Robert Redford

                                                             Part 3

Here’s another good bunch of Robert Redford movies. 

    As the title character in The Great Waldo Pepper (1975) Robert Redford plays a daredevil pilot from the early days of airplanes. He is so disappointed about not flying in combat during World War I that he seems to think of lots of ways to risk his life in a plane. The flying sequences are really good and Redford is good as a man seemingly determined to risk everything every time he gets into the cockpit. There are lots of near misses until there is one too many. 

Three Days Of The Condor (1975) features Redford as Condor, a rather bookish CIA operative. He doesn’t realize his section is destined for taking out. When he returns from lunch everyone else is dead. This then becomes one of the best of the films about CIA operatives becoming the target instead of the instigator. Condor endures the twists and turns of the story as various thugs try to end his employment permanently. He plans to survive by having his story printed in the New York Times. 

All The President’s Men (1976) is the true story about how the Washington Post brought down the Nixon presidency. Robert Redford portrays Bob Woodward and Dustin Hoffman is Carl Bernstein. Assigned by editor Ben Bradlee (Oscar winner Jason Robards) to work together, they are reluctant partners who come to trust and play off each other. They push and push to get the story right and get it out. The rest, as they say, is history! And I must say here that Watergate is pretty mild stuff to what we’ve witnessed recently. 

Brubaker (1980) is based on the true story of a prison scandal in Arkansas. Robert Redford portrays a reformist warden who is determined to reform the prison. He has discovered unmarked graves of prisoners, graft everywhere, torturing of recalcitrant prisoners, and other horrors. He is met with a crooked prison board and many contractors and vendors who have cheated the prison and pocketed the difference. Yep, it’s a Hollywood movie but don’t look for a happy ending here. 

The Natural (1984) is a baseball fairy tale. Robert Redford portrays Roy Hobbs, a baseball super star whose past is a mystery but whose ability is legend. His career is sidelined when he is shot by a deranged fan, and he doesn’t get to the major leagues until he is 35. He lands with the Knights, a perennial last place loser. Riding his fantastic hitting ability with his personal bat Wonderboy,  the Knights surge toward the top and wind up in a one-game playoff for the pennant against the Pirates. Roy endures several attempts to have him throw the game in exchange for lots of money, but he refuses. Roy spots his true love Iris (Glenn Close) in the stands and in the bottom of the ninth hits a monstrous home run that knocks out one of the lights standards and wins the game and the pennant. 

    All of the films in this article are for adults.