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Downhill Racer

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Astonishing Alpine location photography and a young Robert Redford in one of his earliest starring roles are just two of the visual splendors of Michael Ritchie's visceral debut feature, Downhill Racer. In a beautifully understated performance, Redford is David Chappellet, a ruthlessly ambitious skier competing with an underdog American team in Europe for Olympic gold, and Gene Hackman provides tough support as the coach who tries to temper the upstart’s narcissistic drive for glory. With a subtle screenplay by acclaimed novelist James Salter, Downhill Racer is a vivid character portrait buoyed by breathtakingly fast and furious imagery that brings the viewer directly into the mind of the competitor.

DISC FEATURES

• High-definition digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
• Interviews from 2009 with actor Robert Redford, screenwriter James Salter, editor Richard Harris, production manager Walter Coblenz, and former downhill skiier Joe Jay Jalbert, who served as a technical adviser, ski double, and cameraman on the film
• Audio excerpts from a 1977 American Film Institute seminar with director Michael Ritchie
• How Fast?, a rare twelve-minute promotional feature from 1969
• Trailer
• PLUS: An essay by critic Todd McCarthy

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I'm thrilled by this and hope maybe it'll give Michael Ritchie a bit more cachet. He did some really terrific films like Prime Cut and The Candidate in the seventies. Robert Redford is getting a retrospective at BAM in September and will be present so I'm surprised to see his absence in the special features.

FYI: Downhill Racer is on the TCM schedule for October (the 18th) and November (the 21st) for those in North America.

souvenir wrote:I'm thrilled by this and hope maybe it'll give Michael Ritchie a bit more cachet.

I hope so. He's terribly underrated. Now if only Criterion could wrest the wonderful Smile from the hands of MGM and replace their dreadful non-anamorphic disc.

I'm a huge fan of The Candidate, in which Ritchie manages to use Redford's innate narcissism to great effect, and I've wanted to see this one for a while now. Nice to see them going for the more obscure '70s stuff. Jeff, I just ordered Smile a couple of days ago, so you may well be right about an upcoming Criterion...

Jeff wrote:Now if only Criterion could wrest the wonderful Smile from the hands of MGM and replace their dreadful non-anamorphic disc.

Or Warners' full-frame DVD of The Candidate.

I have to say, though, that while I love Prime Cut and Smile, I think Downhill Racer is fatally pretentious and, like a lot of American movies of that particular moment, achingly New Wave-derivative in its visual style.

This would've been of interest to me only if they'd paired it with the one film James Salter directed, Three (also 1969), with Sam Waterston and Charlotte Rampling. Marvelously obscure, although at least there are bootlegs out there.

Perkins Cobb wrote:

Jeff wrote:Now if only Criterion could wrest the wonderful Smile from the hands of MGM and replace their dreadful non-anamorphic disc.

Or Warners' full-frame DVD of The Candidate.

Warner's been claiming a SE of this has been in their pipeline for some time now. As with the SE of "The Man Who Would Be King," "The Magnificent Ambersons," and "Journey into Fear," do they ever intend to release it???? ](*,)

For candidate fans one of WB's reps who participated in a Warner Bros. Home theatre forum chat I think yr before last stated that Robert Redford had recorded a commentary track for the film to be re-released in widescreen on DVD.... but oddly enough it has never come to be... not sure what their timing is ... Hopfully it will get a BD release also when the time comes.

I have been very excited for DOWNHILL RACER to be released by Criterion and while not every new release can be given a BD release I have to say this title I am still in shock that it doesn't get a day and date Blu ray release. Only one films will be released on BD in NOVEMBER (also surprising I know Criterion doesn't release films just to make money per say but right at the start of the holiday season ONE new release?)

I want Downhill Racer BADLy but I don't think I can keep forking over for standard DVD releases when the BD should have been released at the same time. It is killing me.

I think there should be a NO FILM LEFT BEHIND rule for Criterion when releasing all titles on DVD - the BD should get the same release.

