About Robert Redford

Am I a Robert Redford fan? Yes, indeed I am and have been since I was in high school. Today, August 18th, is his 83rd birthday. On Twitter, IMDb (Internet Movie Database) assembled a short montage of Redford clips highlighting his work as actor and director.  IMDb asked "What's your favorite Redford film?" Fabulous actress Yvette Nicole Brown (she made us laugh on the sitcom COMMUNITY) gave a quartet in her online answer: ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN, THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR, BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID and THE WAY WE WERE.

Yes, Yes, Yvette! I agree with those choices. I have two others to recommend. First of all, Robert Redford films represented fun Saturday afternoons at the movies during my South Central L. A. youth. My student discount card got me into the double features with a few cents off the usual ticket fare for teens. I sat with popcorn, a soda and Milk Duds to watch him in BAREFOOT IN THE PARK, THE CHASE and BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID. One of his films didn't get a warm reception from critics, but it's special in my personal family history. INSIDE DAISY CLOVER was the last movie Dad and I saw together, just the two of us, before he and Mom officially separated and he moved out of the house. I was teetering on the brink of teen-hood. Critics may have dismissed the movie, but I didn't. There's a scene in which Daisy, now an unhappy teen movie star, has a soundstage looping session for a scene in one of her musical numbers. She suffers an emotional breakdown in the booth. Her singing is suddenly, unexpectedly replaced with screams. If you've seen INSIDE DAISY CLOVER, you know the scene.

That scene reflected how I felt inside. But being the good student and Black Catholic dependable child, I could not let that rage out. Even today, seeing Natalie Wood and Redford in INSIDE DAISY CLOVER takes me right back to those emotionally bumpy middle school years.

Robert Redford won the Best Director Academy Award for ORDINARY PEOPLE. The film also won a Best Screenplay Oscar, Timothy Hutton won for Best Supporting Actor and ORDINARY PEOPLE took home the Oscar for Best Picture of 1980.  To me, 1994's QUIZ SHOW is even better and brought him another very well-deserved Oscar nomination for Best Director. It's based on the true-life NBC game show scandal of the 1950s. Game show contestant Charles Van Doren, played by Ralph Fiennes, was in a fixed position to win because his good looks produced good ratings. He was handsome compared to his opponent, Herb Stempel. The real Charles Van Doren died at age 93. John Turturro is terrific as Herb Stempel, the plain but honest opponent. The real Stempel died at age 93.

Take another look at Redford's QUIZ SHOW. It's a tale of truth vs. ratings, looks vs. substance. We see this played out within the medium of network TV. Charles Van Doren knew the game was rigged to capitalize on the increased ratings thanks to female viewers swooning over his charms.

I don't mean to be snarky but watch it now that NBC had survived another scandal. In the fall of 1992, I worked on a local WNBC news program with Matt Lauer. He and I were acquainted with each other's work on a 1980s weeknight entertainment magazine show called PM MAGAZINE. It was syndicated. Matt did not have a noteworthy, extensive hard news journalism background. He was a good host of entertainment programming. However, he was in a career slump and sorely in need of employment. A buddy helped him score a local news anchor job on WNBC. I asked Matt how he was navigating through this new job as he'd not been known previously as a news anchor. He casually, honestly replied, "I look good and I read well."

Local female viewers went gaga over his handsomeness. Just two months after the premiere of our local weekend news program, Matt was taken off co-anchor duty because he was being groomed for TODAY Show stardom. Female viewers boosted ratings when they saw Matt. Before the 1990s ended, he was occasionally anchoring the network evening newscast and, later, he replaced Bryant Gumble as Katie Couric's co-anchor on TODAY. He morphed into a serious journalist and made millions until a sex scandal got him fired in 2017. Here's a trailer for QUIZ SHOW directed by Robert Redford. I highly recommend this 1994 film.

Another film I highly recommend came out in 2013. If Redford had received a Best Actor Oscar nomination for ALL IS LOST, I would have cheered. He did this film in his 70s and performed most of his own stunts as the aging mariner on a solo voyage. An accident happens, his radio and navigation equipment are broken. He's lost in the Indian Ocean. There's a tiny bit of dialogue in this movie and one big outstanding performance from Robert Redford. Here's a trailer.

Redford proved to be more than just another "pretty face." He was a serious actor, director and producer who was also graced with movie star charisma. If you haven't seen them already, let me know what you think of QUIZ SHOW and ALL IS LOST after you watch them. John Turturro should've gotten as Oscar nomination for QUIZ SHOW. He was fantastic.