Robert Redford: Six Lesser-Seen Gems You Need To Watch
Hollywood – and Utah, and America, and movies at large – lost a true titan...
Hollywood – and Utah, and America, and movies at large – lost a true titan this week with the death of Robert Redford. Both in front of and behind the camera, he was a masterful presence, an icon of ‘70s cinema who reverberated through many more decades than that. Chances are, in the wake of his passing, you may have instinctively reached to rewatch All The President’s Men, or The Sting, or Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid – and rightly so. But the wider Redford filmography is packed with films that show his genius over the years, from under-seen early work, to his masterful directorial features, to late-career favourites.
If you’re revisiting Redford’s work, here are Empire writers’ picks of some hidden(ish) gems you need to see.
The Candidate (1972)
His second film with director Michael Ritchie following the equally excellent Downhill Racer, The Candidate sees Redford at his most engaging, playing left-leaning lawyer Bill McKay who is pulled into a Senatorial race against a Republican only to lose himself along the way. I love it partly because it is one of the most intelligent uses of Redford’s golden boy persona (he even looks like a Kennedy) but also because it highlights how, even before he became a director, the actor-producer was as much an auteur as any filmmaker. For, along with Downhill Racer and All The President’s Men, The Candidate brilliantly exposes the intricacies and dangers of a particular kind of work, in this case electoral campaigning. It’s classic Redford, played with charm, realism, irony and a real sense of political acuity. The film ends with McKay, in a sterile hotel room, asking: “What do we do now?” We didn’t have an answer in 1972. Frankly we have even less of a clue now. IF
Quiz Show (1994)
“All is not well with America”, a radio announcer says but two minutes into Quiz Show, Robert Redford’s fourth film as director, and one which hearkened back to the 1970s dramas that told us who he was as a man. Sharply written by Paul Attanasio and expertly wrangled by Redford, it is an unapologetically idealistic attack on corruption. Telling the true story of 1950s game-show Twenty One’s fixing scandals, and starring Ralph Fiennes and John Turturro, both delivering powerhouse performances (Redford himself doesn’t star in this one), it may ostensibly be about TV entertainment, but make no mistake: this is about truth and trust and decency. And in Redford’s hands the stakes feel as high as it gets, a pressure cooker of a thriller, constantly on the verge of boiling over. When people were saying they didn’t make ’em like they used to, a man who led the way when they did gave us this: a film showcasing the principles he’d always upheld. Robert Redford: they truly don’t make ’em like they used to. AG
The Old Man & The Gun (2018)
As swansongs go, you would struggle to find one that so elegantly showcases the essence of Robert Redford as The Old Man & The Gun. He would appear briefly in Avenger: Endgame with a cameo as villain Alexander Pierce, but for all intents and purposes, David Lowery’s charming character study of a career criminal unable to resist the draw of the heist — even in his senior years — is a pleasingly fitting last hurrah. As a filmmaker, Lowery’s love of his characters is always prominent (see also Pete’s Dragon, below). Here, he cultivates a stylish, understated world for Redford to run amok in. His character, Forrest Tucker, historically hasn’t fired his gun during his lengthy streak of bank robberies, meaning that the actor must weaponise those deep-rooted charms in order to score the bounty while also escaping the law. Photos of Redford in his earlier years are used as Tucker’s past mugshots, reminding us that his capable, beguiling presence has always been the stuff of legend. Through The Old Man & The Gun, he remains magnetic and untamed until the very end. BW
Sneakers (1992)
I’m pretty sure that Sneakers was the first Robert Redford film that I saw, and he wasn’t the reason I chose it: that would be his co-star, River Phoenix. But even as a grungy teenager it was obvious that this Redford guy was something special. Sneakers is an easygoing heist romp directed by Phil Alden Robinson; the plot is pleasingly twisty and the dialogue sharp (“I cannot kill my friend… kill my friend”). But what it really has going for it is one of the most insanely overqualified casts in film history. Alongside Redford and Phoenix (playing against type as a nerd) it boasts Sidney Poitier, Sir Ben Kingsley, Dan Aykroyd, James Earl Jones, David Strathairn and Mary McDonnell. Every one of them –Robinson too, for that matter – signed up to work with Redford. His Martin Bishop is a former ‘60s radical, giving him an idealistic do-gooding streak that fits Redford like a glove, and his onscreen friendship with Poitier’s Crease is maybe the only bromance that came close to matching his chemistry with Newman. He’s also insanely cool: laid-back somehow even when panicked, and the smartest guy in a room full of geniuses. Redford is the charisma engine that drives the movie, keeping everything light, breezy and outrageously charming. After that I remained Phoenix-focused, but I started seeking out old Redford movies too, and discovered whole new worlds. HOH
Pete’s Dragon (2016)
There are few Robert Redford films you can watch with all ages. No matter how old you are, Pete’s Dragon is a perfect pick to watch in the wake of his passing – a great big warm hug of a movie, that doesn’t shy away from darkness, but holds you close while you sit with it. This was Redford’s first collaboration with director David Lowery – later going on to lead The Old Man & The Gun – and even in a more minor role, there's clear kinship between them; Redford plays Conrad, father of Bryce Dallas Howard’s Grace, who finds an orphaned boy (and his giant dragon) living in the woods. In Lowery’s telling, the dragon becomes an embodiment of loss; a surrogate protector, a constant presence, a wild, unknowable thing. In Redford’s standout scene, we learn he, too, once saw a dragon in the woods, just before losing his wife – an encounter that, in the face of total devastation, opened him up to the majesty and magic of nature. It’s a beautiful film, and Redford – in elder statesman mode – channels its earthy wisdom and tender heart. BT
The Hot Rock (1972)
In a 2017 Reddit AMA, Steven Soderbergh revealed that this ’70s movie — so rarely seen that you may not even have heard of it — is his favourite heist film. If you can track down a copy, you’ll quickly see why. It’s an absolute blast, a caper about a band of thieves so inept that they have to keep stealing the same diamond (the titular rock) from multiple locations, first from a museum, then from a police station where one of them has unwisely stashed it, and so on and so on. Based on a book by Donald E. Westlake, written by William Goldman and scored by Quincy Jones, this gem's cool-credentials are sky-high. And they’re cranked considerably higher by Redford’s lead turn as beleaguered gang leader John Dortmunder, vexed by one setback (and dim-witted colleague) after another, and using every ounce of ingenuity to get them out of scrapes. A monologue he delivers, pinging between the pluses and negatives of their present situation, is the highlight of the whole thing, Redford at his breeziest and funniest. “Just tell me, will you plan the job?” his partner asks. He pauses, then smiles: “It's what I do.” NDS
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