directed by Richard Lester and written by Allan Burns. William Goldman, the writer of the original film, was an executive producer. Jeff Corey was the only actor to appear in the original and the prequel.[citation needed]

Television adaptation

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In September 2022, Amazon Studios announced a television adaptation of the film, starring Regé-Jean Page and Glen Powell. Joe and Anthony Russo will be executive producers under their AGBO production banner.[53][54]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
  2. ^ "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid". British Board of Film Classification. Archived from the original on December 15, 2014. Retrieved December 15, 2014.
  3. ^ "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid – Box Office Data, DVD and Blu-ray Sales, Movie News, Cast and Crew Information". The Numbers. Archived from the original on September 3, 2014. Retrieved December 15, 2014.
  4. ^ "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on February 3, 2012. Retrieved February 26, 2012.
  5. ^ "Librarian of Congress Adds 25 Films to National Film Registry". Library of Congress. Archived from the original on February 22, 2020. Retrieved September 18, 2020.
  6. ^ "Complete National Film Registry Listing". Library of Congress. Archived from the original on December 17, 2014. Retrieved September 18, 2020.
  7. ^ Goldman, William (1982). Adventures in the Screen Trade. pp. 191–200.
  8. ^ a b Egan, p. 90
  9. ^ Nixon, Rob. "The Big Idea – Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid". Turner Classic Movies, Inc. Archived from the original on February 26, 2017. Retrieved February 26, 2017.
  10. ^ a b Egan, p. 91
  11. ^ Flynn, Bob (August 15, 1998). "A slice of Lemmon for extra character". The Canberra Times. Panorama. p. 7.
  12. ^ "Robert Redford talks about becoming 'The Sundance Kid,' 50 years after the movie's release". The Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved July 6, 2023.
  13. ^ "Robert Redford Remembers His Co-Star, Friend". ABC News. Retrieved July 6, 2023.
  14. ^ Axel Madsen (July 14, 1968). "Actress Is Driving Yellow Volkswagen into a Cadillac Future". Star Tribune. Archived from the original on June 13, 2021. Retrieved January 23, 2021.
  15. ^ "Chasing Old West Outlaws On The Cassidy Trail". Visit Utah. July 19, 2021. Retrieved November 28, 2023.
  16. ^ a b c McEvoy, Colin (February 9, 2023). "What It Was Like to Work with Burt Bacharach, in the Words of his Collaborators". Biography. Retrieved February 11, 2023.
  17. ^ a b c d e f g "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid". Library of Congress.
  18. ^ Woo, Tiffany (October 26, 2009). "'Butch Cassidy' returns after 40 years". Yale Daily News. Archived from the original on October 2, 2012. Retrieved August 26, 2011.
  19. ^ a b "Pennant Fever Sloughs B'Way Biz; Newies 'Goose,' 'Nut,' 'Mind' Falter; 'Tree' Big 175G, 'Cassidy' $68,608". Variety. October 8, 1969. p. 9.
  20. ^ "50 Top-Grossing Films". Variety. October 15, 1969. p. 11.
  21. ^ "50 Top-Grossing Films". Variety. October 29, 1969. p. 11.
  22. ^ "Big Rental Films of 1969". Variety. January 7, 1970. p. 15.
  23. ^ Silverman, Stephen M (1988). The Fox that got away : the last days of the Zanuck dynasty at Twentieth Century-Fox. L. Stuart. p. 328. ISBN 9780818404856.
  24. ^ "All-Time Top Film Rentals". Variety. October 7, 1999. Archived from the original on October 7, 1999. Retrieved June 27, 2019.
  25. ^ "Domestic Grosses Adjusted for Ticket Price Inflation". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on July 10, 2001. Retrieved February 9, 2009.
  26. ^ "1970 Box Office in France". Box Office Story. Archived from the original on June 13, 2021. Retrieved June 13, 2021.
  27. ^ Goldman, William (2000). Which lie did I tell?, or, More adventures in the screen trade (1st ed.). New York: Pantheon Books. ISBN 0-375-40349-3.
  28. ^ Canby, Vincent (September 25, 1969). "Slapstick and Drama Cross Paths in 'Butch Cassidy'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved February 12, 2023.
  29. ^ "Double Vision". Time. September 26, 1969. Archived from the original on December 14, 2008. Retrieved February 9, 2009.
  30. ^ "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid". Chicago Sun-Times. October 13, 1969. Archived from the original on July 22, 2012. Retrieved June 13, 2021.
  31. ^ a b Siskel & Ebert Classics - 5/31/89 - "The Movies That Made Us Critics" Special. YouTube. Retrieved May 27, 2024.
  32. ^ "'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid' at 50: Is it a relic or a classic?". Chicago Tribune. July 11, 2019. Retrieved May 27, 2024.
  33. ^ "The 42nd Academy Awards (1970) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Retrieved August 26, 2011.
  34. ^ "BAFTA Awards: Film in 1971". BAFTA. 1971. Retrieved September 16, 2016.
  35. ^ "22nd DGA Awards". Directors Guild of America Awards. Retrieved July 5, 2021.
  36. ^ "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid – Golden Globes". HFPA. Retrieved July 5, 2021.
  37. ^ "1969 Grammy Award Winners". Grammy.com. Retrieved May 1, 2011.
  38. ^ "Preserved Projects". Academy Film Archive. Archived from the original on August 13, 2016. Retrieved August 3, 2016.
  39. ^ "Past Awards". National Society of Film Critics. December 19, 2009. Retrieved July 5, 2021.
  40. ^ "Film Hall of Fame Productions". Online Film & Television Association. Retrieved May 15, 2021.
  41. ^ "2009 Satellite Awards". Satellite Awards. International Press Academy. Retrieved July 10, 2021.
  42. ^ "Awards Winners". Writers Guild of America. Archived from the original on December 5, 2012. Retrieved June 6, 2010.
  43. ^ AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores: Honoring America’s Greatest Film Music, Official Ballot American Film Institute via Internet Archive. Retrieved June 30, 2024.
  44. ^ AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes, Official Ballot American Film Institute via Internet Archive. Retrieved June 30, 2024.
  45. ^ "AFI's 10 Top 10". American Film Institute. 2008. Retrieved June 18, 2008.
  46. ^ "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid". Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on November 12, 2020. Retrieved February 6, 2024.
  47. ^ Savage, Sophia (February 27, 2013). "WGA Lists Greatest Screenplays, From 'Casablanca' and 'Godfather' to 'Memento' and 'Notorious'". Archived from the original on August 13, 2006. Retrieved February 28, 2013.
  48. ^ The Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made The New York Times via Internet Archive. Retrieved June 30, 2024.
  49. ^ Empire's The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time Empire via Internet Archive. Retrieved June 30, 2024.
  50. ^ "Alias Smith and Jones". Archived from the original on December 31, 2006. Retrieved December 9, 2006.
  51. ^ MAD #136 July 1970 Archived November 8, 2011, at the Wayback Machine at Mad cover site.
  52. ^ LIFE Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid at 50. Time Home Entertainment. August 30, 2019. ISBN 978-1-5478-4988-8.
  53. ^ White, Peter (September 15, 2022). "Regé-Jean Page & Glen Powell To Star In Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid-Inspired Series At Amazon". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved September 15, 2022.
  54. ^ Goldberg, Lesley (September 15, 2022). "Regé-Jean Page, Glen Powell to Star in Butch and Sundance TV Series for Amazon From Russo Brothers (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved September 16, 2022.

Bibliography

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  • Egan, Sean (2014). William Goldman: The Reluctant Storyteller. Bear Manor Media.
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