Robert Redford: A Titan of Film

Last week actor, producer, and activist Robert Redford passed away. He did so much in the world of entertainment from legendary roles (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, All the President's Men, Captain America: The Winter Soldier), to award winning directing (Ordinary People), to creating The Sundance Film Festival and launching the careers of generations of future filmmakers. To celebrate the life and legacy of this amazing man, this week on Geek History Lesson, we’re diving into the highlights and seeking lessons on how to stand as tall as Robert Redford did.


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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:12):
I'm gonna set the scene for you. Let's imagine there's
a snow dusted morning in Sundance, Utah, and an elderly
man that is later to be revealed Robert Redford, who
is unseen by most of the festival goers, slips into
the back of a tiny theater as a first time
filmmaker's credits role. Now decades upon decades, he has been

(00:36):
the face on all the movie posters, on all the
biggest marquees, and now he is sort of this foster,
this guardian of other people's beginnings. This is a legend
in the back row that gave the kid on a
screen of future. Because we're talking about Robert Redford, and

(00:57):
I feel like his passing is a cultural tectonic shift,
and I feel like we have to dig into that.
And Hello, I'm Jason Emmon, Welcome to a very somber
and very interesting geek history lesson.

Speaker 2 (01:10):
And I'm Ashley Victoria Robinson. Welcome to your mind University
because you have come to the podcast where we take
one character construct or legend.

Speaker 3 (01:19):
I like legend in the back round, that's a very
good phrase from.

Speaker 2 (01:22):
Popular culture and teach you everything you need to know
about them in about an hour. And this is something
we have done before on GHL.

Speaker 3 (01:32):
Of breaking the presses.

Speaker 1 (01:33):
Well, it's not really breaking the presses because he kind
of passed a couple weeks ago, but it was, Yeah,
he Robert Redford is such a cultural icon that we
felt we had to do.

Speaker 4 (01:44):
A special episode to talk about it.

Speaker 2 (01:45):
We felt compelled to celebrate him and his legacy. Yes
and yeah, and all the good that he did for
so many of the creators that you love, which I
think is something we're gonna we're gonna get into.

Speaker 1 (01:55):
Yeah, And I want to say that we can be geeky.
It's interesting that, you know, some people like to really
pigeonhole geek is that it only means like specific things.
It only means video games, it only means superheroes, it
only means Pokemon. Yeah, but I think you can be
geeky about film.

Speaker 2 (02:15):
I think you can be geeky about music, and I
think you can be yeaky about sports.

Speaker 1 (02:20):
So it was one of these where it is, you know,
due to all kinds of crazy stuff that is happening
in the world, I really felt like, and we both
felt this way, that the death of Robert Redford is
just not being talked about that much, and it's not
being talked about that this titan of film who, in

(02:41):
our little bit of research for this very special episode,
changed a lot more of film than we even realized.
I think that for sure than anybody who realized. Yes,
so let's nod the hat to him a little bit,
to our old dear sun dance here Ashley. Yeah, and
why exactly are we doing this episode?

Speaker 4 (02:58):
We asked.

Speaker 1 (02:58):
We mentioned that Robert Redford had the way, but would
you like to give some of the details on, said
mister Redford.

Speaker 2 (03:04):
So mister Redford passed away a little bit after his
eighty ninth birthday.

Speaker 3 (03:10):
Good long run.

Speaker 2 (03:12):
He was born on September sixteenth, which makes him a Virgo.
If you're an astrology girly, that means you are very focused,
you're very driven, you're very organized. So the fact that
he went on to found a film festival and do
a lot of advocacy work and do a lot of
stuff outside of his lane, I actually think makes a
lot of sense if you want to if you want

(03:33):
to get into the.

Speaker 3 (03:34):
Star sign of it all.

Speaker 2 (03:36):
He's an incredibly lauded performer, so just as a performer,
he won an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award,
five Golden Globe Awards, including the Cecil B de Mill
Award that's sort of a Legacy Performer Achievement Award. Yeah yeahah,
Screen Actors Guild Lifetime Achievement Award to Night's ninety six,
an Academy Honorary Award, the Kennedy Centers On.