I almost posted a nearly identical comment when I first saw this announcement, I can't help but roll my eyes when I see the "astonishing alpine photography" comment in addition to the usual "new, restored high-definition transfer" one for the release when we're still only getting an SD-DVD. It doesn't make me as angry as Z or Jeanne Dielman, but I agree, I really hope that we start seeing the Blu-ray production increase in the next year.

Yeah, I'm sure it'll look shit.

MoonlitKnight wrote:

Perkins Cobb wrote:

Jeff wrote:Now if only Criterion could wrest the wonderful Smile from the hands of MGM and replace their dreadful non-anamorphic disc.

Or Warners' full-frame DVD of The Candidate.

Warner's been claiming a SE of this has been in their pipeline for some time now. As with the SE of "The Man Who Would Be King," "The Magnificent Ambersons," and "Journey into Fear," do they ever intend to release it???? ](*,)

I guess one reason is that dvd sales are down and also Time Warner did not do well in their last quarter. I hope they won't think twice because the titles won't bring in a lot of money. I know i will buy all 3 movies!

This is one of those movies I'd always skip over while channel surfing. Since it's been talked about being in the Collection, it's piqued my interest. I'll definitely give it a try on Netflix.

Criterion must have persuaded Robert Redford to sit down for an interview since he was just in town and the specs have been updated today. A welcome addition to the disc in my opinion, as not having Redford's participation seemed glaring.

"How Fast?, a rare 12-minute promotional featurette" has also been added.

Here is a clip from Redford's Inside The Actor's Studio appearance, the first part of which is about Downhill Racer and his struggles with the studio when it came time for Paramount to release the film.

brendanjc wrote:I almost posted a nearly identical comment when I first saw this announcement, I can't help but roll my eyes when I see the "astonishing alpine photography" comment in addition to the usual "new, restored high-definition transfer" one for the release when we're still only getting an SD-DVD. It doesn't make me as angry as Z or Jeanne Dielman, but I agree, I really hope that we start seeing the Blu-ray production increase in the next year.

According to two local retailers that I spoke with recently Blu Ray titles aren't exactly flying off the shelves.

Not the biggest surprise. The shift to more of these kinds of titles (late-60'd-90's films with low title recognition with the mass market crowd) have always left me wondering if they're really going to be a bump to their revenue stream in these tight(er) times.

brendanjc wrote:It doesn't make me as angry as Z or Jeanne Dielman, but I agree, I really hope that we start seeing the Blu-ray production increase in the next year.

Well to be fair about Jeanne Dielman its pretty much a close port of the already released Jeanne Dielman from the Akerman boxset released 2 years ago, its just a matter of wording making it sound like they actually did create a brand new restoration of it. So its actually somewhat of a mystery as to whether the master itself is good enough for Blu. As for Z no comment on that. Next years lineup so far looks promising, though no Blu for major title releases

On the DVD I don't get it whats with people being apprehensive about this title from the beaver review O.o It may not be gushing with praise but its not bad, perhaps just good and thats about it considering how slim the extras on this are and the picture quality not outstanding but definitely still good.

Thought this was a pretty weak film.
There was some terrible editing and poor dialog, most of the downhill sequences look poorly patched together, it never looks like Redford moves an inch on skis, and Gene Hackman has almost nothing to do as the coach. The film skims over a few things, but never got me involved in the team dynamics and personalities, or with Redford's personal life with family or girlfriends. So we're left with a brash egotist who isn't very interesting. There were two brief moments of training and preparation which could have been interesting if they weren't just used as quick scene setting/background.

I found the extras with Redford and Slate talking about the difficulties of putting the project together (PolanSKI was set to direct early on), and what they hoped to accomplish, more interesting than the film itself. It also confirmed that many of the downhill sequences were indeed edited jigsaw-puzzle-pieces of many skiers, different courses, and different weather conditions. There were two gorgeous shots -- one of a skier just disappearing into a blizzard and another with a huge snow valley behind Redford and Camilla Sparv -- but the first was somewhat poorly edited into the film and the second was just there as eye-candy as a lead in to a romantic ski duet. I assume that a camera whizzing downhill on a skier was new and novel to American audiences of the time.

