Director Sergio Mimica-Gezzon's "The Legend of Butch and Sundance" qualifies as a lame, low-budget, full-frame, television western with outstanding production values. Nevertheless, this lightweight sagebrusher pales by comparison with the classic "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" with Paul Newman and Robert Redford. Michael Biehn of "The Magnificent Seven" television series is the biggest name in this otherwise no-name horse opera. Naturally, this semi-historical saga "is drawn from historical sources and based on actual events. In depicting the lives of Robert Leroy Parker (a.k.a Butch Cassidy) and Harry Longbaugh (a.k.a The Sundance Kid) certain composite, fictional and representative scenes and characters have been used for dramatic purposes." In other words, "Another 48 Hrs" scenarist John Fasano and Mimica-Gezzon wield dramatic license like a wide swinging lasso to rope and tie their subject matter. Indeed, Butch did blow up a train, but the incident looks rather lackluster here and the comic scenes are more amusing than hilarious. Mimica-Gezzon shows a reasonable amount of violence, but it isn't anything that will make you flinch. The leads, David Rogers and Ryan Browning, are personable enough talent, and their characters are as sympathetic as you can imagine, but neither makes much of an impression. They look like bland but handsome WB actors. Of course, they don't die in the end, so "Legend" bears a greater resemblance to Richard Lester's prequel "Butch and Sundance: The Early Years" (1979) with William Katt and Tom Berenger. The only thing remotely unusual about "Legend" is the three-way romance that the heroine, Etta Place, stokes with the eponymous outlaws.
The action opens with Robert Leroy Parker (David Rogers of "Border Patrol") trying to elude a pistol-packing posse hard on his heels. They catch Parker and Parker spends a year in Wyoming State Prison, until a state official hands him a pardon because he believes Parker when Parker assures him that he won't commit any more crimes in Wyoming. No sooner does Parker get out than he falls into bad company with Mike Cassidy (Michael Biehn of "The Rock") who tells him about his sensational new hide-out on the borders of Wyoming, Colorado, and Utah. The scene shifts to Rifle, Colorado, in a elementary school classroom where a female photographer, Etta Place (Rachelle Lefevre of "Abandon"), is struggling to take a picture of rowdy school kids. She cannot calm them down, until a man in trail clothing with a bandana over his face enters and demonstrates his talent with his nickel-plated six-guns. The kids calm down after he threatens to shoot the ears off a boy. Harry Longbaugh (beach boy hunk Ryan Browning of "Stealing Sinatra") tells Etta that he has a good paying job shooting varmints for a rancher, when in fact he is riding with the Wild Bunch. Eventually, when Parker and Longbaugh meet, they are not impressed with each other. They encounter each other at Mike Cassidy's hideaway when Cassidy is recruiting new gunhands. Cassidy wants the new men to prove themselves by demonstrating their ability to switch horses. Harry shows off his marksmanship skills and Parker matches him. Initially, Harry doesn't think much of Butch who dresses like a city slicker.
Mike Cassidy creates his Wild Bunch gang to fight the railroads that he hates with a passion. "The railroads own the banks. They control all the money. They decide who gets the loans. They foreclose on anybody who gets in their way. A handful of evil men are choking the life out of the west." He raises his glass of liquor to the gunmen around him. "You're going to set things right." A bearded ruffian, Durango (Blake Gibbons of "Hollywood Homicide"), who likes to spin a yo-yo, asks Cassidy what they plan to do to the railroad. "Hit them where they live," vows Butch. Butch, Sundance, Durango, and a couple of others ride into town to rob a bank, but they botch it and one of them is arrested. Little to Butch and Sundance know that Durango is a Pinkerton agent working undercover. Later, he becomes the mortal enemy of our heroes as he leads a posse against them. Butch takes a particular dislike to Durango because he has a hand in Mike Cassidy's death. Eventually, our heroes stage their own death when Butch rigs too much dynamite to a freight car. Our heroes with Etta, who can no longer run a newspaper because she cavorts with them, head down to Mexico and anonymity. Durango discovers them and follows them. Durango tries to turn the Mexican authorities against Butch and Sundance, but Etta exposes him as a fraud who only wants to take advantage of the Mexican lawmen.
