Remembering Robert Redford

We have so few, TRUE movie legends left in our world.

Few have led as powerful a career in front of and behind the camera as Robert Redford, who passed away today at the age of 89.

From his early days on the Broadway stage, to his legendary status on the big screen during the Sixties and Seventies, Redford leaves behind a powerful film legacy.

I've captured some of my favorite Redford films below in no particular order, but "Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid", "The Sting" and "All The President's Men" form a powerful trio that capture his star power, comedic timing and a rare charm and intelligence to match the defining movie star looks of a generation.

Behind the camera, he was a force, winning a Best Director Academy Award for "Ordinary People", the first of nine films he would direct.

For those of us of a certain age, a but of Hollywood History passed today, but the films he leaves behind will love on for generations.

Some of my Redford favorites, along with original trailers that capture those incredible big screen moments....

1969's Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is a modern classic. Paul Newman and Robert Redford define movie star power and charisma as the most charming outlaws to every grace the screen (at least until they teamed up again in The Sting). There are so many classic moments of dialogue in this western, "Did you use enough dynamite, Butch?" "Who are these guys!?" and "Swim??? The fall is going to kill you!". One of the all time great screenplays by William Goldman, perfectly executed by director George Roy Hill and accompanied by a perfect Burt Bacharach score, this is one of the best films of the sixties. Look for beautiful Katherine Ross and hilarious Strother Martin in supporting roles. Funny, exciting and smart, Butch and Sundance rob an A+ and a spot in my all-time top 100.

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4 years after the mega-hit and all time classic "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid", Director George Roy Hill and stars Paul Newman and Robert Redford teamed up again and found that same movie magic with THE STING.

I'm not sure there have ever been two movie stars more relaxed and effortlessly cool than Newman and Redford.

Redford is small-time con man Hooker, who crosses the wrong gangster by mistake during a street hustle. His long time partner is killed by that crime boss, Doyle Lonnegan, well played by Robert Shaw (Jaws, From Russia With Love).

Hooker relocates quickly to Chicago, partnering up with big time hustler Henry Gondorff (Newman).

They soon form a complicated puzzle of a hustle to steal a lot of money from Lonnegan.

The real fun is watching the pieces of the con game click into place in a smart and fun screenplay by David S. Ward. (Sleepless in Seattle, Major League).

Ray Walston is hilarious as a key part of the horse racing angle, Charles Durning (Sharky's Machine, The Fury) is perfect as a crooked Chicago cop with his eyes on landing Hooker and Robert Earl Jones (father of James) is strong as Hooker's first partner Luther, whose death motivates the Sting.

It all plays just as fun as it did in 1973 when it won 7 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Music adaption. Marvin Hamlisch deserved it for taking Scott Joplin's 1930's piano rags and making them part of popular culture again.

Surprisingly, this was the only film for which Redford was ever nominated for a Best Actor Oscar and Universal Studios first Best Picture win in 42 years!

I love the old fashioned titles and the title cards that introduce different chapters in the film like "The Set Up". Albert Whitlock's matte paintings are still great, well before CGI made anything possible on screen.

Roy Hill, Newman and Redford did amazing work together and they teamed up separately for other classic 70's films like Newman's 'Slap Shot" and Redford's "The Great Waldo Pepper".

With its clever ending that plays off their Butch and Sundance final scenes and a complicated but understandable plot that never panders to the audience, THE STING is a ton of fun for audiences 46 years after it's release and gets an A+.

Followed 10 years later by a sequel that audiences ignored completely, for good reason.

Stick with the Original. It's fantastic.

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They don't make movie stars like Robert Redford anymore. In 1984, four years after his last film "Brubaker", Redford returned to the screen in THE NATURAL.

Beautifully shot, leisurely paced and set to Randy Newman's all-time great music score, it's a baseball fable that spans decades.

The film opens with young Roy Hobbs (Redford) on his way to Chicago to play with the Cubs. There are glimpses of amazing talent and an anxious departure for the big city.

But the story doesn't take the path you expect, with a sudden tragedy derailing Hobbs for almost 20 years.

We move forward to the hapless New York Knights. Cellar dwelling, inept and frustrated, they can't believe it when Roy, far too old to be starting his career, walks into the clubhouse.

Wilford Brimley (Cocoon) is Pop Fisher, the coach who refuses to play him, thinking its a bad joke. Richard Farnsworth (Havana) is the asst coach who sees something in Hobbs beneath the quiet surface.

Darren McGavin is a glass eyed, powerful bookie, Kim Basinger is Memo, seductive bad luck in a white dress and Robert Prosky (Heat) is The Judge, who things any man can be bought.

Director Barry Levinson (Diner) and writer Robert Towne (Chinatown) carefully craft an episodic but legendary mythology.

Hobbs is superhuman with the baseball but a complete mystery off the field. Who is Roy and where's he been for 18 years?

Glenn Close is Iris Gaines, Roy's girlfriend who saw him off in that train station for Chicago decades ago. When she returns, she's got secrets of her own.

The heart of the film is on the baseball diamond and the Knights journey from the depths to a pennant contender is lot of fun. It's loaded with comedy , heart and romance for the game.

Hobbs most legendary home runs in the film are now part of movie history, with Newman's music soaring up as lighting and thunder boom and the crack of Roy's bat sends the ball up and into the stadium like a rocket. Clocks and scoreboards shatter, lights explode in showers of sparks that drip down on the celebrating players like fireworks.

