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Downhill Racer (1969)

Rate: 7
Viewed: 8/18

DownhillR
6/18: It appears Downhill Racer had foretold the story of Bill Johnson.

If you aren't familiar with the name, he came out of nowhere to be the first American male to win the gold medal in alpine skiing at the 1984 Olympic Winter Games in Sarajevo. This is a significant accomplishment because it's traditionally an European sport. No American male had ever medaled prior to Bill Johnson, and since then, only three more have.

Of course, Downhill Racer isn't deep. Robert Redford plays a one-dimensional character with daddy issues. He has a boring, superficial dating relationship with a pretty, tanned European who's played by Sweden's Camilla Sparv. As his coach, Gene Hackman is nothing to write home about. And maybe that's how it is for the sport.

But the movie, possessing an European feel, has terrific skiing scenes which are one of a kind. Yet what hurts it is they look too fast. If you watch Bill Johnson's gold medal run during the 1984 Olympics, the speed is rather ordinary.

For years, I thought Roman Polanski directed a skiing movie, but it turns out that Michael Ritchie, making his directorial debut, replaced him which is okay by me because Roman went on to direct Rosemary's Baby. Robert Redford was going to star in that one but backed out in order to appear in this, his personal pet project, and worked with the director again in a prescient film about politics: The Candidate.

Interestingly, Sylvester Stallone can be spotted somewhere in the film as an extra. The timeline fits because he lived in Switzerland for a couple of years while attending the American College in Leysin. I'm nearly sure he's right in the middle behind Robert Redford and Camilla Sparv at the restaurant. Others say he's on the left, but it doesn't look like him.

All in all, although I don't care much for the sport, Downhill Racer is the closest thing I'll ever experience skiing.