─Meet the future!
─Do you know what you’re doin’?
─Theoretically.

If there ever was an iconic scene, this is it! Those words are the conversation just before this cut starts. Butch Cassidy (Paul Newman) has just arrived where Sundance Kid (Robert Redford) and Etta Place (Katharine Ross) are lying in bed at dawn.

It’s 1899. The bicycle was the future mode of transportation for the weary western world. Yes, that kind of bike, the “safety bicycle,” we all recognize today as “the bicycle,” was a huge hit almost from the time John Starley introduced it in 1885.

In a previous scene, we’ve seen a salesman introducing the new thing…

─Meet the future!
─The future what?
─The future mode of transportation for the weary western world.
─Now, just what in the hell do you think you are doing
─You got the crowd together. That’s half my work. I just figured I’d sell a little and…
(…)
─I got a short presentation. The horse is dead. You’ll see. This item sells itself. Soon the eye will see nothing but silk ribboned bicycle paths stretching to infinity.
(…)
─How much those things cost?
─An indecent paltry amount. A bicycle is cheaper to buy than a horse, cheaper to maintain, as fast over short distances, and I promise you this… The pleasures it provides can be equalled only by the love of your lady.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

But the reason for this post today is not the innovative bike, the future or even Paul Newman and Katharine Ross in that lovely scene. It’s the song, the moment¹… A moment somehow connected in my mind to the present.

Raindrops keep falling on my head, but that doesn’t mean my eyes will soon be turning red. Crying’s not for me. It won’t be long till happiness steps up to greet me.

___________________

(1) A moment to say goodbye to Billy Joe Thomas, the famous singer of the song written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David for the film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

Featured Image: B.J. Thomas