Gesucht: Die Frau des Banditen S.

For a TV sequel to the popular 1969 film, "Wanted: The Sundance Woman" ain't bad. It came out 8 years later and Katherine Ross still looks great with her inimitable winsome spirit.

THE PLOT: Butch and Sundance are long gone (dead in Bolivia) and Etta Place (Ross) is hiding out as a store clerk in Arizona. A burly detective is on her case and determined to find her (Steve Forrest). When the husband of the couple she was staying with is jailed for harboring a fugitive (Michael Constantine) Etta goes to revolutionary Pancho Villa for help (Hector Elizondo).

I wasn't expecting much from this TV movie; it's too talky, but it won me over. This can be attributed to Ross' charm, a decent cast (also with Stella Stevens and Katherine Helmond), the Old Tucson locations, the team-up with Pancho Villa, quality train sequences and some solid writing with good subtext; for instance, the way Etta does good to her enemy and a character's realization that the criminal he made out to be a monster is not a monster at all.

The film runs 95 minutes.

GRADE B or 6.5/10

PS: There's another sequel to "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" called "Blackthorn," released in 2011, starring Sam Shepherd as Butch Cassidy. The outlaw didn't die in that 1908 shootout in Bolivia and is living on a small ranch in the Bolivian wilderness in 1927 where he decides to go back to the USA to meet his son. It's a quality modern Western (see my review for details).