Downhill Racer (1969)

Quietly cocky Robert Redford joins U.S. ski team as downhill racer and clashes with the team's coach, played by Gene Hackman. Lots of good skiing action leading to an exciting climax.

Director:

Michael Ritchie

Writer:

James Salter

Stars:

Robert Redford, Gene Hackman, Camilla Sparv

Won 1 BAFTA Film Award. Another 5 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Robert Redford	...	Chappellet
Gene Hackman	...	Claire
Camilla Sparv	...	Carole
Karl Michael Vogler	...	Machet
Jim McMullan	...	Creech
Kathleen Crowley	...	Reporter
Dabney Coleman	...	Mayo
Kenneth Kirk	...	D.K.
Oren Stevens	...	Kipsmith
Jerry Dexter	...	Engel
Walter Stroud	...	Mr. Chappellet
Carole Carle	...	Lena
Rip McManus	...	Devore
Joe Jay Jalbert	...	Tommy Erb
Tom J. Kirk	...	Stiles

Storyline

David Chappellet is a mean-spirited skier, who profits from another skier's injury to gain a spot on the American Olympic team. His roommate sums up his goals when he observes of David, "He's not for the team, and he never will be"; but precisely who the David is that David is so fiendishly striving for we're never to learn. He develops a short-lived relationship with Carole Stahl, a glamorous European woman even more capricious than himself. Chappellet's identity trouble are exacerbated by the fact that he is an "Event" as well as a personality; and more astute minds than his own have difficulty where the one leaves off and the other takes over. Director Michael Richie's ("The Candidate") feature film debut.

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Plot Keywords:

skiing | based on novel | womanizer | small town | restaurant | 

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Taglines:

How fast must a man go to get from where he's at?

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Genres:

Drama | Sport

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Did You Know?

Trivia

Before meeting the local girl, Robert Redford is listening to a Denver, Colorado, based country music radio station. A song comes on titled "It Was a Long Happy Day" by a singer named Hank Hopkins. Neither the song nor the artist can be found online, so the song might have been written for the movie.

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Goofs

Tires don't squeal on snow, yet Dave manages this when driving the Porsche.

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Quotes

Claire: [talking to Chappellet] You never had any real education, did you? All you ever had were your skis... and that's not enough.

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Connections

Referenced in Who Wants to Be a Millionaire: Dancing with the Stars 1 (2010)

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Soundtracks

That Old Black Magic
Written by Johnny Mercer & Harold Arlen

User Reviews

Brilliantly assembled film is really all externals...visually involving yet emotionally hollow

Old-fashioned sports drama given very modern look and feel, mixing 16mm footage with 35mm for an exhilarating visual effect. Robert Redford is quite good portraying an extremely self-assured skier from Idaho Springs, Colorado who is picked as a substitute member on an American team competing in Europe; after a humiliating wipe-out fails to derail his ego, he returns to the States for training with the Winter Olympics just two years away. "Downhill Racer", directed by the debuting Michael Ritchie, is a low-keyed character study masquerading as a sports film--and yet the skiing action is what most viewers end up remembering. The two halves are blended together thanks to punchy editing and the handsome presentation (and by the personalities brought forth by Redford and Gene Hackman as the team's coach), though the macho-subdued screenplay is rather verbose. Once we understand that Redford's David is a self-centered bastard, there's nothing much else to him except his good looks, and the women characters on the scene (there are no female athletes) are sex-objects or uninformed targets for ridicule. A few terrific moments, though the opening credits sequence is really cheesy and Kenyon Hopkins' score is occasionally overwrought. ** from ****

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English German French

Release Date:

9 January 1970 (Canada)

Also Known As:

La descente infernale

Filming Locations:

Sankt Anton am Arlberg, Austria

Box Office

Budget:

$1,600,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Wildwood, Wildwood Enterprises

Technical Specs

Runtime:

101 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1