So Long Sundance

 I don't need to explain the title of today's post.  It should be obvious, and if it's not, maybe you should stop reading because this post isn't for you.

I was a babe of the late 60s and a child of the 70s.  I grew up listening to my mother's copy of the soundtrack of "Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid."  I still have the lp.  The music of Burt Bacharach shouldn't work with this "western," but it does and I have been in love with it since I was a little girl. 

Even as a little one I fell immediately in love with this movie and its two leading men.  You can't go wrong with Newman and Redford.  (Katherine Ross is perfect too.)  That was proven to me by their other great film, The Sting. (Which I very clearly recall watching on tv the morning I came home from the hospital in June 2008.)  These two films, two of my favorites, are in rotation on the Bfthie channel; a digital line up created by my husband of some of my favorite films.

Robert Redford was incredibly handsome, that goes without saying.  However, he was also an incredibly gifted and talented actor and director.  (Not to mention environmentalist.) To this day I think that his directorial debut, Ordinary People is one of the truest films ever.  The cast is splendid and Redford did an amazing job creating this painful and heart breaking film.

With that said, I'd like to list ten of my favorites, in no particular order.  I have NOT seen all of his works (either as an actor or director), which may be why some of your favorites will not find their way here.  I'd also like to say that I think the film for which he should have won an Oscar (he did win a Golden Globe) is All Is Lost, which I do not have on this list. It a powerful film, but for me it was too painful to watch more than once.

• Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid:  The music, the dialogue and the chemistry between the actors.  Does it get any better than this?
• The Sting:  See above.  I don't know if it's better, but it is proof that Redford and Newman knew their craft and themselves.
• Barefoot In The Park:  The quintessential Neil Simon play and Redford IS Paul Bratter.  He's not just a pretty face; he is the "straight laced" young man trying to be what he thinks (and the times thought) he should be.
• The Hot Rock:  I remember seeing this on the 4:30 movie. (Anyone else remember this?) It's not the greatest movie, but I can remember that after watching it, I wrote one of my first (my first?) short stories about a young girl living in a boarding house that her mother runs.  One day while her mother is away (I don't remember what diversion I created), three men break in, looking to hide out after a robbery.  The girl breaks her leg and she and one of the robbers (a "Redford type") go on the run with the loot.  Don't ask me anymore because I can't remember and I have no idea where those pages ended up.
• The Way We Were:  Who didn't want to be Barbra Streisand in this movie?  Maybe you didn't want the pain that she endured, but she had Robert Redford!  The bitter sweet romance cannot be topped.  (And I'm so glad no one tried to).
• The Great Gatsby:  While not as good as the book, it's just a good movie to look at.  It captures the period and the people (as despicable of some of them may be.)  Yes, you may just want to slap Daisy, but...
• The Electric Horseman:  Redford and Fonda together again.  The film may be from 1979, but it screams 1980s.  Redford decked out in "cowboy gear" covered in electric lights?  I watched this over and over again when it aired on HBO.  
• Out of Africa:  I don't know if I should count this one.  I've never seen it completely all the way through.  I've seen the whole thing, but never all together and I should.  Meryl Streep is at her best (when isn't she?) and Redford, well, he's damned good too.
• Sneakers: It's dated now, but felt so cutting edge when it came out.  The whole cast is stellar.  Where else are you going to find Redford with Sidney Poitier, David Strathairn, Dan Aykryod and Ben Kingsley? Not to mention the often underrated Mary McDonnell?
• Our Souls At Night:  One final Redford and Fonda movie, which captures the loneliness of old age.  Maybe that's what drew me in?  Feels honest to me and I'm so glad I saw this.

Now it was hard to just pick 10 out of all the Redford films that I've seen so I'd add the following as almost favorites and worth a look, if you're looking:

• Inside Daisy Clover:  A "quirky" film if there ever was one and Redford is believable as a bisexual  (at least for the time in which this film was made).
• The Candidate:  You'd vote for him, wouldn't you?  (All the way with Bill McCay!)
• Jeremiah Johnson:  A bearded Redford at his most rugged in the cruel, cold mountains.  This 1970s movie would never be made today.
• Three Days of the Condor:  Redford is a "reader" for the CIA and one day everyone in his office is killed while he is out picking up lunch.  That should be enough to get you watching.
• All The President's Men:  Don't think I need to say anything about this one.
• The Natural:  You don't have to like baseball to like this film.
• Legal Eagles:  Another "quirky" film and very 1980s
• Up Close & Personal:   You WILL cry at the end.
• The Horse Whisperer:  I've only see part of this film and was definitely drawn in.  I need to find it and watch it from start to finish.
• An Unfinished Life:    Underrated film in my opinion.  Redford is a grandfather with complicated feelings about his widowed daughter-in-law.

And then there are the films that I need and want to see that I haven't.  (Maybe they'll show up on a TCM retrospective soon?)  These include:  Situation Hopeless, But Not Serious, This Property Is Condemned, Downhill Racer, The Clearing, A Walk In The Woods, and The Old Man & The Gun.

 Have I left anything off that you would recommend?  As always, let me know...