Sam Elliott's feature film debut.
Paul Newman did his own bicycle stunts, after his stunt man was unable to stay on the bike, except for the scene where Butch crashes backwards into the fence, which was performed by cinematographer Conrad L. Hall.
Dustin Hoffman was considered for the role of Butch.
Katharine Ross enjoyed shooting the silent, bicycle riding sequence best, because it was handled by the film crew's second unit rather than the director. She said, "Any day away from George Roy Hill was a good one." (This was after she had been scolded and banned from the set for operating a camera.)
Joanna Pettet was first offered the role of "Etta Place" but was forced to turn down the role due to her pregnancy.
According to screenwriter William Goldman, his screenplay originally was entitled "The Sundance Kid and Butch Cassidy." Both Steve McQueen and Paul Newman read the script at approximately the same time, and agreed to do it, with McQueen playing the Sundance Kid. When McQueen dropped out, the names reversed in the title, as Newman was a superstar.
Actually before the real Butch and Sundance ended in Bolivia, they spent some time in Patagonia (Argentina), in a town called Cholila.
All the Bolivia scenes were filmed in Mexico, where almost the entire cast and crew, and the director, came down with Montezuma's Revenge (severe diarrhea caused by drinking Mexico's notoriously polluted water). Only Robert Redford, Paul Newman and Katharine Ross were spared, because they refused to drink the water catered on the set and stuck to drinking soda and alcohol for the duration of the shoot.
Body count: 30
Contrary to popular belief, the vocalists on the Burt Bacharach-penned song "South American Getaway" in this film were not the Swingle Singers. It was instead performed by the Ron Hicklin Singers, a group of Los Angeles studio vocalists best known as the real singers behind the background vocals on The Partridge Family recordings.
During filming Paul Newman had an affair with journalist Nancy Bacon, which caused him to separate from his wife Joanne Woodward for a time.
During the 27-minute super posse chase, Butch and Sundance dismount and separate from their lone horse, start scaling rocky terrain to evade their pursuers. Butch asks, "What if they don't follow the horse?". Sundance: "Don't worry, Butch, you'll think of something." Originally Butch retorts, "That's a load off my mind." That line was kept in the movie right through the mid-'70s until it was broadcast on network TV (1976). For some reason it was omitted and has remained absent through every TV, cable, video, laserdisc and previous DVD release. It was reinstated back into the 2006 "Ultimate Collector's Edition" DVD and viewers are treated to it for the first time in 30 years.
In 2007, the American Film Institute ranked this as the #73 Greatest Movie of All Time.
Near the end of the movie there is a tribute to The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. Butch and Sundance are "caught" by a kid in the village who recognizes the brand on the rump of the gray mule that they have taken. The brand the kid sees is exactly the same as the brand that a kid in "Treasure" sees on seemingly the same gray mule and then runs to seemingly the same police station to report the theft.
On the first day of shooting, involving the train robbery scenes, Katharine Ross came to the set to watch. There were five cameras and only four operators, so the DP put her on the extra camera. He showed her how to operate it, and how to move it to get her shot. Director George Roy Hill was furious, but said nothing the whole day. At the end of the day, however, he banned her from the set except when she was working.
Other actors that were under consideration for the role of Sundance were Steve McQueen and Warren Beatty. McQueen withdrew due to billing disagreements, and Beatty declined as he found the film too similar to Bonnie and Clyde.
Photographer Lawrence Schiller shot the location publicity stills for the film.
Ranked #7 on the American Film Institute's list of the 10 greatest films in the genre "Western" in June 2008.