While you’re a larger-than-life, generation-spanning star like Robert Redford, the laborious reality is that each film is notable ultimately. He was iconic in his personal time, whether or not in entrance of the digital camera, or behind it. And in his lifetime, so lots of his movies transcended their authentic evaluations to seek out passionate fanbases: Simply ask older millennials in regards to the 1992 hacker film “Sneakers” or the “Sex and the City” era about “The Way We Were.”
Redford died Tuesday at 89, abandoning an arsenal of nice roles that he owned, whether or not he was enjoying a quiet CIA agent, a con man, a baseball participant, a grizzled mariner, an formidable journalist, or a captivating WASP in love. You can make a feast out of his Sydney Pollack collaborations alone, staring with “Jeremiah Johnson” (streaming on Tubi ), a traditional that additionally took on a shocking afterlife as a meme that grew to become so widespread, youthful generations didn’t even understand it was Redford behind that beard. His final position got here this yr, a cameo in “Dark Winds,” the AMC present about Navajo cops he produced.
It is a listing of a few of Redford’s most memorable performances, however don’t overlook in regards to the movies he directed, too: amongst them are the all-timers “Ordinary People” ( streaming on MGM+ ), which gained him the perfect director Oscar, and “Quiz Show” (hire on Apple TV+ ), which obtained him one other nod.
“Barefoot in the Park” (1967)
Redford and Jane Fonda play a passionate however mismatched newlywed couple whose relationship is examined by their walk-up New York condo on this Neil Simon comedy. Reprising the position he’d performed on Broadway, Redford is the uptight, conservative foil to her extra free-spirited character and so they’re each stunningly lovely and enjoyable to look at. Fonda informed The Guardian in 2015 that she was “always in love with Robert Redford.” He later responded that he wasn’t conscious. The 2 additionally appeared collectively in “The Chase” (1966), “The Electric Horseman” (1979) and “Our Souls at Night” (2017).
WHERE TO WATCH: Hire on a number of providers, together with Prime Video
“Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” (1969)
Redford met Paul Newman on “Butch Cassidy,” George Roy Hill and William Goldman’s Western buddy movie about outlaws on the run. It was the beginning of a lifelong friendship, nevertheless it nearly didn’t occur, for the reason that studio wished a star like Steve McQueen or Marlon Brando as an alternative of Redford.
“I was not a name equal to Paul’s. I was just sort of moving up at that time,” he informed the AP in 2015. “There was a big argument that went on for months and months. They said it had to be a star. (Newman) said, ‘Well, I want to work with an actor,’ because Paul respected acting. Had it not been for Paul, I would not have gotten that break.”
WHERE TO WATCH: Hire on a number of providers, together with Prime Video
“Downhill Racer” (1969)
A movie that’s as fashionable as it’s compelling, Redford performs an formidable and smug downhill skier out for Olympic gold on this Michael Ritchie movie. Roger Ebert, in his overview, wrote that it’s “a portrait of a man that is so complete, and so tragic, that ‘Downhill Racer’ becomes the best movie ever made about sports — without really being about sports at all.”
This was considered one of Redford’s ardour initiatives, his first unbiased characteristic that taught him some laborious classes about Hollywood. “That was when I learned about how the film industry really works,” Redford informed the Harvard Enterprise Assessment in 2002. “The studio simply tossed ‘Downhill Racer’ away without a second thought. I broke my heart trying to get that film promoted and distributed.”
WHERE TO WATCH: Stream on FuboTV, hire on Prime Video
“The Sting” (1973)
After the success of “Butch Cassidy,” “The Sting,” one other Hill movie, fell into place extra simply. Redford and Newman play grifters in 1936 Chicago who fleece Robert Shaw’s wealthy mobster on this memorable caper that went on to win finest image.
“What was interesting was the switcheroo,” Redford informed the AP. “Paul had played these iconic, quiet, still characters in the past, and that’s not what Paul is. He was a chatty, nervous guy who was always biting his fingernails. … He loved to have fun and play games.”
