Downhill racer8/1/2023 Like “Whiplash” (2014), “Downhill Racer” is a story of singlemindedness and of the dark side of obsessive ambition. It’s not clear whether Chappellett notices their disapproval. His teammates find him aloof and self-involved. His dream is to win Olympic gold.Ĭhappellett’s coach (an indisputable Gene Hackman, evincing as much authentic instructional devotion to the sport of skiing as he would later bring to the basketball court in “Hoosiers”) scolds the rookie for his cocky attitude and sense of entitlement. Chappellett quickly makes a name for himself on the European circuit: he takes risks and rarely finishes in the middle of the pack-for him, it’s either the podium or a crash. ski team when another American is injured in an FIS competition. Redford, fresh off his breakthrough to stardom in “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” in the same year, plays the downhill racer in question, a young daredevil named Dave Chappellet who finds an opportunity to join the U.S. At the time of its release, a zealous young Roger Ebert proclaimed it “the best movie ever made about sports.” It must be noted right away that “Downhill Racer” is no slopeside romp: nearly half a century after its production, it remains the only genuinely serious cinematic depiction of the skiing life-a little too serious, maybe. The ski-movie subgenre, with all its lowbrow, straight-to-video tendencies, didn’t yet truly exist in the 1960s, but from a contemporary perspective it feels right that director Michael Ritchie, in his debut feature, should announce his sober artistic intentions before divulging his sporty subject matter. After a moment, the taut bounce and ribbed weave of the black line look familiar, at least to the skiers amid the audience-we’re looking at a chairlift cable, and the lift is running, and the whiteness behind it is a snowy mountain in the distance. The opening shot of “Downhill Racer,” the 1969 Alpine drama starring Robert Redford, initially registers as an abstract composition: a dark, diagonal bolt against a white backdrop. Editor’s note: The following is the first in a short series of reviews of mostly older films whose narratives prominently feature skiing and ski resorts.
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