Balancing Fact and Fiction

At the conclusion of the western classic “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” the outlaws are trapped in a small Bolivian town. Surrounded by hundreds of soldiers, Butch (Paul Newman) and Sundance (Robert Redford) decide to make one last stand and go out in a blaze of glory.

The freeze-frame of the two with their guns raised is one of the most indelible images in cinema history. But that’s not exactly how it happened in real life.

The four-part History Channel series “History vs. Hollywood” attempts to give a balanced portrait of the fact and the fiction behind the award-winning movies “MASH” (Monday), “Butch Cassidy” (Tuesday), “Patton” ( Wednesday) and “The French Connection” (Thursday).

Each hourlong episode includes film clips, photographs, interviews with actors, filmmakers, historians and family members, and historical information about the real subjects and the genesis of each movie.

“History vs. Hollywood” is a spinoff of the former film showcase series “Movies in Time.” Between breaks, host Sander Vanocur, a former NBC News journalist, would discuss with a panel of historians the accuracy of the week’s film.

“We just didn’t want to run movies,” says Susan Werbe, executive producer of the series for the History Channel. Instead, the cable network wanted to do something a little more encompassing--”to integrate both the film makers, stars and historians, so we get sort of a full picture on why decisions were made the way they were made and why they either ignored history or duplicated history.”

In the case of “Butch Cassidy,” outlaw historians Dan Buck and Ann Meadows believe the 1969 box-office hit that won three Oscars was actually a good representation of the facts known at the time William Goldman wrote his screenplay.

It was only after the release of the movie that new facts were unearthed. Instead of going to South America to avoid the authorities, Buck says, Butch and Sundance actually went to Argentina to homestead a ranch.

“It was only after they were chased out of Argentina after they were falsely accused of a bank robbery that they committed a bank robbery. Then, later, after several years of working in the mines in Bolivia, they committed one more payroll robbery,” says Buck.

Until about 16 years ago, there was no real evidence that Butch and Sundance met their end in a shootout at all. The two, it seemed, just disappeared off the face of the Earth. During their research in South America, Buck and Meadows learned the duo did indeed meet their end in a gun battle.

“There were only three soldiers involved, and one of them was killed right away,” says Buck. “It was really a shootout between two soldiers and two outlaws, but that wasn’t known at the time Goldman wrote the screenplay.”

“A movie can’t be exactly what happened or it wouldn’t be interesting,” adds Meadows. “In reality, Butch and Sundance didn’t team up until pretty late in the day before they went to South America. I think it’s legitimate to change things for dramatic reasons.”

With “Patton,” which won several Oscars including best film of 1970 and best actor (George C. Scott), the family of the controversial World War II general didn’t want any involvement in the film.

“The general’s widow had steadfastly opposed any Hollywood rendition [of his life], for whatever reasons,” says the general’s grandson, Robert Patton. “When she died, producers came to my father and his sister, and they responded saying: Use any public information and any information in the archives, but our participation as a family will be nil.”

Patton, author of “The Pattons: A Personal History of an American Family,” says it was a good idea the family didn’t participate in the production. “If it was a terrible movie, we would be to blame,” he explains. “We all enjoyed the movie, and my father and his sister applauded the performance of George C. Scott.”

Though “Patton” did omit certain events and embellish others, the film made the general a folk hero “like Davy Crockett,” says his grandson. “A lot of people don’t know much about him and yet, he is simply part of the international vocabulary now. He wanted to be famous and known after his death--and he certainly is.”

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“History vs. Hollywood” airs Monday-Thursday at 9 p.m. on the History Channel with “MASH” (Monday), “ Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” (Tuesday), “Patton” (Wednesday) and “The French Connection” (Thursday ).