The Winter Olympics are now in full swing which means it’s time for our tradition to introduce someone to this 1969 debut feature from director Michael Ritchie, which Roger Ebert called “the best movie ever made about sports – without really being about sports at all.” Downhill Racer stars a young Robert Redford as an Alpine skier who joins the U.S. ski team, coached by Eugene Claire (Gene Hackman) after a top skier suffers an injury during an FIS competition. Upon his arrival to Wengen, Switzerland Redford’s David Chappellet masks his backwoods naivety with a bulletproof air of ruthless competitiveness.
It’s interesting to note that Redford himself considered the part of Dave Chappellet to be his best, which is hard to argue since it is a great performance but it’s also possibly the only time Redford has portrayed a man with no real admirable qualities. His single-minded focus on becoming a skiing campion explains his social unease and disregard for protocols which also earns the ire of his fellow teammates. “It’s not exactly a team sport,” quips a coach to the team’s star skier who resents the reckless style which is aptly mirroring the anti-authoritarianism of film heroes (or antiheroes) emerging in the late sixties.
After given a late starting position (#88) for his first race, Chappellet refuses to compete, claiming that the conditions will be garbage and beneath what his skill deserves. He then makes his debut at the next race a few positions earlier and finishes in an impressive fourth place, earning the attention of the press and spectators, which Chappellet rebuffs by asking if he’ll be ordered in the top 50. He claims to not want to be given anything but his attitude demands that you recognize he’s earned it already. Redford himself carries the film as a real-life up-and-comer, having just recently starred in Barefoot in the Park and would become a star as The Sundance Kid only weeks before Downhill Racer would have its theatrical release. Redford, with an already successful television career, draws parallels to inherent talent of Chappellet who will become famous as soon as someone just points the spotlight his direction.
Revered around the world by skiers and experts on the sport, perhaps the most thrilling aspect is the documentary-like approach. One of the film’s hallmarks was the handheld skier’s POV footage shot, much of the time, by Ski Hall of Fame inductee Joe Jay Jalbert who also serves as Redford’s ski double. Much of the actual skiing is silent, save for the brilliant sound design of skis plowing through snow and heavy breathing as our racers barrel past the faint cheers of the crowd. The film doesn’t set out to dramatize the sport of skiing through it’s beautiful location photography and breathtakingly fast racing sequences – it simply addresses the very nature of sport itself, specifically competition and the cost of success.
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Downhill Racer
Director Michael Ritchie
Writer James Salter
Stars Robert Redford, Gene Hackman, Camilla Sparv
Rating PG
Running Time 1h 41m
Genres Drama, Sports