Where was Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid shot? Revisiting key filming locations of the 1969 western crime film

One of the best films of the late 60s, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, was based on real outlaws going by the same name. Paul Newman played Butch Cassidy and Robert Redford, who passed away just recently, played the Sundance Kid with Katherine Ross as Etta Place, the Kid's love interest.

George Roy Hill directed it from a screenplay by William Goldman. It took Goldman eight years of research before he finally began writing a screenplay. He said about the Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid screenplay that,

"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."

The movie featured mostly desert landscapes and was majorly shot in Utah. Colorado and Mexico were featured in the movie too.

Let's take a look at the different locations where this phenomenal film was shot.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid filming locations

Zion National Park, Utah, USA

This is the main location that was used for the Robert Redford movie. When the movie begins, and the first robbery takes place, it is Zion National Park where all of it is taking place. After the robbery, Butch and Sundance hide at Etta Place's place, which is also shot at the same place.

Durango-Silverton Narrow Gauge Railway, southwest Colorado, USA

If you remember the second robbery in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, you might remember the cash flying following the dynamite blast. It was shot at the Durango-Silverton Narrow Gauge Railway.

20th Century Fox Studios, Los Angeles, California, USA

The scene where both the outlaws are trying to avoid the authorities seeking them was shot at a 20th Century Fox Studios stage. The complex is currently owned by Disney and is called The Hollywood Lot.

Trimble Bridge, near Durango, Colorado, USA

During one of the most daring scenes featured in the film, the one with the cliff ought to be mentioned. In this sequence, both are trying to avoid the authorities, and with no options left, they decide to jump off it into a river canyon. Of course, they survived.

Centro, Tlayacapan, Mor., Mexico

The law authorities are hellbent on capturing Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, so the only option they see is to leave where they are currently living. So they leave the West and move to South America, in Bolivia. However, the location in which those scenes were set was originally Mexico, not Bolivia.