PopEater brings word [via CinemaBlend] that John Travolta thinks remaking the classic Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid with Tom Cruise might not be such a bad idea.

Someone came up with a good idea – it was a remake of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid – and there was a rumor that we were going to do that, and I said to Tom, ‘It’s not a terrible rumor. It’s not a bad idea.’

Let’s make something clear right now: this project is nowhere near production. As far as we know, there is no script being written, no director attached, nothing: we’re just repeating Travolta’s words here. Apparently the two Hollywood heavyweights heard a rumor and now they’re tossing around the notion of following through with this project. Well, if they can hear one rumor, let’s hope they hear our response to it: this is a terrible idea. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is widely recognized as one of the greatest westerns of all time. Any remake of that story would be totally unnecessary – after all, there’s already the 1979 prequel Butch and Sundance: The Early Days starring Tom Berenger and William Katt for those die-hards who can’t get enough of the duo. (Not to mention a 1976 made-for-TV sequel called Wanted: The Sundance Woman starring Katharine Ross as Etta Place.) The western is ripe for a comeback, sure – some would argue that the past few years have represented a mini-renaissance within the genre – but there is so much more territory to be mined that Hollywood shouldn’t have to recycle characters and retell stories.

That being said, I direct your eye once more to the picture at the top of the page: Tom Cruise and John Travolta as cowboys? I shudder at the thought.