Five Films to Celebrate Robert Redford

Exactly one month ago, Hollywood legend Robert Redford passed away at the age of 89. Through the lens of five films, here’s a glimpse at his unparalleled career.

Barefoot in the Park (1967) dir. Gene Saks

Redford’s career began on the stage, so it’s fitting that his breakout film came with the adaptation of his biggest role on Broadway: the romantic comedy Barefoot in the Park. Redford and Jane Fonda respectively play Paul and Corey Bratter, newlyweds struggling to adjust to married life in their dingy new Greenwich Village flat. Redford’s perfor

mance displays all the athleticism that earned him a baseball scholarship to university years earlier, while his drunkenness at the film’s climax shows the relationship with alcohol that lost him that scholarship. If nothing else, watch for a brilliantly drunk Redford.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) dir. George Roy Hill

Despite the onset of success, Redford repeatedly found himself pigeonholed as another California blonde. That mould finally broke with Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, when Joanne Woodward proposed his name to her husband (and Redford’s later co-star) Paul Newman. The two met, and Newman admired Redford’s approach and craft so much that he refused to do the film without him. The result is an iconic revisionist western, with Newman and Redford starring as two outlaws fleeing their impending demise through the wide horizons of Wyoming and beyond. An outstanding buddy comedy in western attire, it transformed Redford from a well-groomed suburban standout to a rugged, sardonic, yet ultimately lost creature of the open pasture.

The Sting (1973) dir. George Roy Hill

Newman, Redford, and Hill collaborated again four years later for another caper film, trading train robbers for Depression-era conmen to even greater results. Redford stars as Johnny Hooker, a small-time grifter taken under the wing of a former big-timer (Newman) to con a powerful New York mob boss and avenge his mentor. The cinematic equivalent of a gin and tonic with a twist, the film is endlessly suave, with magnificent Edith Head suits and a soundtrack so good it revived ragtime. Redford and Newman make the prototype for the stylish grifters that Clooney and Pitt would come to emulate in Ocean’s Eleven — only the former duo did it better.

All the President’s Men (1976) dir. Alan J. Pakula

Redford was engaged in politics throughout his career; he developed and starred in The Candidate (1972), a political satire about a Democratic outsider’s run for Senate, and he served as a local sewer commissioner to fight pollution near his Utah home. Yet arguably his greatest political contribution came through All the President’s Men. The most entertaining depiction of journalism ever put to screen, the film follows Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward (Redford) and Carl Bernstein (Dustin Hoffman) as they navigate the paranoia of Nixon’s Washington to unearth the most important political scandal of the twentieth century: Watergate. Journalistic bias aside, All the President’s Men is a masterpiece — a gripping story whose perfection extends from the sizzling, frenetic performances of the entire cast to the writing, direction, photography, wardrobe, all the way down to the unmooring score. The film even began with Redford, who first approached Woodward with the idea long before Nixon’s resignation. He bought the rights to their book before it was written and promised Post editor Ben Bradlee that Hollywood would not bungle their story. Redford kept that promise.

Ordinary People (1980) dir. Robert Redford

Redford’s acting career may carry the bulk of his legacy, but his directorial work is far from a footnote, either. He directed nine feature films over his career, none more successful than his directorial debut, Best Picture winner Ordinary People. Based on the novel by Judith Guest, it tells the story of a family struggling to heal from the tragic loss of the eldest son. Earning Redford the Oscar for Best Director, the film is both an exploration of broken family dynamics and a shockingly powerful depiction of mental illness, with the central actors (Timothy Hutton, Mary Tyler Moore, and Donald Sutherland) all giving unforgettable performances. It’s a testament to Redford’s belief in the power and responsibility of film — one which was later made manifest through his Sundance Institute and Sundance Film Festival, in which his legacy will live on.

Illustration by Ramona Kirkham