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List Price: $29.95 | | Label: Criterion
Salesrank: 6612
Released: November 17, 2009 |
| Our Price: $19.99 |
| Used Price: $23.88 |
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MPAA Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Astonishing Alpine location photography and a young Robert Redford in one of his earliest starring roles are just two of the visual splendors of Michael Ritchie’s visceral debut feature, Downhill Racer. In a beautifully understated performance, Redford is David Chappellet, a ruthlessly ambitious skier competing with an underdog American team in Europe for Olympic gold, and Gene Hackman provides tough support as the coach who tries to temper the upstart’s narcissistic drive for glory. With a subtle screenplay by acclaimed novelist James Salter, Downhill Racer is a vivid character portrait buoyed by breathtakingly fast and furious imagery that brings the viewer directly into the mind of the competitor.
Stills from Downhill Racer (Click for larger image)
Description of Downhill Racer (The Criterion Collection):
Robert Redford stars in this excellent 1969 film about a selfish and ambitious athlete who wants to break records at the Olympics but not participate in the teamwork emphasized by his coach (Gene Hackman). Redford comes across as a rare heel, and the film's understated tone keeps the focus on characters and sundry themes important to director Michael Ritchie (The Candidate): the sacrifices of the race, the price of winning, the fear of losing. --Tom Keogh
Downhill Racer (The Criterion Collection) Reviews:
The best (and only) major film about downhill ski racing 
2009-12-16 - "Downhill Racer" stars Robert Redford in his prime as David Chappellet, a taciturn loner from Colorado, who competes with an underdog American team for Olympic gold in Europe. Gene Hackman co-stars as the coach who tries to temper Chappellet's narcissistic and reckless drive for glory.
"Downhill Racer" came out late in 1969 hot on the heels of Redford's success with "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid." Unfortunately it wasn't marketed properly and failed at the box office, but don't let that deter you 'cause this is a great film well worthy of your time.
Although the movie is from '69 and therefore has obvious dated aspects, "Downhill Racer" was very innovative in it's time and holds up amazingly well to this day. In fact, aside from the ski paraphernalia, I don't find the film dated at all. It somehow has a fresh quality and plays out like a docudrama similar to, say, "Saving Private Ryan," which was made nigh three decades later(!).
"Downhill Racer" is reminiscent of 1966's "The Blue Max" in that both films are about an unlikable loner who is ruthlessly ambitious in his area of skill and functions as a fish out of water in the social circles to which he's thrust. It goes without saying that if you liked "The Blue Max" you'll probably like this one too. Both rank with my favorite films of all time.
Downhill racing is an insanely hazardous sport in that the skier can reach speeds of 80-90 mph(!). Needless to say, one bad fall could take you out for life. Downhill is also an extremely individualistic sport, which is well pointed out in the story when a teammate criticizes Chappellet for not being a team player and another guy responds, "Well, it isn't exactly a team sport, is it?" Needless to say, it takes a very certain kind of individual to be successful at downhill -- someone who's ultra-daring and bold; someone with a wild, reckless edge balanced by the necessary discipline to train and compete. Redford effectively plays such a person here. He rises up in the ranks to become the American team's only true hopeful; the coach attempts to somewhat keep him under reigns and criticizes his individualism and recklessness even while he knows these are the very qualities that makes him a winner. Throughout the picture Chappellet and the coach act like they don't like each other at all, and it's true because Chappellet is a loner in the truest sense, but ultimately the coach is squarely on the young racer's side: When it comes time for the vital Olympic run the coach looks into Chappellet's eyes and confidently states, "You can win this."
Take note of the stark contrast of Chappellet's plain hometown in Colorado and the glitz of the European ski resorts where he races. Also contasted is Chappellet's throw-away hometown girl ("Do ya have some more of that gum" -- LOL) and the glamorous self-absorbed babe he hooks up with in Europe (Camilla Sparv of "Mackenna's Gold" fame); she gives him a good taste of his own bad self, if you know what I mean. Also of interest is his 'relationship' with his distant father, a simple country man who doesn't understand his son's preoccupation with skiing and the lack of financial gain thereof.
While watching I couldn't help but think of Bill Johnson, the unlikely downhill gold medal winner for the USA in the '84 Olympics. Like Chappellet he was cocky & reckless and irked the European snobs with his bold predictions of Olympic victory. I have no doubt that "Downhill Racer" was one of Bill's favorite films. Unfortunately Mr. Johnson staged an improbable comeback bid for the 2002 Olympics that ended abruptly with a horrible downhill crash in March, 2001, leaving him permanently brain-damaged and in need of constant care. How the mighty have fallen!
One cavil I have with "Downhill Racer" is that Redford is playing a person in his early 20s while he was 32 years-old during filming and looks it. But this is just nitpicking.
Highly recommended.
The Best Ski Movie - Ever!
