THE OUTLAW TRAIL: A Journey Through Time

The badmen on Redford's swing through outlaw country are real-estate developers, federal bureaucrats, hunters ""in their vans and pickups and jeeps""--all those who threaten preservation of the historic hideouts set up by Butch Cassidy and his kind to escape the law. Around Hole-in-the-Wall, Wyoming, where the Wild Bunch grazed their stolen cattle, ""he's a real hero""; an old-timer in obscure, upcoming Atlantic City pronounces him ""the best. Smartest""; and Redford, pulling a switch on the usual robber-baron hookup, sees them ""all, but for the grace of God, financial wizards, inventors, or corporate barons."" Thank God, maybe. Otherwise it's an easygoing, low-key jaunt through remote, dramatic country (pictured in moody National Geographic color) flavored with bawdy stories, Wild West lore, hard riding, and campfire atmospherics. Author Edward Abbey is one of the varied party--which gets help, as it happens (?), from the proprietors of an outfit called Outlaw Trail, Inc. A high-priced soft sell for hardihood.