While the first thirty minutes is shockingly unpredictable, the final thirty delivers exactly what you hope.

Redford is terrific from start to finish and his growth from innocent farm hand to a sports legend is sports movie nirvana.

There's nothing subtle about the storytelling. Virtuous characters seem bathed in golden light in almost every shot. Bad guys are wrapped in dark rooms and swirls of smoke, but Levinson's hand is sure and he pulls such great performances out of all his actors that you feel like you know them. Brimley and Farnsworth have never been better.

The other man present across all those years is Robert Duvall as sports reporter Max Mercy. For decades, he searches for who Hobbs really is as a man. Mercy seems to be the only character who straddles the line between light and dark and Duvall's terrific jumping back and forth over that border.

I loved Hobbs bat Wonderboy, hand-carved from a tree struck by lightning. Carrying it like Excalibur, Hobbs steps up to the plate and stares down the pitcher.

If the pennant was my Holy Grail, there's no one I'd rather have at bat than Roy Hobbs.

THE NATURAL rounds all the bases with an A+ and a lineup spot on deck to my all time top 100 lineup.

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A smart, clever thriller that holds up great for viewing today, THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR stars Robert Redford at his 1975 best as a researcher at a secret facility hidden away in NYC.

After it is attacked and everyone but Redford is killed by professional assassins, he goes on the run and is forced to dig into the reasons behind the killings.

Condor weaves a good tale with a great cast, including Max Von Sydow as a professional hit man doing his job, but not without extraordinary professionalism and judgment; Cliff Robertson as Redford's slimy boss (dig that 70's fur collar coat baby) and Faye Dunaway as the innocent woman Redford kidnaps in his desperation to escape.

Director Sydney Pollack keeps things moving quickly, while never losing his smart approach and he gets great support from Dave Grusin's jazz score and Lorenzo Semple, Jr and David Rayfiel's screenplay that never panders and expects you to pay attention.

An intelligent and exciting thriller with Redford at his movie star best.

We'll target Condor with an A.

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1975's THE GREAT WALDO PEPPER is a high flying adventure featuring Robert Redford as the title character. One of the best pilots (second best to be exact) of WWI, Waldo never achieved the glory he deserved. Now barnstorming for the locals and feeling modern aviation developing around him, Waldo seeks glory and one last face off against the greatest pilot he once faced in the war. This is a terrific film. I thought it was going to be a light comedy and was really surprised by the dramatic twists, turns and tragedy in the story. Written by one the 20th century's greatest screenwriters William Goldman, this screenplay sets up the story and characters perfectly and takes you places you won't expect. Redford is terrific, as are Bo Svenson, Margot Kidder in an early role and Bo Brundin as Ernst Kessler, Waldo's adversary in the air. Director George Roy Hill (The Sting, Butch Cassidy, Slap Shot) does it again. The Great Waldo Pepper truly soars to an A.

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Revisiting 1976's great film ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN makes you long for the day when journalists actually chased a story and didn't serve as lapdogs for political parties (no matter what side of the fence you may be on politically!).

Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman are young, new reporters Woodward and Bernstein, who start to report on the Watergate break in and uncover a much bigger story that changed the face of politics in the seventies.

An all-star cast portrays the real life players at the Washington Post and the White House, while real news footage shows Nixon and Agnew's actual reactions to their unraveling administration.

Jason Robards is GREAT as Post boss Ben Bradlee, while Jack Warden, Martin Balsam and Hal Holbrook provide strong performances.

While basically a movie about two reporters, the film plays like a suspense film as the two uncover deeper and deeper ramifications behind the facts that continue to pile up.

My only complaint is I would have liked the movie to have been longer and stuck with the story as the White House players began to fall like dominoes in the face of the breaking story.

A film classic, perfectly led by Redford and Hoffman as two undaunted, aggressive reports going where the story leads them, with the fortitude to stand behind the story.

Exciting, smart, a brilliant history lesson disguised as a thriller and deserving of an A.

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A great film from 1972 that is scary in its relevance to politics today, THE CANDIDATE is funny and insightful.

Robert Redford stars as Bill McKay, a young idealistic lawyer with no political aspirations. When heavy hitting political operative Marvin Lucas (Peter Boyle) needs an outsider to "shake up the status quo" (sound familiar??) he gives McKay a challenge.

He has no chance of winning against the popular long time incumbent, Senator Crocker Jarmon, so McKay can say whatever he wants to and set his own priorities.

When McKay's charm and straight forward, no BS delivery begins wowing voters, Mckay finds the ground shifting under his feet.

Melvyn Douglas (Being There, Hud) plays Bill's father and long-time politician John J. Mckay. Watching the elder McKay's interaction with his son throughout the campaign is fascinating.

Don Porter, a veteran TV actor from every hit show of the 70's is perfectly cast as the lifetime political veteran, Jarmon.

Allen Garfield (Nashville, The Cotton Club) also excels as campaign ad man Klein, who can tweak any message to any cause.

Director Michael Ritchie (Fletch, Smile, Downhill Racer) is on point weaving plenty of humor and intrigue into the politics and screenwriter Jeremy Larner only wrote one other film, winning an Academy Award for this intelligent script.

Redford is excellent, never less than 100% believable as he battles against the invasion of politics into his core ideals.

Smart, funny and damn entertaining THE CANDIDATE is a winner and lands an A.

Redford was a true movie star, a breed that grew even closer to extinction with his passing this am. RIP Bob.