All Is Lost (2013)

Intensely powerful and watchable drama, brilliantly written and directed by J. C. Chandor. 

Damaged by a large container that fell from a cargo ship, a man’s boat starts to sink in the Indian Ocean. He has to escape the doomed craft, only to then drift in a life raft with dwindling hope as he begins to reflect on his life and the decisions that got him to this point. 

Giving arguably his greatest ever performance, Robert Redford is pretty much the film’s only actor and he’s alone for most of the time. There’s hardly any dialogue at all, making his struggle even more elemental and powerful. 

There’s strong music and sound design, making it all seem very real. And there’s remarkable underwater photography, capturing both the beauty and the fierceness of nature. 

I first saw this at the cinema, and when I got home I vowed never to go on a boat again.

Spy Game (2001)

Retiring CIA officer Nathan Muir (Robert Redford) learns that his protege Tom Bishop (Brad Pitt) is in trouble in Hong Kong. Muir’s CIA colleagues begin to dig in to his past, and the film then reveals his story in a series of flashbacks. The somewhat disjointed and bitty narrative focuses on specific incidents in Vietnam, Berlin and Beirut. 

It’s not quite the thriller you might have imagined or hoped for – mainly because Redford never gets out of the office. Somehow he is able to run rings around his CIA colleagues, even though they would’ve had the same training as him. As such, it’s an intriguing thriller that doesn’t quite work. The basic ingredients are good, and with more focus in the storytelling, it might have been more satisfying.

All the President’s Men (1976)

Adapted from the 1974 non-fiction book by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, this tells the story of how two Washington Post journalists broke news of the Watergate scandal that ultimately brought down US president Richard Nixon. 

Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford are both at their very best playing the journalists. It’s a fascinating glimpse into another era. In this pre-internet world, they spend most of their time talking to people, phoning people, typing, scrawling in notebooks, chain-smoking and drinking coffee. In our current period of misinformation politics and double-think social media, the 1970s seem relatively straightforward and innocent. 

You wonder if this film could even have been made now: there are no tech giants, no billionaires dictating how people communicate, no car chases, no shootings and no “love interest” – just two writers trying to uncover the truth.

Indecent Proposal (1993)

A young couple struggling for money, David (Woody Harrelson) and Diana (Demi Moore), are offered a million dollars by wealthy businessman John Gage (Robert Redford) if he can spend a night with Diana. The pair are faced with a choice that will have huge implications for their lives. 

It’s an intriguing premise and the fall-out on the couple’s relationship makes up the bulk of the story, even though the initial premise itself is hardly explored at all. Details of the million-dollar night in question are discreetly avoided after the initial set-up in which we see Diana being whisked to a private yacht. You could argue that this is a wise move – we experience the same doubt and confusion about what went on as David – but it seems an oddly evasive approach for a film constructed on the very premise of that night.

Directed by Adrian Lyne, the film isn't sure whether it wants to be a thriller or a drama. I expected more running around, more psychological warfare and more peril, but the stakes remain disappointedly low. 

I liked the notion of Robert Redford as the villain, since he so rarely plays baddies, but the plot ultimately decided to show him as a nice guy. And it didn’t examine the more intriguing question of what kind of nice guy offers to buy a woman. By raising interesting ethical and personal issues and then shying away from them, Indecent Proposal ends up seeming merely glossy and a little shallow.

A Walk in the Woods (2015)

Film version of Bill Bryson’s travel book about walking the Appalachian Trail. 

The author is played by Robert Redford and his friend (a wheezing former alcoholic) is played by Nick Nolte. Meanwhile, Emma Thompson plays Bryson’s wife left at home. 

It’s gently funny and wise, with some poignancy and melancholy. It’s probably intended for the older viewer. 

Redford is always easy to like, although his character doesn’t really develop. Nolte steals the show, with a performance that grows in depth as the film progresses. 

The scenery looks good and it makes you want to go walking, even if their bags never seemed to be heavy enough.

