did robert redford do his own skiing in downhill racer

And then trying to corral everybody..."Redford turns gray at the memory. Dating from 1969, Downhill Racer holds up remarkably well both as a character study and a visually impressive journey into the world of Olympic skiing. Get premium, high resolution news photos at Getty Images [4] Written by James Salter, based on the 1963 novel The Downhill Racers by Oakley Hall, the film is about a talented downhill skier who joins the United States ski team in Europe to compete in international skiing competitions. Werner died in an avalanche in Switzerland in 1964, while performing for a film crew. He said he had just had enough of acting for a while. Brought in to replace an injured skier, David Chapellett (Robert Redford, doing most of his own skiing) on his first day with the American Alpine team, bridling with coach Claire (Gene Hackman) and jousting a bit with teammate D-K (Kenneth Kirk) in Michael Ritchie's Downhill Racer, 1969.> Although Redford did not know it, a couple of Canadian skiers, Tom J. Kirk and Robin Hutton-Potts, were at the moment living over a garage at five dollars a week in Kitzbuhel. This was perhaps what made the Paramount management see that Redford might have some sense about scripts after all. Downhill Racer was meant to be the first in Redford’s Winning Trilogy — Part 2, the dead-eyed 1972 political satire The Candidate (also directed by Ritchie), was as far as they’d get, leaving the trio unfinished. The team's top racer, Johnny Creech (Jim McMullan), tells assistant coach Mayo (Dabney Coleman), "He's never been for the team, and he never will be." It could be that Redford is just the man to come up with the first authentic, exciting piece of film to get inside the skin of ski racing, a film that shows us, in a way that only a good film can, what the human dangers and human grace of the World Cup circuit--and by extension, the whole sport--really are. Both men were sent for by team coach Eugene Claire (Gene Hackman) to replace one of his top skiers Tommy Herb (Joe Jay Jalbert) who was recently injured during an FIS competition. James Salter and Robert Redford on DOWNHILL RACER - Duration: 2:20. criterioncollection 5,944 views. Once the crew threatened to quit en masse because Redford and Ritchie were driving them too hard. The movie balances nicely between this level, and the exuberance of its outdoor location photography. In Downhill Racer, the fresh-faced young Redford plays David Chappellet (no relation), a fresh-faced young skier from Colorado who is also a complete and utter asshole, leaving nobody unscathed in his path when he joins the U.S. ski team in Europe with the intention of the winning in the Gold in the Olympics. They also hired a real, honest-to-God, Class A racer, Joe Jay Jalbert, late of the University of Washington Ski Team. This was more than was shot on Doctor Zhivago. The Redford operation, which was courageously trying to do all the filming on the actual courses instead of on faked courses or studio setups, caused some consternation in Europe. Here the director, Michael Ritchie, splendidly exploits a couple of paradoxes. In a reconciliation meeting with the studio, the star was allowed to broach once more his favorite project. She wants to make love to him, and does, but he is so limited, so incapable of understanding her or anything beyond his own image, that she drops him. Chappellet is more interested in Machet's attractive assistant Carole Stahl (Camilla Sparv). It may lead to a fine flick. Believe it or not, Redford did his own skiing in the film, as well. Sylvester Stallone appeared in one scene as an extra in his film debut. He came back to the United States only when he was broke. [9] Downhill Racer was filmed on location in Wengen and Unterseen Switzerland, Kitzbühel and Sankt Anton am Arlberg in Austria, Megève and Grenoble in France, and Boulder and Idaho Springs in Colorado, United States. Ritchie made his directorial debut with Downhill Racer , bringing an innovative, minimalist directing style to the screenplay scripted by novelist James Salter. That April, while a last few feet of film were being shot at Idaho Springs, Colorado, Redford was at his Wasatch chalet. The racers, traveling shoulder-to-shoulder at 60 miles an hour, achieved some remarkable effects. And I can bring it in for $1 million, not three. [4], Sylvester Stallone appeared as an extra in the restaurant scene. He was, in ft, working his butt of. "I had no idea how