It's amazing how satisfyingly entertaining it can be to just watch Robert Redford and Paul Newman riffing off each other for 2 hours. Because that's basically what this film is, with a few quirky directorial choices thrown in by George Roy Hill to put his particular stamp on it.
It's clearly a western, but it's hard to call it either an action film or a drama. It really is the Redford and Newman show, and it really works!