A Bridge Too Far (1977)

Alternative title: An Hour Too Long. 

During World War II, Operation Market Garden was an Allied operation that took place in September 1944. It aimed to secure key river crossings, enabling a route from the Netherlands into northern Germany – culminating with the strategically vital Arnhem bridge. 

That real-life saga is brought to life with mixed results. Unfortunately, at nearly three hours it’s excessively drawn out. The film gets off to a very slow start, too, and it’s a full 52 minutes until the first shot is fired. There are a lot of characters and plenty of time is used up introducing them and generally setting the scene. It’s an extreme example of the all-star cast, cramming in key roles for Dirk Bogarde, James Caan, Michael Caine, Sean Connery, Denholm Elliott, Edward Fox, Elliott Gould, Gene Hackman, Anthony Hopkins, Ryan O'Neal, Laurence Olivier and Robert Redford. The ensemble approach works reasonably enough and it adds scope, but it does mean you don’t get to know – or care about – any particular individual very well. 

Despite the jaunty music at times and the sense that for the posh Brits it’s all just a jolly jape, there’s a strong message about the brutality of war and the film doesn’t hold back from showing the realities of injury and death. 

It’s superior to the likes of The Great Escape and The Longest Day, although still oddly unsatisfying. It fails to convey why these battles are so important or to provide a wider context of how they fit into the war.

The Sting (1973)

Classic caper set in Chicago in 1936. 

Johnny Hooker (Robert Redford) is a petty criminal whose conman partner is murdered by Doyle Lonnegan (Robert Shaw), a much more powerful criminal. Hooker seeks his revenge and teams up with Henry Gondorff (Paul Newman) to trick Lonnegan out of his money. 

The twists and turns of the plot are complex, so you really need to pay attention. In a couple of places I found it too far-fetched, but wasn’t going to let that spoil it.

The chemistry of the two leads is clearly evident, with Redford in particular exuding magnetism, but I still preferred seeing their interplay in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969).

Robert Shaw is brilliant as the brooding villain who walks with a slight limp.

Scott Joplin’s ragtime piano music adds a playful, colourful quality to the action, neatly framing this somewhere between crime film and comedy-drama.

Legal Eagles (1986)

Directed by Ivan Reitman (the talent behind Ghostbusters), this is a film that’s intriguing for being of no fixed genre. It manages to blend courtroom drama, crime, thriller and romantic comedy. 

Robert Redford and Debra Winger are New York lawyers investigating the case of an artist’s work that may or may not have been destroyed in a fire. Terence Stamp is the shifty art dealer mixed up in a fraudulent insurance scheme. And Daryl Hannah is the artist’s daughter who wants the painting her dad dedicated to her – if indeed it even survived. 

There’s something remarkable about the way the film sprawls all over the place and yet still works. Redford and Winger have real chemistry and build up a lot of good-natured warmth as their relationship develops. Both are hugely appealing. The former never seems to age. The latter has a lovely voice and an irresistible smile. Maybe they should have made more films together. 

Daryl Hannah is a little troubling. She’s meant to be an edgy performance artist, but she’s so sleepy and noncommittal that she seems barely present. You’d expect some dynamism or passion in someone who’s trying to push boundaries. But when you see her “performing” her “art”, it’s a ludicrous and unintentionally amusing affair involving light projections, photos of herself, objects bursting into flame and tape recordings of her voice. A clunky mess. Laurie Anderson she is not. The film would have worked better if this character was just a regular person wanting what was rightfully hers rather than an “enigma”. Or maybe they just had the wrong actor for the part. 

Another oddity is the chirpy music, which sometimes seems misjudged for certain scenes. But because the mood and tone keep changing as we race from one genre to another, it’s possibly just struggling to keep up. At the very least, you can see that the soundtrack had to be varied.  

But these are minor flaws. I really liked the fact that it’s so unusual. Plus, the climax is genuinely exciting and the comedy never eclipses the drama. Quirky, rewarding and somehow fascinating.