Our heroes abandon Mexico and Butch faces Durango down in the middle of the street in Wyoming in a classical western showdown. Butch cannot kill Durango and Durango knows why. Remember, Butch promised the Wyoming prison official that he was not going to commit a crime in Wyoming and he adheres to his agreement. Sergio Mimica-Gezzon is basically a television director who has called the shots on "Heroes," "Prison Break," "Battlestar Galactica," and "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles." He keeps the action moving, but that is about all. His biggest claim to fame is having worked as first assistant director to Steven Spielberg on "Saving Private Ryan."
There is nothing legendary about "The Legend of Butch and Sundance," but it has its moments and the production values, including the trains, western towns, Mexican sets, etc., make it look reasonably authentic as television westerns go. Again, the leads are engaging enough and Rachelle Lefevre is rather fetching as the liberated Etta. It's nothing memorable, but it is tolerable enough to sit through at least once.
The action opens with Robert Leroy Parker (David Rogers of "Border Patrol") trying to elude a pistol-packing posse hard on his heels. They catch Parker and Parker spends a year in Wyoming State Prison, until a state official hands him a pardon because he believes Parker when Parker assures him that he won't commit any more crimes in Wyoming. No sooner does Parker get out than he falls into bad company with Mike Cassidy (Michael Biehn of "The Rock") who tells him about his sensational new hide-out on the borders of Wyoming, Colorado, and Utah. The scene shifts to Rifle, Colorado, in a elementary school classroom where a female photographer, Etta Place (Rachelle Lefevre of "Abandon"), is struggling to take a picture of rowdy school kids. She cannot calm them down, until a man in trail clothing with a bandana over his face enters and demonstrates his talent with his nickel-plated six-guns. The kids calm down after he threatens to shoot the ears off a boy. Harry Longbaugh (beach boy hunk Ryan Browning of "Stealing Sinatra") tells Etta that he has a good paying job shooting varmints for a rancher, when in fact he is riding with the Wild Bunch. Eventually, when Parker and Longbaugh meet, they are not impressed with each other. They encounter each other at Mike Cassidy's hideaway when Cassidy is recruiting new gunhands. Cassidy wants the new men to prove themselves by demonstrating their ability to switch horses. Harry shows off his marksmanship skills and Parker matches him. Initially, Harry doesn't think much of Butch who dresses like a city slicker.
Mike Cassidy creates his Wild Bunch gang to fight the railroads that he hates with a passion. "The railroads own the banks. They control all the money. They decide who gets the loans. They foreclose on anybody who gets in their way. A handful of evil men are choking the life out of the west." He raises his glass of liquor to the gunmen around him. "You're going to set things right." A bearded ruffian, Durango (Blake Gibbons of "Hollywood Homicide"), who likes to spin a yo-yo, asks Cassidy what they plan to do to the railroad. "Hit them where they live," vows Butch. Butch, Sundance, Durango, and a couple of others ride into town to rob a bank, but they botch it and one of them is arrested. Little to Butch and Sundance know that Durango is a Pinkerton agent working undercover. Later, he becomes the mortal enemy of our heroes as he leads a posse against them. Butch takes a particular dislike to Durango because he has a hand in Mike Cassidy's death. Eventually, our heroes stage their own death when Butch rigs too much dynamite to a freight car. Our heroes with Etta, who can no longer run a newspaper because she cavorts with them, head down to Mexico and anonymity. Durango discovers them and follows them. Durango tries to turn the Mexican authorities against Butch and Sundance, but Etta exposes him as a fraud who only wants to take advantage of the Mexican lawmen.
Our heroes abandon Mexico and Butch faces Durango down in the middle of the street in Wyoming in a classical western showdown. Butch cannot kill Durango and Durango knows why. Remember, Butch promised the Wyoming prison official that he was not going to commit a crime in Wyoming and he adheres to his agreement. Sergio Mimica-Gezzon is basically a television director who has called the shots on "Heroes," "Prison Break," "Battlestar Galactica," and "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles." He keeps the action moving, but that is about all. His biggest claim to fame is having worked as first assistant director to Steven Spielberg on "Saving Private Ryan."
There is nothing legendary about "The Legend of Butch and Sundance," but it has its moments and the production values, including the trains, western towns, Mexican sets, etc., make it look reasonably authentic as television westerns go. Again, the leads are engaging enough and Rachelle Lefevre is rather fetching as the liberated Etta. It's nothing memorable, but it is tolerable enough to sit through at least once.