Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid ride again as American Experience turns 38
The 2014 film about the Wild Bunch went up eight days ago and is close to 300,000 views, while the series marked its first broadcast of October 4, 1988.
American Experience | PBS
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Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid | Full Documentary | American Experience PBS
The outlaws are doing the work. "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," a 2014 American Experience film posted in full eight days ago, is already near 300,000 views and draws more daily viewers than anything else on the channel. It follows Robert Leroy Parker and Harry Alonzo Longabaugh from the 1899 Wilcox train robbery through the Pinkertons' chase and the famous "Fort Worth Five" photo to the end in South America, promising to separate the men from the myth that Paul Newman and Robert Redford put on screen in 1969.
Another outlaw pair sits right behind it. The Bonnie and Clyde documentary, four weeks old, has passed a million and a half views and is still finding a steady crowd.
The new uploads were smaller and more personal. "Celebrating 38 Years of American Experience" marks the night of October 4, 1988, when PBS aired the series' first film, The Great San Francisco Earthquake, with testimony from people who lived through 1906. Nearly 400 films have followed. Under the anniversary video, longtime viewers trace their history habit back to childhood, one to David McCullough's years as host, and a few simply ask for more full documentaries. A short on Sputnik and another on the world the Boomers were born into rounded out the week.
The channel ran a touch above its usual pace and added a few thousand subscribers. Among documentary channels of similar size, only PBS Documentaries gained more views over the seven days, while The Atlantic had a much slower stretch than usual.
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What viewers say
The comments under "Celebrating 38 Years of American Experience"
Congrats on 38 years, American Experience! Keep up the great work!
@americanminotaur2518See it on YouTubeI love these films! Grew up as a child watching these films! I’m 34 years old now and still watching them to this day! Thank you, PBS for making such an amazing documentary series! The American Experience is a very iconic documentary TV series that I will always love to watch!
@alexanderkostan2488See it on YouTube
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The videos drawing views on American Experience | PBS right now
- Channel
- American Experience | PBS
- Subscribers
- 578,000 ▲ 3,000 this week
- Channel views, last 7 days
- 1,398,425
- Videos published this week
- 3
- Video published
- October 4, 2026
- Video views so far
- 8,612
- Views on its first day
- 5,987
The numbers
Here is how American Experience's week looks in figures.
💡 Test your knowledge
Which film made Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid household names again in 1969, with Paul Newman and Robert Redford in the title roles?
George Roy Hill's 1969 western starred Newman as Butch and Redford as Sundance, the film the documentary's description refers to.
