The late, great Robert Redford is modern American cinema. The modern American cinema cannot exist without him.
Just alone on his acting credits, he was the Sundance Kid. Bill McKay. Jeremiah Johnson. Johnny Hooker. Hubbell Gardiner. Bob Woodward. The Condor. Jay Gatsby. Henry Brubaker. Roy Hobbs. Denys Finch Hatton. Legends.
Redford’s charisma on the screen was generationally effortless, the All-American glint in his eye, the warmth of his delivery, the cunning smile that hid a lifetime of wisdom, wit and a drop of danger. He was someone you trusted, yes, but he could flip at the drop of a hat. He could affirm your spirit or convince you to betray your best interests.
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That sublime dexterity behind such steely resolve made him a movie star. He was commanding, handsome, laser-focused and passionate. While he didn’t hop on a chopper in Easy Rider or pay his respects to the Don in The Godfather, Redford was an unshakable pillar of New Hollywood. He was at the forefront of the industry’s transformation behind the backdrop of American unrest. You can’t imagine New Hollywood without Redford.
When he wasn’t blasting his way out of danger with Butch Cassidy, he was lending his generational screen candor to pressing films of their time. The Candidate weaved a thorny lattice about the shadows of political power, while All the President’s Men canonized the bravery it takes to shine the light of truth upon them. The Great Gatsby is one of the great American tragedies, and Brubaker was ahead of its time in critiquing the treatment of the incarcerated.
After all, Redford never shied away from his political advocacy. He became one of the great conservationists of his time, was a fierce humanitarian and championed liberal causes he saw righteous. He used his platform to advance his morals, taking his duties as an American citizen seriously in trying to shape the country he wanted to live in.
His filmography is, of course, lined in Hollywood gold. Films like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, All the President’s Men, The Way We Were, The Sting, Three Days of the Condor, The Natural and Out of Africa are musts for any cinephile in understanding New Hollywood and the way adult dramas evolved into the 1980s. His work behind the camera gave us gems like Ordinary People, A River Runs Through It, Quiz Show and The Horse Whisperer. He leaned into his political mind for late-career credits like Lions for Lambs, The Conspirator and The Company You Keep, none of them masterpieces but all of them patches in the fabric of Redford’s perspective.
Just from his work in front of and behind the camera, Redford was vital. He was one of the great movie stars and one of the golden standards of translating mastery in acting to mastery in filmmaking. There were few like him.
However, perhaps his most lasting contribution to the modern American cinema was the Sundance Film Festival. Long the bastion of independent cinema stationed in the snowy hideaway of Park City, Utah, Sundance gave a platform to some of the most important filmmakers of our time, names like Quentin Tarantino, Steven Soderbergh, Kevin Smith, Darren Aronofsky, Robert Rodriguez, Jim Jarmusch, Todd Field and, more recently, Jordan Peele, Ryan Coogler, Jane Schoenbrun, Damien Chazelle and Celine Song. The list of filmmakers (and films!) goes on and on.
The American independent boom of the 1990s basically started in Sundance; Redford’s imprint on global independent film cannot be overlooked. Even as it moves to Colorado, Sundance remains a key fixture in the way we consume independent film and launch the careers of filmmakers who will carry the hallowed medium into tomorrow.
Even in the 2010s, Redford kept proving his immense worth to the modern American cinema. He worked with a New Hollywood acolyte in J.C. Chandor on All is Lost and built a beautiful two-film partnership with David Lowery on Pete’s Dragon and The Old Man & the Gun. He played another famous journalist, Dan Rather, in Truth. He even portrayed the villain in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, the film often credited as giving the Marvel Cinematic Universe — as consequential a movement in modern American film — the creative license to experiment with approach. That his bad guy, Alexander Payne, was a secret fascist embedded in a key global leadership role spoke volumes.
His last major screen credit was Avengers: Endgame in a throwaway cameo, but 2018’s The Old Man & the Gun stood as a perfect swan song for the Redford we knew and loved. In it, he played a kindly old man with a knack for robbing banks and escaping after being caught. The role hearkened back to the wily Redford we knew as the Sundance Kid, the one pulling off schemes in The Sting and running for political office in The Candidate. Few actors have ever given their characters such a winsome edge, capable of lifting you up and breaking your heart in a wink.
As John Mellencamp sang, ain’t that America? The country can lift you up and knock you down just as easily, but the perseverance to keep keeping on was always alive in Redford’s work. Even in the final shootout for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, you want to believe they get out of Dodge and keep riding for another day. Sure, perhaps that was their final rodeo, but the film’s brilliant ambiguity leaves open the notion for another sunset. Redford kept the American dream alive in his work without ever hiding the American nightmares. Despite them, he still believed in what this grand American experiment could be, in what this ever-changing medium on the big screen could attain.
The modern American cinema will forever owe a debt to Redford, as it would not be possible without him. We’ll keep hope alive without ever forgetting its pratfalls, as the best New Hollywood film would challenge us to do. Pop on a Redford classic in his memory, and remember to keep faith in America and the movies. It’s what he would’ve done.
This article originally appeared on For The Win: Robert Redford forged and upheld the modern American cinema
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