Robert Redford has died today at the age of 89 but he leaves behind a legacy of films that will last forever. While he was far more than just an actor – the Sundance Film Festival is testament to that – he really was one of the best actors the cinema has ever seen, with iconic role after iconic role.
Here is our pick of his ten best performances:
There is barely any dialogue in this film about a solo sailor who has a collision with a shipping container at sea, and has to survive out at sea. But Redford is utterly gripping as the Man who has to draw upon all his knowledge and determination to deal with storms, sharks and dwindling supplies as he clings to life. Redford’s weather-beaten face fits this scene perfectly, and his ability to embody human frailty while remaining a beacon of hope – the hair was never less than golden even as he grew old – makes this one to remember.
9. Indecent Proposal (1993)
Adrian Lyne’s ethically dodgy mega-hit wouldn’t have worked without Redford. He plays millionaire John Gage who meets the financial struggling David and Diana Murphy (Woody Harrelson and Demi Moore) in Las Vegas; he ends up making the famous offer: “A million dollars, for one night with you wife.”
This was controversial at the time but in the age of OnlyFans is possibly less so now. But the point is, that as Diana becomes sucked into Gage’s high-rolling world, you only believe its possible because Redford manages to steer the character away from pure sleaze into an embodiment of the power of wealth, with all its morally bankrupt allure.
Very fun Noughties classic with Redford heading up an ensemble cast also featuring River Phoenix, Sidney Poitier, Sir Ben Kingsley, James Earl Jones and Dan Aykroyd. It’s a caper about a team of security specialists and hackers recruited to steal a black box from Russia. It’s kind of a proto-Mission: Impossible cyber crime thriller that was certainly of its day but remains watchable thanks to its sharp script and winning performances. Redford is the perfect good guy who has to break the law to save the world, as ever.
Beautiful baseball film following the life of an impossibly gifted player who goes through trials and tribulations before making it to the pro game. It’s a great feel-good film about belief and love and the little man against corruption. Prime Redford, his Roy Hobbs is a lesson in how to be leading man, back when sensitivity and care were considered aspirational.
Redford at his romantic lead peak, as he plays a big-game hunter in Kenya, who has an affair with Meryl Streep’s plantation owner. Sydney Pollack’s film hasn’t dated terribly well, but Streep and Redford make for an unbelievably compelling pairing.
Not often mentioned amid his 70s purple patch of classic after classic, but well, this is a classic, a political comedy about the handsome son of a former governor who is recruited to run as a Democratic candidate in California in a hopeless race against a big favourite Republican; no respected Democrat politician wants to stand, so a pretty face is better than nothing. What happens is the candidate Bill McKay (Redford) starts to tell the truth about what he thinks, and the film goes on to explore the compromises of politics, and the war between truth and lies in playing with the public. Compared to America now, its depiction of a compromised American democracy is almost quaint.
4. All The President’s Men (1976)
Redford plays Bob Woodward, opposite Dustin Hoffman’s Carl Bernstein, in this classic about the Washington Post journalists who uncovered the Watergate scandal which ended the presidency of Richard Nixon. A masterclass in 70s socially-engaged grit and charismatic star power, this is enthralling viewing.
3. Three Days of the Condor (1975)
All of these now are essential classics from the peak era of cinema where cinematic iconoclasts met cine-literate audiences for movies that provoked, challenged and met head-on the paranoia of the era. Three Days of the Condor is a conspiracy theory classic from the days before American governments realised they could say they were victims of conspiracies in order to cover up their conspiracies. Redford plays a CIA researcher called Turner, who returns from lunch one day to find all of his colleagues are dead. He immediately goes on the run, trying to uncover the truth while escaping assassins. Insanely gripping.
2. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
Just too good. Director George Roy Hill reinvented the Western for the counter-cultural times with an anarchic and loveable ode to anti-heroes with a never-bettered coupling of Paul Newman as Butch and Redford as Sundance. So many great moments here, but Sundance’s ‘I can’t swim!’ (see video) is probably the very best. One to watch at least once a year.
There is a school of thought that The Sting is too lightweight to really stand toe-to-toe with The Godfather or Chinatown. What a joyless school that is. The Sting is one of the very greatest films and sheer bliss from start to finish. Redford is Hooker opposite Newman again, the pair a couple of hustlers who go for the big sting on Robert Shaw’s crime boss. The ragtime music helps glide the whole thing through, and the 30s period stylings are a delight, but it’s Newman and Redford who centre it, with Redford utterly appealing as the slick conman with the ability to charm your clothes off your back. What a god.
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