WHERE TO WATCH: Stream on Spectrum, Hire on a number of providers, together with Apple TV+
“The Way We Were” (1973)
Ah Hubbell, that lovely, carefree WASP who falls in love with Barbra Streisand’s fiercely opinionated Katie. The making of the Pollack movie, from a script standpoint, was fraught and the unique author Arthur Laurents was by no means fairly proud of the way it turned out. However this romantic drama with that memorable tune has endured over the generations (it was even a reference in a pivotal “Sex and the City” episode).
WHERE TO WATCH: Hire on numerous providers together with Fandango
“Three Days of the Condor” (1975)
Redford teamed with Pollack once more for this paranoid thriller a couple of quiet CIA codebreaker who returns from lunch solely to find his co-workers have all been murdered. The movie sends him on the run from the bosses concerned on this huge conspiracy, and a success man performed by Max von Sydow.
WHERE TO WATCH: Stream on MGM+
“All the President’s Men” (1976)
To Redford, the historical past of this movie was extra fascinating than the undertaking itself. He began obsessing over the Watergate saga throughout a whistle-stop tour for “The Candidate,” additionally a fantastic and prophetic Redford movie, when he overheard some journalists gossiping in regards to the break-in on the Democratic Nationwide Committee headquarters and have become fascinated by the journalists protecting the story, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein.
“I wanted to know who these guys were, who created all this disturbance,” Redford informed the AP. “I thought, ‘Wow, one guy was a Jew, one guy was a WASP. One guy was a Republican, the other guy was a liberal. One guy was a good writer, the other wasn’t very good. They didn’t like each other, but they had to work together. Now that’s an interesting dynamic I’d love to know about.’”
WHERE TO WATCH: Hire on a number of providers, together with Prime Video
“The Natural” (1984)
That is a type of movies that may not be many critics’ favourite, however its cultural impression nearly negates that. Redford performed baseball participant Roy Hobbs in Barry Levinson’s adaptation of Bernard Malamud’s novel about an up-and-coming expertise whose profession is derailed after getting shot, however who will get one other probability at greatness 16 years later.
WHERE TO WATCH: Hire on a number of providers, together with Prime Video
“Out of Africa” (1985)
This breathtakingly lovely historic romance (additionally directed by Pollack) finds Meryl Streep, because the Danish expat Karen Blixen, unable to withstand the charms of Redford’s huge recreation hunter Denys Finch Hatton, an English man with no accent (Pollack thought it will be distracting for audiences). The movie didn’t get the perfect evaluations, nevertheless it did go on to win the perfect image Oscar.
WHERE TO WATCH: Hire on a number of providers, together with Prime Video
“All Is Lost” (2013)
J.C. Chandor directed Redford on this harrowing survival story, by which a veteran sailor on a solo voyage within the Indian Ocean tries to outlive after his yacht is caught by a floating cargo container. Made for less than $9 million, it’s stripped-down and thrilling. “It’s a pure cinematic experience,” Redford informed The Hollywood Reporter. “And that was very appealing to me at this point in my life — to be able to go back to my roots as an actor, to be interesting enough to have the audience ride along with you and almost be a part of what you are feeling and thinking.” It’s seemingly a quirk of contemporary movie overview aggregation, however additionally it is his highest Rotten Tomatoes rating.
WHERE TO WATCH: Stream on Tubi, The Roku Channel
“The Old Man & The Gun” (2018)
This indie gem from filmmaker David Lowery, a couple of 70-year-old San Quentin escapee who embarks on a sequence of financial institution heists, was a little bit of a swan tune for Redford, who was 82 when it was launched. His character, Forrest Tucker, is the type of thief who left his victims disarmed, with one financial institution teller explaining to the police, “He was a gentleman.” It’s a type of movies that’s nearly comforting to look at, a reassuring testomony to his enduring attraction. Charisma doesn’t have to dwindle with age, and Redford was proof.
WHERE TO WATCH: Hire on a number of providers, together with Apple TV+
