Robert Redfort Tribute

Of course, I noticed Robert Redford first in Out of Africa, but I was young and unshrunken at that point, and I preferred bad boys who were aggressive. The lovely man he portrayed didn’t quite do it for me then.

It was The Way We Were that hooked me. I don’t think it was his best performance, he looked uncomfortable with the way the whole story revolved around how he looked to a woman who felt insecure about her own appearance. Terrible movie. But that’s when I fell in love with him. I’m not proud of it.

My sister later took me to a screening of his directorial debut, Ordinary People, in New York City. That’s when I knew he was made up of much more than what we saw outside. And his Academy Awards acceptance speech? It was about trust. The trust actors put in him and the seriousness with which he took that responsibility. I’ve never heard a director’s acceptance speech like it before or since.

Then, of course, there’s Sundance. Yes, it started partly because he needed a nonprofit structure to support the land. But the good that came out of it, the thoughtful, intelligent approach, changed the course of independent film forever. A debt that will never be repaid, though I doubt he ever cared about repayment.

And then there was his statement after Kavanaugh was confirmed, when he said for the first time he wasn’t proud to be a member of this country he had always loved. He was more articulate than me, but what mattered was how clearly he saw what so many of us were feeling. And how early he saw it.

Let’s face it, we’ll never really know who he was as a human. But I did see him often in the lobby of an apartment building on Fifth Avenue, and he was always cordial and polite to everyone. I like to think I’m a decent judge of character instantaneously, though we all know that is ridiculous. Still, he seemed like a very good man.

Truth be told, I actually liked some of his later films more than his earlier ones. And here are some of my thoughts around some of his films.

The Last Castle

He plays a four-star general in a military prison, leading an uprising not because he wanted to but because he knew he had to. Inspirational. The moment when a soldier gives him a weak salute and he laughs, kind but firm, saying, “No, it wasn’t,” is flawless. And the ending, raising the American flag upside down, stays with me now more than ever.

The Horse Whisperer

The first time he directed himself and a cast, on his own ranch no less. It’s a quiet, tender film, where he doesn’t have to overplay anything. And it gave us Scarlett Johansson in her first big role, he and she are brilliant together. The timing on their conversation at the table where she tells him about the accident? Impeccable.

All Is Lost

The “boat film.” Just him, alone, no dialogue, no soccer ball like Tom Hanks had in Cast Away. Grueling, stripped-down, and intimate. Not a perfect movie, but a performance that shows his grit and restraint. Worth watching for what he pulls off without a single co-star.

All the President’s Men

The one he fought to make when no one wanted it. Studios said Watergate was a dead issue, but he insisted it wasn’t about politics, it was a detective story about journalism, hard work, and defending the First Amendment. "It took four years, and the studio, they said, 'Politics? I don't think so,'" Redford said in 2006. "You know, 'Watergate is a dead issue.' And I said, 'It's not. It's a detective story about investigative journalism and about the American trait of hard work, and hard work led to something that spared us the loss of our First Amendment. That, to me, is worth making.'" He was right. And the result is one of the most important films in American history.

I thank him for all these years. No scandals. No disgrace. Just the work and the life. - Christine Merser