Few stars can boast a streak like Robert Redford in the 1970s. When the charismatic actor, director, film festival founder and activist passed away, it was hard to choose which film to watch to celebrate his life and legacy.
Redford had big hits in the 1980s and 1990s as both an actor and director, but I'd argue the mid-seventies was his definitive period.
Following his star-making performance in 1969's Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid, he appeared in a couple of films before 1972's shaggy western Jeremiah Johnson kicked off an incredible streak at the box office, and it's still easy to see why.
Redford was famous for his golden-haired good looks, which were perfect for timeless romances The Way We Were and The Great Gatsby. But he was capable of a depth that made him more than just a handsome leading man.
In The Great Gatsby, he and Mia Farrow look incredible in 1920s fashion reinvented by Ralph Lauren, but Redford plays the enigmatic playboy Jay Gatsby with an uncertainty that shades into desperation, helped by the fact everyone in the film is constantly dripping with sweat.
Redford reunited with his Butch Cassidy co-star Paul Newman to play a pair of con artists in The Sting, which is just a sheer cinematic delight. He also made an early foray into the world of politics with the satirical flick The Candidate.
But we'd argue for starting with a double-bill of incendiary political thrillers that Redford made back-to-back in the seventies – which are every bit as gripping and relevant today. These are arguably his two most politically-charged films, made in 1975 and 1976, in the troubled and disillusioned days that followed the Watergate scandal. They are, of course, paranoid spy thriller Three Days Of The Condor and riveting real-life drama All The President's Men.
For Three Days Of The Condor, Redford played a hipsterish bookworm thrown into a world of spies and killers. Also starring Faye Dunaway, it's a taut and chilling thriller about a man on the run from the people and institutions he thought he could trust.
Filled with conspiracies, shifting loyalties and state-sanctioned murder, the power of the film lies in the atmosphere of paranoia and mistrust that simmers in every frame.
Condor leads perfectly into All The President's Men, directed by Alan J. Pakula - who also had a great run in the 1970s with paranoia thrillers Klute and The Parallax View.
Investigative journalism is portrayed with nail-biting tension as Redford and Dustin Hoffman play real-life reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, winning over informers and meticulously chasing down leads to unravel corruption in the White House.
Three Days Of The Condor and All The President's Men are available to rent or buy online, but aren't available on any subscription streaming services – a sad indictment of streamers' back catalogues, as far as we're concerned.
Luckily they’re easily found on Blu-ray or DVD, with All The President's Men benefiting from several short but informative documentaries filling in the real-life events (including added perspective on the identity of whistleblower Deep Throat, who was still unknown when the film was made just a couple of years after the events it depicts).
Even 50 years on, the competence and persistence of the newspapermen makes for incredibly satisfying viewing, and the themes of corruption remain lamentably timeless.
All The President's Men is an enthralling combination of detective story and spy thriller, as well as celebration of the power of journalism for holding power to account. In Three Days Of The Condor and All The President’s Men, Redford’s natural charisma and quiet intensity make him the perfect movie star for this incredibly powerful double bill.
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