Tales of dumb courage in a hopeless cause get me every time. In Southern Illinois, notorious gangster and bootlegger Charlie Birger was publicly executed in 1928. It is said that his death was the last public hanging in the state. From the gallows, Birger smiled and uttered his last words: "It's a beautiful world." By all indications, Birger bore his condemnation with resigned bravery from the dates of sentencing to hanging.
Whether the real desperadoes Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid bore up as well in the fleeting moments before their demise at the hands of Bolivian soldiers is pure speculation. However, it makes for a memorable final scene in the movie as portrayed by Paul Newman and Robert Redford. Butch and Sundance are surrounded by soldiers who have the high ground on all sides of a walled plaza. After a penultimate shootout, Butch and Sundance retreat into a small room. The only way out is through the open plaza, a hail of bullets, and certain death. Pausing to reload their guns, exhausted, bleeding, and doomed, Butch asks Sundance if he saw Joe Lefors among their pursuers. Lefors is the incorruptible and indefatigable lawman who led the posse trailing Butch and Sundance in the long chase sequence that culminates in the famous leap from the rocky ledge into a whitewater river. 'No,' Sundance replies, and no such leap is an option for Butch and Sundance now. Butch's reaction is the stuff of movie legend: "Oh good. For a moment there I thought we were in trouble." With that, Butch and Sundance run from the room, out into the plaza, six-shooters blazing from each hand, leaving the rest to the imagination.
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