Cowboys in Westerns were a key feature of Hollywood entertainment from the earliest days until well into the '60s. But the Western past and its values were ditched with the Vietnam War, "Flower Power" and the US's rabid consumer culture, so Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid was like a wistful farewell to an almost forgotten world.
Paul Newman played Butch and Robert Redford was Sundance in this tale of two drifters, inept outlaws who fail to realise that the world has moved on and that they are relics.
Director George Roy Hill kept the tone gently humorous and nostalgic, even including a theme song that became a major hit. The film is not a comedy or a parody of Western iconography, though.
It's more like an allegory, about two cowboys who thought they could ride the range forever, but find out that even the West has limits.
The two stars were at their peak; William Goldman's screenplay was wittily touched with cynicism; and the great Conrad Hall's cinematography was rich and detailed.
With films like The Wild Bunch, True Grit and Altman's McCabe and Mrs Miller, Butch and Sundance embodied the end of a classic film genre.
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