Robert Redford: A Tribute

Motion picture legend Robert Redford has passed.  He was 89.

The iconic actor and director’s accolades and awards are far too prolific to explore in detail.  So, we’ll offer this diverse film retrospective of some of the many memorable moments he gifted us on screen.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)

This cinematic classic chronicles the colorful last days of the infamous pair of frontier outlaws, making it clear that their kind is a rapidly dying breed.  An enduring masterpiece, the film co-stars screen icons Redford and Paul Newman and is masterfully directed by George Roy Hill.  The fetching Katherine Ross is outstanding in a crucial supporting role.

We are presented here with a remarkable character study of two wayward yet complicated men, their shared experience ingeniously disguised as a Western.  While a gripping saga, a pervasive undercurrent of humor, often decidedly dark, is present throughout.  The witty repartee between these two partners in crime delivers comic relief in all the right places.

Redford recalled that Newman fought hard for the studio to pair them together (Steve McQueen was the first choice) and their personal friendship endured long after the movie.

The soundtrack is wholly infectious.  Composed and conducted by Burt Bacharach, it features the international hit song “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head” performed by B.J. Thomas.

All Is Lost (2013)

All Is Lost is the absorbing tale of one man’s desperate fight for survival against an unrelenting and unforgiving sea.  Redford is remarkable and riveting in a literal one-man tour de force.  His character, which we know only as “Our Man”, says very few words (a Redford trademark) and never shares a single one of them in dialogue.

Ultimately, this is an introspective investigation into holding on to hope when the circumstances have long since become hopeless.

Many of us could watch this guy eat food straight from the can and still be entertained.  And that is precisely what Redford does in more than one scene in All Is Lost.   His performance is one for the ages.

Jeremiah Johnson (1972)

Redford is an unknown soldier, circa mid-1800s, who becomes a hard-worn mountain man in Sydney Pollack’s 1972 historical epic Jeremiah Johnson.

In his captivating journey, Redford transforms into one of the silver screen’s most prolific hand-to-hand combat badasses. He fights with fury, disposing one by one, an onslaught of Crow Nation braves with malicious intent.  But that’s not really the story here.

Ultimately, this is a poignant fable of family.  Three members are drawn together by escapist isolationism, unspeakable tragedy, and submission born of tradition, then savagely ripped apart.  Finally, with relentless purpose of both heart and mind, they’re avenged.

In the end, we’ve come to understand that blood, whether it be innate or cultivated, runs thick.  Thicker even than the water of the bitterly cold rivers running through the mountains that are the backdrop of this most unconventional Old West odyssey.

The Discovery (2017)

Left to a lesser cast, The Discovery would have been far less of a film.  But when you’ve got the greatness of Redford teamed with the likes of Rooney Mara, Jason Siegel, and the always-appreciated Mary Steenburgen, any movie’s got a damn good shot at being pretty good.

The Discovery, based on the premise of knowing one’s afterlife before death, is a provocative parable.  This sci-fi drama, peppered with darkly comic moments,  presents itself in a humanistic manner.  And that’s not easy to pull off for any group of actors.

What are your Redford favorites?  Let us know below.

-John Smistad

Photo: Public domain