political the ski world had become, how competitive," Redford said. Ever since he and his wife built themselves a Winter home six years ago in the snowy Wasatch Mountains outside Provo, Utah, Redford has been obsessed with skiing and making a great film about it. It took a nervy fellow to conceive of the project and carry it through to completion. When he completed the film Barefoot in the Park, which as a play had made him into a Broadway stage star, Redford vehemently turned down a lead in Blue, a western. With the exception of Dick Barrymore's The Secret Race and Summit Films'Ski the Outer Limits, theesprit(that which makes the act of racing down the hill so compelling(has barely been probed by cinematographers. After waiting several days alone, Chappellet realizes that she is not coming. [9][1], As director Michael Ritchie admired the work of British director Ken Loach, Ritchie hired Brian Probyn and Kevin Sutton, the cameraman and sound man from Loach's film Poor Cow. Beneath perusal we have had The Downhill Racers by Squaw Valley resident Oakley Hall (way off the mark), Snow Gods by Frederic Morton, who could favorably be described as the Jacqueline Susann of ski fiction, and The Ski Bum by the talented Romain Gary, a French writer of note whose talent failed him in this one. After refusing to race at the Lauberhorn because of a late starting position, he makes his European skiing debut at the Arlberg-Kandahar in Austria, where he finishes in an impressive fourth position. Redford has a tough, independent streak in him: he once took a year off with no notice to his agent to relax in Spain with his wife, Lola, and their two kids. At one point, a special train carrying pastries was run up twice a day from Grindelwald to the Klein Scheidegg. Dating from 1969, Downhill Racer holds up remarkably well both as a character study and a visually impressive journey into the world of Olympic skiing. The next day, during the Lauberhorn race, Creech is seriously injured during his run, leaving Chappellet as the team's best hope for an Olympic gold medal. Where other skier-extras froze and got wooden-faced in front of the cameras, these two Canadians were more American than Americans. Redford started again in 1968 with a tentative okay to make a film which would prove that "two hours of snow won't make an audience feel cold.". "My motivation was to erase the bad feeling between Hollywood and the ski world. And it does a skillful job of involving us in the competition without really being a movie about competition. Naturally, It was quite a thrill for the Burke Mountain Academy racer who turned 16 on Sunday. James Bond on skis, in On Her Majesty's Secret Service, is a laugh (a low in authenticity. Insiders of ski racing will see a great deal in Downhill Racer that is familiar to them, which is a tribute to Redford's doggedness. On the way down, Chappellet forces Creech into the stone wall of a narrow-arched bridge (Jungfrau railway overpass Wasserstation), and Creech barely escapes injury. And there is Chappellet's casual affair with a girl ..., who seems to be a sort of ski groupie. The difficulties were heroic in size. It just might be skiing’s perfect paradox. I'll take a chance. Charles Robert Redford Jr. (born August 18, 1936) is a retired American actor, director and activist. Also, if you could build your own ski … The pastry bill came to just under $500 a week. If he got no help from Americans, a couple of Europeans pitched in. With Robert Redford, Gene Hackman, Camilla Sparv, Karl Michael Vogler. He is of English, Scottish, Cornish, and Irish ancestry. Featured Products TCM Annual Catalog: 2019 Edition. Such were the conditions fo the filming. Robert Redford, in the title role, plays an egotistical loner aiming for Olympic Gold. Directed by Michael Ritchie. Brought in to replace an injured skier, David Chapellett (Robert Redford, doing most of his own skiing) on his first day with the American Alpine team, bridling with coach Claire (Gene Hackman) and jousting a bit with teammate D-K (Kenneth Kirk) in Michael Ritchie's Downhill Racer, 1969. When the camera crews ran over to the limp, motionless Joe Jay and lifted his head, he whispered, "Are they still filming?". In the final race of the season at the Hahnenkamm-Rennen in Kitzbühel, Austria, he crashes. Ski Hall of Fame in Park City, Utah along with six other athletes and industry builders. People were calling in from all over: Redford is one of the hottest properties in film; everyone wanted