Robert Redford

                                                             Part 2

Moving along chronologically, here is another handful of excellent movies starring the one and only Robert Redford.

Jeremiah Johnson (1972) is, as they say, based on a true story. Robert Redford is the title character, a legendary mountain man. Johnson has many adventures and many encounters with the Indians in the area. Some help him, some hate him. He reluctantly leaves his wife and son alone in their cabin to guide a US Army troop to their desired location. But when he returns he discovers his entire family has been killed by the Crows.  He goes after them with a vengeance. 

The Candidate (1972) is a cautionary tale for our time. Robert Redford is the candidate of the title, Bill McKay. A very popular California Repblican senator is up for re-election and probably unbeatable. The pols rope in charismatic, attractive McKay, telling him since he will lose, he can say anything he wants. He does. But the polls are terrible and he is convinced to change tactics. He ekes out a win he doesn’t really want and asks his handlers “What do we do now?” Indeed. There are lots of Bill McKays around filling up space as governors, senators and assorted ne’er-do-wells. 

The Way We Were (1973) pairs Redford with Barbra Streisand. He is an apolitical WASP and she is a cause-oriented Jew. This unlikely couple falls in and out of love several times. When they’re together it’s just so romantic you want to eat them up. But there are ruptures and sadly they part for good. This was a hugely successful film and the song from the title hit number one on the Billboard chart. 

The Sting (1973) reunites the happy warriors Robert Redford and Paul Newman. They are consummate con men and together they decide to take down racketeer Doyle Lonnegan by means of an incredibly complicated sting. It involves setting up a dummy horse racing betting parlor and getting Lonnegan to believe that it is real and he is about to get rich. Robert Shaw as Lonnegan is wonderfully unlikeable and you can’t wait for him to be victimized. Warning: You have to stay with this movie- the plot is dense and sometimes difficult to follow. This film won 10 Oscars including Best Movie and Best Director. 

The Great Gatsby (1974) is the third of four movie renditions of the F. Scott Fitzgerald novel. Guess what: None of them are very good. Robert Redford is just fine as Gatsby in this one and Mia Farrow is good as the ephemeral Daisy. Her laugh “sounded like money”.  I guess blame the screenplay, but it’s still watchable for the beautiful people and the scenic locations. The 2013 version with Leonardo DiCaprio as Gatsby isn’t much better. Scott Fitzgerald perfectly caught a certain group of Americans in the 20's. Unfortunately, the movies cant’ seem to follow suit. 

All of the movies in this article are for adults.