2009-12-06 - I first saw this film when it was released in 1969. I was a graduate student and part-time ski instructor in western New York, a time when my professional and avocational skiing interests were in full development. I loved it then, and I still love watching it now! It captured the essence of the ski racing scene and gave me touchpoints to use with my student skiers. Much later when I was at the University of Colorado (Redford's daughter was a CU student at the time), I got involved in the World Cup races in Aspen and saw much of the same behavior with the top competitors (many of whom were absolute jerks). Redford and Hackman are superb in refecting these dynamics and the attitudes of world-class athletes. I already have two VHS copies of the the film and am purchasing the new DVD version. Enjoy!
Stein Eriksen / Alf Eugen
2009-11-22 - From early days of skiing I always admired and copied Stein Eriksen's style and grace on skis. He dances with the mountain better than anyone else I have ever seen. The essence of this is captured in the Alpine style of the skiers in this movie. Their equipment is classic, everything is classic. I'm still skiing on my Volkl Reintigers and will continue to do so until ski manufactures rediscover the beauty and grace of skiing with ankles locked together in a waltz with the mountain. Stein if you read this review I'm sure you know what I mean.
Criterion Gives this Obscure Sports film their Deluxe Treatment 
2009-11-18 - "Redford and Salter" is an interview with Robert Redford and the film's screenwriter James Salter. They talk about the genesis of Downhill Racer. Redford wanted to make a trilogy of low-budget films about winning based on his experiences with sports. He chose skiing because he hadn't seen many films dealing with it. Redford liked that Salter approached the material in an abstract way. They also both wanted to explore the nature of winning.
"Coblenz, Harris and Jalbert" features interviews with production manager Walter Coblenz, editor Richard Harris and technical adviser/ski double Joe Jay Jalbert. They discuss their involvement in Downhill Racer. Jalbert point out that many of its dynamics ring true today. The film's cinema verite style is still popular with skiers of today. All three men tell several engaging filming anecdotes.
"Michael Ritchie at the AFI" includes audio excerpts from a 1977 seminar at the American Film Institute. Naturally, he talks about working on Downhill Racer and his career in T.V. He also speaks about getting involved in the project and the studio's resistance to the film.
Also included is the trailer.
Finally, there is "How Fast?" a promotional featurette done for the film's theatrical release. Narrated by Redford, it's not your usual press kit fluff, opting instead for a fascinating look at the sport of skiing before showing off some really good behind-the-scenes footage.
A Significant Piece of Film History
2009-10-24 - Given that this film has been taught and studied in film schools for almost three decades, it's arrival on Criterion seems egregiously late. Be that as it may.
Why is it an important piece of film history? This film represents creative successes and marketing failures.
Actors: Robert Redford, Gene Hackman, Camilla Sparv, and Dabney Coleman all give restrained performances that are more intense for their economy. Well directed, these actors underplayed their roles and allowed personal and emotional tensions to build. It's a style of acting that is no longer in vogue, but this presents a classic example of it. There is a timelessness in the acting, too: despite the economy of portrayal, the complexity of every persona is clear. The audience knows each moment. The cafe scene between Hackman and Redford and the car scene between Redford and Sparv are some of the best in the film.
Director: Michael Ritchie has a strong creative vision, to be sure. He may be one of those artists who captured the aesthetic and ethos of a time at the expense of the rest of his career. In this movie and "The Candidate" Ritchie hit his peak. Like so many creative directors, he had to sacrifice his creative vision in order to continue his career on the strength of his technical skills. "Downhill Racer" and "The Candidate" are the early films in his career that still inspire young cinéastes studying the history of the medium, but they were influential in their own time, too. "Fletch Lives" and "The Golden Child," both Ritchie films, were made for box office marketability, as was pretty much everything he made after 1980. Perhaps Ritchie took that turn after the seed planted from the sting of "Downhill Racer." His own influences are clearly seen in "Downhill Racer" as his is place in the New Hollywood movement.
Writing: James Salter wrote the screenplay. Enough said. But, to say more: the common Salter themes are present, but also visible is his reading of Pindar. The victory odes of Pindar remain enduring examples of the psychology of victory, that apogee of mortality tangent to divinity on earth--a celebration of arêtê and the physical and mental discipline at any cost, in the ancient Greek mind, that is. The final scene and its seemingly early cut are as Pindaric as Olympian 1.
Marketing: The studio had no idea what to do with this film. The production staff, director, and actors all saw themselves as making an art house film. In an era long before Miramax, this was no easy task. The studio execs marketed it as an action film. Audiences, expecting one thing, saw another. "Downhill Racer" was a box office flop. Redford took this personally. This was the experience, actually the first of a string of studio "misunderstandings," that compelled him to found the Sundance Institute.
History: "Downhill Racer" is definitely a product of its time. As the New Hollywood movement was trying to make more "art house" movies, more inspired by French New Wave and less by "classical" Hollywood, these directors were trying to make creative and aesthetically edgy films on a shoestring budget, and they did. "Downhill Racer" and "Easy Rider" are some of the best examples of this moment in film history. (Cinema won't see that effort again until the Dogma movement.)
And if you happen to be a skier, especially a former racer, you'll see the soul of the sport. Sure, the equipment and technique is dated, but the attitudes and lifestyle are timeless.
Thank you, Criterion, for releasing this just in time for ski season!