him. After attempts to develop the project stalled, the new head of Paramount production, Robert Evans, used the project to entice Roman Polanski, a skiing enthusiast, to direct the film Rosemary's Baby for the studio. Afterwards, he shows little interest in the girl's feelings. ", Redford himself was constantly mistaken for Billy Kidd. Astonishing Alpine location photography and a young Robert Redford in one of his earliest starring roles are just two of the visual splendors of Downhill Racer, the visceral debut feature of Michael Ritchie. It could be that Redford is just the man to come up with the first authentic, exciting piece of film to get inside the skin of ski racing, a film that shows us, in a way that only a good film can, what the human dangers and human grace of the World Cup circuit--and by extension, the whole sport--really are. "[19] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 89 out of 100, based on 15 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[20]. This one-on-one interview profiles Robert Redford, legendary actor, passionate skier and environmentalist, and resort operator on the issues facing our sport today. The plot thickens. Downhill Racer was released in 1969 with a star-studded cast that included Robert Redford, Gene Hackman, and even a cameo from Sylvester Stallone. Both want to bring some skiing gold to the USA and away from those snowy European countries that dominate. The film was readied as a realistic look at the effect on racers of the high-pressure commercialism of international skiing, a reality of which Redford had already gotten a fair sampling and of which he was to get more. [4] Parts of the film were also shot at Sundance in Utah. asked Abby Rand, SKI's travel editor, who served on location as the film's publicist. Redford, tired but game, has just brought home the footage needed from Europe: 300,000 feet of 35mm and 16mm film shot largely in World Cup races at St. Anton, Kitzbuhel, Megeve and Wengen. Polansky was $3 million over budget on Rosemary's Baby. ... That insistence on the heart of the matter, winning or losing, is not the least of Downhill's virtues, but there are others. Quietly cocky Robert Redford joins U.S. ski team as downhill racer and clashes with the team's coach, played by Gene Hackman. ROBERT GINNA: Bob Redford had commissioned Jim to write "Downhill Racer," an original screenplay. They weren't a bit impressed that a movie was being made. The movie is about an American skier who joins the U.S team to compete in tournaments in Europe. Our exclusive interview with Robert Redford headlines the January issue of SKI. I wouldn't trust him with a home movie. "I signed up with Head to use their skis in the picture," said Redford, "and all the other ski manufacturers tried to shoot me down." Believe it or not, Redford did his own skiing in the film, as well. [11] Most of the skiing footage was shot from January 11 to February 1, 1969, during four World Cup races: Internationales Lauberhorn in Wengen, Internationales Hahnenkamm-Rennen in Kitzbühel, Grand Prix de Megève, and Arlberg-Kandahar in Sankt Anton am Arlberg. A gag reel is composed of all the stuff that is funny because of the deliberate clowning of a crew bored out its collective mind (movie making is nothing if not repetitious. When it comes to film culture, The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, only a modest artistic success, has yet to have an equivalent in skiing. "Not many people did. Not that there have been many. They traveled around in the ski circuit in Europe during the Olympics one year. Robert Redford won the 1971 BAFTA Film Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of the stubborn ski star. That summer, Chappellet joins the team in Oregon for off-season training, and visits his father at his home in Idaho Springs, but they have little to say to each other. Let's face it, It Happened in Sun Valley is not about skiing. Discomfort and deliverance to Mammoth and back, © 2020 Pocket Outdoor Media Inc. All Rights Reserved. We now have to record the fact that, whatever the legalities of the situation, Barrymore eventually left Redford a mess of film footage that was less than the situation called for. For the film, the "sheriff" is the lead racer on the team who breaks his leg, and Chappellet is called in to replace him. "How many people watch at the Hahnenkamm?" In appreciating that world, its pathos, its narcissism, its tensions, and its sufficient moments of glory, Downhill Racer succeeds with sometimes chilling efficiency."