The Horse Whisperer (1998)

Epic weepie. When Grace (a teenage Scarlett Johansson) and her horse Pilgrim are badly injured in a riding accident, Grace’s mother Annie (Kristin Scott Thomas) drives them across America from New York to Montana to meet the gifted cowboy Tom Booker (Robert Redford). Magic ensues as the animal, Grace and Annie are all touched in different ways by Tom’s special healing qualities.

It’s a long, slow-burner at 170 minutes but it needs to be because it’s partly about the adjustment to a slower, more relaxed way of life. There’s an urban vs. rural thing going on, as well as a simple love story. Does Annie want to give up her hectic city life with the husband (Sam Neill) she’s not sure she loves? Or does she want to hook up with the country cowboy whose “whispering” has had such powerful effects on her and her daughter?

If there’s a criticism, it’s that Robert Redford – director as well as star – idealises himself in the role. He’s too good to be true: a super-sensitive genius with horses, but also wonderful with kids. He likes classical music and he’s full of wisdom. And despite being outdoors all day while working with animals, his jeans never get muddy. It’s very telling that the plot of the film deviates from that of the source novel, which offers a more complex set of events. If he could have allowed himself just one character flaw (short temper/heavy drinker, etc), he would have been so much more believable. Instead, he’s somewhat sanitised along with the plot.

Kristin Scott Thomas is intended to be unappealingly uptight and she succeeds a little too well in that, being downright unbearable for the first half of the story.

Overall, it’s worth watching for the huge landscapes and the gradual unfolding of several sets of relationships. I felt engaged, but not particularly moved.

The Way We Were (1973)

Romantic drama starring Barbra Streisand and Robert Redford. They play completely opposite characters who fall in love but struggle to reconcile their differences. This occurs against a backdrop of American history from the late 1930s through to the late 1960s or early 1970s, and it weaves in such events as the news of Wallis Simpson marrying Edward VIII and the death of Roosevelt in 1945. The political drama culminates in a violent incident at the height of McCarthyism.

The film is engrossing and sophisticated, and the two stars are terrific. Streisand in particular really shines. What lets it down slightly is the plot: it was hard to understand why the couple ever got together when Redford never seemed to show much fondness for Babs and her militant idealism. Was he really just cold-hearted? Or was there another reason why he seemed so distant? The actors have great chemistry together but the idea of their characters as a couple never quite rings true.

Pete’s Dragon (2016)

I loved this Disney film when I saw it at the cinema and I loved it just as much two years later on a £1 charity-shop DVD. Pete, aged four, is orphaned when his parents crash their car on a remote forest road. He meets a green (sometimes invisible) dragon, who he befriends and lives with for six years before they are discovered by the outside world and everything changes... Not very promising on paper, but this simple film is surprisingly powerful and emotional. Robert Redford is endearing as the wise old man who believes in magic. His park ranger daughter (Bryce Dallas Howard) is convincingly sensitive as Pete’s new “mother”. Pete himself is played by Oakes Fegley, who delivers one of the strongest child-actor performances I’ve ever seen. There’s an ecology message (deforestation is not good) and the CGI effects are so sophisticated that you never once doubt what you are seeing. The soundtrack is brilliantly unDisney, with Bonnie “Prince” Billy, St. Vincent and Leonard Cohen all suiting the tender tone of the film perfectly. It’s difficult to say why this simple story of love and friendship ends up being so moving, but both times I have watched it I have been left feeling profoundly touched.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)

The script is wonderful, as is the strangely suitable Burt Bacharach music. There’s no sentimentality, but there’s plenty of wit and emotion in their relationship. A masterpiece, pretty much. I love the long pursuit scene. Paul Newman and Robert Redford are almost supernaturally charming. I also love Katharine Ross.

The ending is so sad – they know they’re doomed (and we know they’re doomed, too), but they carry on through the pain, talking about starting again in Australia. Poignant indeed.