DVD Review

I have to admit I was sort of "ho-hum" about the film, but it seemed to win me over with the ending.

Spoiler

I actually loved the ending, which might be "happy" but it's fairly unconventional. To my understanding the original ending is that Redford's character would lose, but I found the route they went more effective. Yes, he ends up winning, but the next little bit with the final skier, who comes close to beating him, is beautifully done. When the final competitor falls just before reaching the finish, and Redford's character sees his face and recognizes the look, that actually seemed more satisfying and more suiting than just having him lose.

Up until then I thought the film was okay. I enjoyed the skiing scenes, the photography was nice, and both Redford and Sprav were good, but I felt Hackman was wasted, felt the other team members were kept at arm's length (though I guess that might have been the point since that's what Redford did, but at the same time I didn't really care how Redford treated them because they're kept at arm's length) and I was sort of annoyed that some sequences felt like they were just taking off when there'd be a cut to another scene.

MoonlitKnight wrote:Warner's been claiming a SE of this has been in their pipeline for some time now. As with the SE of "The Man Who Would Be King," "The Magnificent Ambersons," and "Journey into Fear," do they ever intend to release it???? ](*,)

I don't know why they don't release The Man Who Would Be King... It's been forever.

Saw "Downhill Racer" over the weekend. Though I'm still not convinced this one belongs in the collection the more I think about it (which means the flick made an impression) the more it stands out as either avoiding or neatly side-stepping the cliches sports movies are known for. Redford plays David Chappellet as such a vain and self-centered athlete (he knows he's good and doesn't care what others around him) that it rings more true than phony. It's a non-glamorous role (and a pretty good warm-up for Redford's "The Candidate") that pays huge dividends with the Camilla Sparv fling (reminded me of the Clooney-Farmiga relationship in the second half of "Up In The Air") and an ending that is neither predictable nor unexpected. David's home life back in Idaho Springs, CO (easily my favorite portion of the movie) goes a long way to explain David's behavior without either endorsing or condoning it. Gene Hackman has very little do (but is OK) as the no BS US coach of the men's skiing team that is both repelled by Chappellet's attitude while hanging on to his fame for the benefit of Team USA's sponsorship chances. Other than Hackman, Redford and Sparv though the rest of the cast is pretty forgettable. The much-hyped skying stunts/photography in "Downhill Racer" were OK for their time and a step above "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" (1968) but aren't as in-your-face intense or as well put together as the racing scenes in "Grand Prix," IMHO. A commentary track would have been welcomed but the interviews, vintage featurette and booklet help contextualize "Downhill Racer's" place and time in cinema (as in 'now I understand why they didn't even bother to do a Blu-ray version').

Watched this over the weekend too. It's certainly interesting to see Redford in a more non-traditional leading man-type role, but some of it dragged for a bit. I liked the interview with Bob and the writer, it's interesting that Polanski almost did this but was swayed by Paramount to ultimately do Rosemary's Baby.

Maybe it's just his natural magnetism, but after watching this I found Hackman's performance to stand out more than people are giving him credit for. If this movie were made twenty years later it would almost seem like a wry commentary on his Hoosiers character. He tries to be this fair inspiring coach, but Redford is too Redford for that to work. Despite the smiling face he's a bit of a failure.

The movie's not as good as Prime Cut (but a trillion times better than what I remember The Golden Child and A Simple Wish being), but it's still a very good experience and I will likely buy it at the next B&N sale.

Yeah everything I've seen from Ritchie post-70s is pretty much unwatchable (save for Fletch). The Couch Trip is a particularly sad case...

EDIT: Oh wait, he did Cool Runnings too. Fond memories and such...