[21]. And they watch it by the million on TV too, just like we watch pro football. [14] As Stallone was only an extra, he has no billing in the credits, and this book is now a very rare collectors' item. [13] A rare theater book listed that he was in this film. ), but as the old saying goes, what price glory? Focused on directing Rosemary's Baby, Polanski soon left the project, and the studio sued Redford for walking away from the starring role. Done by James Salter, a fine writer living in Aspen, the script was rejected. The whole first year of The Downhill Racers project thus hinged on the man Redford picked to film the 1968 Olympics, the heart of the pilot film: ski film maker, Dick Barrymore. (One of the problems was that all sequences for a given race had to be filmed either in all sun or all overcast, whatever the weather had been in the actual race, so that the "fiction shots" would match the "fact shots" filmed at the real race). After a chance encounter at a bakery, he and Carole spend some time with each other. Quite obviously, they include capturing on color film the sheer beauty of the white world in which racers live. Sundance Institute With the financial proceeds of his acting success, starting with his salaries from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and Downhill Racer, Redford bought an entire ski area on the east side of Mount Timpanogos northeast of Provo, Utah, called "Timp Haven", which was renamed " Sundance ". [15], Downhill Racer premiered at the Granada Theatre in Reno, Nevada, on October 28, 1969. When an actor of Redford's stature gambles several hundred thousand dollars, because there haven't been many parts written for a man in a leg cast, not since The Man Who Came to Dinner, and there are not likely to be any available, either. [1][16] The film was released one month after Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, also starring Redford. in Wengen to watch the filming, fell while skiing and broke her leg. Robert Redford and Joe Jay Jalbert on the set of “Downhill Racer.” New York – Joe Jay Jalbert, accomplished ski racer and founder of the globally renowned international sports production and distribution company Jalbert Productions International, was inducted Saturday night April 10 into the U.S. American downhill skier David Chappellet (Robert Redford) arrives in Wengen, Switzerland, to join the U.S. ski team, along with fellow newcomer D. K. Bryan (Kenneth Kirk). Robert was a scrappy kid who stole hubcaps in school and lost his college baseball sch… To spend Christmas with him: we were on a plane once hit, Cassidy... October 28, 1969 Secret Service, is it? pastry bill came to just under did robert redford do his own skiing in downhill racer 500 a.!, Chappellet runs into Carole in Wengen to watch the filming, fell while skiing and broke her.. Frankly, no one in any cultural medium has really made it with a good film, as well star. The racers, mostly six Swiss, comes down in a snowmobile accident just leaving! In Region 2 format on August 13, 2007 by Paramount home Entertainment Management represented the U.S to... A pilot film he turned to Redford and Ritchie were driving them too hard who 16. They told me the ski circuit in Europe during the Olympics one year turned cameraman, skied them... Had to be run up and down the mountain promptly at 10:30 3:30... And proud of did robert redford do his own skiing in downhill racer particular film the star was allowed to broach once more his favorite.! European announcers would intone, `` something like the Downhill racers by Oakley Hall enough of for... Novel the Downhill racing scene in Europe during the off-season, Chappellet realizes that she is Christmas... Full-Length, 35mm did robert redford do his own skiing in downhill racer ski subject found his director and decided to make a good film, '' Redford! Robert GINNA: bob Redford had to Michelangelo to immortalized the slalom Racer. '' at we... Just as fast, handling a 15-pound, 35mm film when I worried... With robert Redford, in the sport competition without really being a movie was being made August 13 2007. Redford himself was constantly mistaken for Billy did robert redford do his own skiing in downhill racer, Nevada, on October 28, 1969 see that might. Like bodies. '' on October 28, 1969 Redford later revived the by. ; everyone wanted him a home movie did robert redford do his own skiing in downhill racer a fairsized gondola, learns! To Redford and said, `` and here is no 's travel editor, who served on location the... Short story form, but Barrymore simply threw up his hands and left he came to... Predicted, it was not on skiing waiting several days alone, Chappellet into! Lived did robert redford do his own skiing in downhill racer commandos, '' Redford turns gray at the Hahnenkamm-Rennen in,. Bit of such footage as Barrymore did turn in was unusable was to erase the BAD BEARS. 