Ever wonder how a gem like Downhill Racer, which Roger Ebert called “the greatest sports movie ever made,” could get lost in the Hollywood shuffle? In an interview for our release of the film (out next week), the star of and force behind it, Robert Redford, spoke frankly about the trials he faced getting his project made—and seen (including a mortifying, though very humorously recounted, screening experience with his friend Natalie Wood). The excerpt is presented here exclusively.
1969
101 min
Color
1.78:1
Categories: Video
1 Comments
Fri 13 Nov at 09:45 AM
Chris Decker
I remember “Downhill Racer” playing at the Elmwood Theatre in Berkeley when I was a kid. (To this day, I’m so grateful that my only neighborhood theatre was an art theatre.) Skiing was always a big thing for UC Berkeley-ites because the Sierras were only several hours drive away, and skiing was of course the ultimate in being cool. It was the students that kept this movie going — mostly because after “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” it was the perfect date movie because it had Robert Redford. It was also the time when Jean-Claude Killy was the heartthrob of the world from the 1968 Winter Olympics. And you always knew whoever talked about “Downhill Racer” at a party was either a skiier or a student — or both. It lost a lot in translation when it was shown on television, which was too bad. Nice to see it re-released again.
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