Adieu, Sundance Kid

Robert Redford was an icon of American cinema whose political courage and dedication to independent storytelling left an indelible mark far beyond Hollywood.

Robert Redford, who has passed away aged 89, became synonymous with a particular vision of American cinema - part mythic, part critical and always deeply human. The iconic roles he essayed throughout his six-decade career as actor and later director was not merely a collection of iconic roles but a thoughtful exploration of the tensions between individual ambition, societal structures and moral responsibility.

Redford’s early work revealed a restless magnetism that hinted at the star he was destined to become. In Arthur Penn’s troubled ‘The Chase’ (1966), Redford, who shared screen space with Marlon Brando and Jane Fonda, played a young man caught in a simmering, violent small-town atmosphere. His intense performance signalled his emergence not just as an actor of promise, but a figure who could embody the shifting anxieties of a nation on the brink of change.

Stardom came with the revisionist Western ‘Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid’ (1969), where Redford’s on-screen chemistry with Paul Newman offered a study in effortless charisma. The film was a meditation on the inevitable obsolescence of the American frontier and the tragedy of chasing freedom in a world increasingly dominated by modernity.

Redford’s liberal political convictions came to the fore in the early 1970s, a period of growing public distrust toward American institutions reeling from the Watergate scandal. In the underrated ‘The Candidate’ (1972), Redford portrayed Bill McKay, an idealistic lawyer thrust into the cynical arena of electoral politics. The film’s prescience in anticipating the rise of image-driven campaigns and political spin remains eerily relevant to this day.

In Sydney Pollack’s taut and thrilling ‘Three Days of the Condor’ (1975), Redford portrayed a CIA analyst plunged into a deadly conspiracy, reflecting his growing preoccupation with government secrecy and individual morality in an era of Cold War paranoia.

His portrayal of journalist Bob Woodward in All the President’s Men (1976) was a critical turning point, both for Redford and American cinema. The film chronicled the dogged investigation into the Watergate scandal by Woodward and fellow Washington Post reporter Carl Bernstein (played memorably by Dustin Hoffman), becoming a visual shorthand for journalists around the world in their pursuit of speaking truth to power. It continues to be dutifully screened at journalism schools the world over.

Redford, for whom the film was a labour of love, gave a splendidly restrained performance, capturing both the cockiness and the meticulous patience of the classic investigative reporter piecing together a story that would shake the very foundations of American democracy.

Redford’s more mythic and romantic roles allowed him to explore the American character in all its contradictions. In the phenomenally successful ‘The Sting’ (1973), Redford, in what would become his only Oscar-nominated performance for Best Actor, played Johnny Hooker - a charismatic and clever small-time con artist who teams up (yet again) with Paul Newman to pull off an elaborate scheme against a ruthless crime boss (a scene-stealing Robert Shaw). The film was a masterclass in style and narrative misdirection, set against the backdrop of the Great Depression. Redford’s performance struck a delicate balance between charm and vulnerability, capturing the optimism and desperation of a man trying to outwit a corrupt system.

His turn as Jay Gatsby in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s ‘The Great Gatsby’ (1974) revealed Redford’s capacity for melancholy and introspection. As the enigmatic millionaire driven by unfulfilled longing, he perfectly evoked the hollow glitter of the Jazz Age and the tragic impossibility of recapturing the past.

Redford’s directorial efforts further demonstrated his nuanced understanding of human frailty. ‘Ordinary People’ (1980), his Oscar-winning directorial debut, was a quiet but devastating study of grief, guilt and family dysfunction.

Redford returned to acting with ‘The Natural’ (1984), essaying Roy Hobbs, a gifted but flawed baseball player whose quest for greatness mirrored the American dream’s promises and pitfalls. The film, suffused with a nostalgic longing for lost innocence, transformed baseball into a poetic metaphor for ambition, regret and redemption.

Beyond the films themselves, Redford’s contribution to cinema extended to his unwavering belief in the power of independent storytelling. The founding of the Sundance Institute and Sundance Film Festival was perhaps his most enduring legacy. Through Sundance, Redford created a space where bold, unconventional voices could flourish through films that interrogated society rather than merely entertained it.