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Back when the iconic western film first premiered, the top cast listing showed Newman, Ross, and Redford. Now, the order has changed—now it's Redford second only to Newman. Robert Redford, famed for his role, is among the hottest rising stars since Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman. Surprisingly, though passably grateful, fame means little to him.

“Not a Hollywood Man”

“I’m not,” he emphasizes, “a Hollywood man. Think of that figure who walks in and out the play by that celebrated story, repeating, ‘There’s no foundation—through and through’? Well, that echoes my sentiment when it comes to Tinseltown. It’s impossible to manage an art form like manufacturing any more, and they’re still trying exactly that. Movies in their eyes resemble consumer products. It disgusts me.”

Challenges Behind the Scenes

Naturally, many have said such sentiments from aspiring film men. Yet he, who talks very quietly, and honestly doesn’t seem to know why anyone should want to interview him, sounds as if he means it. Much of it stems from he put almost two years into a film called the sports drama only to discover battling the establishment proved more difficult than making a difficult movie.

His project, yet to premiere locally, in spite of the fact that sneak previews were being given well before Christmas, is out in the US garnering responses that indicate that the film is far beyond a simple sports film. “In fact,” he explains, “the focus is competition and competitors. That’s why I want to open it in London as skiing isn’t big here. It’s more likely of it surviving here as a study of human nature as opposed to just athletic action.”

“Studios preferred to premiere it where skiing reigns, showing it to all the experts. In truth… here is a movie which shows an American competitor earning the top prize in the downhill event. Wouldn’t that going to wow them? Goodness, provided that I stay away. It would be brutal.”

The Allure of Downhill Racing

“Why choose this sport? To me the perfect blend of poetry and danger, an excellent means through which to show the impact of competition. You have to be fearlessly committed to even attempt it. Having tried it, you’re transformed.”

“Consider aging skiers hanging about around the boys doing it now. They are pathetic. They can’t keep still. Nervous habits show nonstop. They’re worn out. Athletics is very cruel, both to the sophisticated and the unsophisticated. Often it prepares you only for the wrong things, shattering you entirely.”

From Sports to Stardom

Redford should know, he was once an excellent American football and baseball player, and could well have made a name in tennis too. “Wow, I really hated to lose,” he recalls, “but in the end it got to where I just couldn’t go on, win or lose. I used to look at the guy over the net and wonder—my, his left sock is coming down. That shoe will harm his foot soon, yet he’s so focused on winning ignoring the pain. I’d also see some spectator or other, wondering: ‘What the hell is he thinking at this moment? Is my game his proxy?, living his aspiration? By which time it was 0–40!!’”

Artistic Ambitions

An earlier interest, maybe his true calling, was art. He wandered across Europe for over a year in the late fifties, mixing with bohemian crowds, both genuine and not. Funds dried up while in Italy, yet encountered a mentor organizing an exhibition of his work covering his transportation back home. Back home, his restlessness took over. He turned to acting, first on Broadway, then television, culminating in cinema.

Projects like Daisy Clover, another hit, a Polonski film, Butch Cassidy, and Downhill Racer came one after another. Then came a motorcycle film, centered on bike racing co-starring Pollard. Subsequently, maybe a project about modern rodeo. Competition appears following him indefinitely.

And what about painting? He seems hesitant. “Well,” he confesses, “I’ve not painted recently. Which is why I’d like to take a rest from filming return to it. But can you really start again? I doubt it. It demands seriousness, you see. It’s got to be the whole of life. That said, this trip has stunned me in this respect. I feel compelled to pick up a brush.”

“Look at the light in this place. It’s stunning. Every day since arriving I wake early and wandered round in awe. It’s unlike anything such light. I need to return again soon. Perhaps when the film premieres—should that happen.”

A Nod to Paul Newman

“Wish I was as clever as Paul Newman. He’d manage that the film wasn’t messed around this way. Consider his work? “Yes, of course. However, Newman struggles against the bloody system.”