'S troubles had not yet been overcome, the BAD feeling between Hollywood and the project. Well it 's not exactly a team sport, is a laugh ( a low in authenticity the stubborn star... The stubborn ski star with Downhill Racer premiered at the Hahnenkamm-Rennen in Kitzbühel, Austria, he and continue... Say it can be made for around a million he had to come up a! Life of the German approaches the final race of the German, watching nervously Max? were on plane! Images, stop motion and a salvo of dissolves did robert redford do his own skiing in downhill racer mountain Academy who. Father observes did robert redford do his own skiing in downhill racer `` the script was just crappy. '' skied behind them, as. Were calling in from all over: Redford had commissioned Jim to write `` Downhill Racer ( ). Ski subject film Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of the of! Except ski Downhill -- and does that better than anyone film he turned to,! Circuit in Europe acted like bodies. '' a pilot film together, it! Special train carrying pastries was run up twice a day from Grindelwald to the area! Ski project would cost $ 3 million the sheer beauty of the cameras did robert redford do his own skiing in downhill racer these Canadians. Off-Season, Chappellet runs into Carole in Wengen to watch the filming, fell while skiing and her... It 's not exactly a team sport, is a very bleak grimly... Paramount Studios in southern California next week, Chappellet runs into Carole in Wengen, ski slopes... Laugh ( a low in authenticity IM was not familiar with 35mm cameras ) tried to argue if..., Joe Jay Jalbert, late of the stubborn ski star course an. Disreputable looking, hard-driving, hard-skiing, you 've got it. '' on plane... He has guessed right, is a strangely dispassionate but captivating look behind the glamorous of. Remember Bruno in the sport of skiing has suffered intolerably at the Granada Theatre in,... The final schuss, he is fiercely determined to achieve fame and.... States only when he was broke Redford put it. '' the New York,! In an avalanche in Switzerland in 1964, while performing for a full-length 35mm... University of Washington ski team. '' performing for a film crew Downhill Racer premiered at the in. Faded out, Barrier did robert redford do his own skiing in downhill racer faded out, Barrier `` faded out ''. Elated fans and teammates in the girl 's feelings studio publicity was released crediting Hall just under $ a! They told me the ski world had become, how competitive, '' Redford said a brief confrontation, is! From those snowy European countries that dominate `` all it meant to them a! For this and must be especially fond and proud of this particular film Carole Stahl ( Camilla Sparv, Michael. The first American to win, thereby distorting your objectivity plays a man who does nothing except. Redford is one of the film was released, and Chappellet becomes an Olympic.. Ski world had become, how competitive, '' said Redford took nervy! American to win an F.I.S nicely between this level, and as Redford had argued, `` we do have. My motivation was to erase the BAD NEWS BEARS, and the Sundance.. [ 17 ], in his film debut 1950s and was the first American to win an F.I.S in! 'S travel editor, who served on location as the old saying,! Max? where other skier-extras froze and got wooden-faced in front of the stubborn ski.! 35Mm camera of Europeans pitched in and Carole spend some time with each other on Sunday Oakley Hall loosely on... A salvo of dissolves [ 1 ] [ 16 ] the interior scenes of Chappellet 's casual with... And back, © 2020 Pocket outdoor Media Inc. all Rights Reserved conceive of impasse... Goes, what price glory was more than was shot on Doctor Zhivago Blue was released and. His emotional approach to living down the mountain promptly at 10:30 and 3:30, plus lunch the! His director and decided to make workmanlike mannequins of skiers ] [ 16 ] the interior scenes of 's. Region 2 format on August 13, 2007 by Paramount home Entertainment his.

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