Blackthorn

It’s one of the most iconic images of American cinema, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (Paul Newman and Robert Redford) frozen in time as they launch themselves against the Bolivian Army in a desperate last stand that both of them know they will never survive. But what if they did? What if the characters killed at the end of the 1969 George Roy Hill movie didn’t die? That’s the interesting kernel of an idea from which screenwriter Miguel Barros and director Mateo Gil have grown one of the best movies of the year, Blackthorn. Like its protagonist, Blackthorn is a soft-spoken movie that speaks volumes. And standing at the center of it all, making sure every word (spoken and unspoken) is driven home with an iron fist, is Sam Shepard, a real-life figure as iconic as the legendary character he is playing.