It's fun!
Actually, we do have educational reasons, and we watch only about 11 minutes from the movie.
1. This is a movie made in the 1960's, the same decade when The Outsiders was written and published. Granted, it came out shortly after the book was published, but it has Paul Newman in it, and is the most appropriate Paul Newman movie from that era that I could find to show to seventh graders. In many of Paul Newman's movies he plays an outsider, so Ponyboy and his friends could probably identify in some ways with those characters.
2. The novel begins with the main character coming out of a movie theater "into the bright sunlight."
He has been watching a Paul Newman movie. He says, " I was wishing I looked like Paul Newman -- he looks tough and I don't."
3. Butch and Sundance are outsiders. This movie can work as an anchor text as we talk about what it means to be an outsider (and how some people make themselves outsiders, or use their outsider status to move even further outside of society). It can also aid discussion about theme. "Crime doesn't pay?"
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| Sundance admits he can't swim |