Speaker 4 (03:58):
There was also sort of a Lifetime Achievment.

Speaker 2 (03:59):
War the Presidential Medal of Freedom and an Honorary Czar
that is that's the French Film Award. So getting one
of those is is incredibly it's like a lifetime.

Speaker 4 (04:11):
He almost almost all of the almost he got it.

Speaker 3 (04:14):
Yeah. He was just like, I don't need a Tony.
I'm too good for that.

Speaker 2 (04:19):
As Jason mentioned, I think he's probably most iconically known
as Sun Dance from Butch Cassidy and The Sun Dance Kid.

Speaker 3 (04:27):
Maybe the Sting I think would be the other thing
that's probably most famous for you listening here.

Speaker 2 (04:33):
Definitely know him from Captain America, The Winter Soldier.

Speaker 1 (04:36):
This is character name in Captain America The Winter Soldier.
I actually don't even remember.

Speaker 2 (04:40):
Remember I can tell you that in just a minute.
I just remember he evil that guy, well we all
called him. We were just like Robert Redford is now
part of Hydra, Like that's that's kind of where it
ended up. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (04:50):
Yeah, he also appears an endgame. Technically he does, and
he does appear. And you know what's funny.

Speaker 1 (04:57):
When I first saw him in Captain America The Winter Soldier,
I was absolutely convinced that he was going to be
the red Skull that they were going to tell us
that he.

Speaker 3 (05:04):
I think is Alexander Pearce.

Speaker 1 (05:05):
I was going to say, Aaron pears Yeah, very generic
government bureaucracy and eight.

Speaker 3 (05:10):
And that's who he is.

Speaker 1 (05:11):
He's he's not revealed to be an alien, No, he
is just sort of government bureaucrat gone wrong.

Speaker 3 (05:19):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (05:19):
Well, because if you've never seen it, Captain America Winter
Soldier is very much a an espionage, a classic spy
movie set within the Marvel universe. So it actually makes
sense that he is just just playing that he is
playing a very grounded, especially for Marvel, a very grounded
marble villain.

Speaker 3 (05:36):
It would have been cool if he was a Red
Skull not at all.

Speaker 1 (05:38):
So I again, if you don't know who Robert Rifer
is and is and you're listening to this podcast, please
get homework, friends, please go Google, and we're going to
give you lots of sort of reasons why this man
was a true renaissance man, a true artist of the field.
He changed movies, He changed pop culture forever, and we

(06:00):
don't really acknowledge a big way that he changed pop culture.
He did completely change film, not only with his roles,
but you know we were talking about, you know, he
was sort of he started off as this Hollywood star
and then he sort of never really compromised on his authenticity.

(06:20):
He was always driven to be an artist. And you know,
there might be a real reason why he named his
festival sun Dance after a famous outlaw. And I think
part of it has to do with The Atlantic wrote
this amazing article.

Speaker 3 (06:37):
I should have written, as they're want to do.

Speaker 4 (06:39):
I should have written down the author, but I apologize, but.

Speaker 3 (06:43):
We'll link it on our socials for you to check out.

Speaker 1 (06:45):
The quote of the Atlantic article about Robert Redford's career
is his decades of work explored one theme over and over,
the hollow the hollowness of an easy victory.

Speaker 3 (06:58):
Ooh, what a great line.

Speaker 1 (07:01):
And I really think that Robert Redford sort of fused
this star magnetism, this political conscious this sort of film
innovation basically to expand sort of stories about the American myth.
Now I want to kind of we're gonna just kind
of loosey goosey here. He was born Charles Robert Redford Junior,

(07:23):
in Santa Monica in nineteen thirty not.

Speaker 3 (07:25):
Too far from where we're sitting right now. Good old
California boy.

Speaker 1 (07:29):
But Charles is the you know, and he sort of
became famous in a way that you're really gonna enjoy
because the movie that really brought him to stardom is
a movie called Barefoot in the Park nineteen sixty seven.

Speaker 3 (07:44):
Now, Ashley apted from a very famous place.

Speaker 1 (07:46):
That's why I'm by a very famous Broadway play, right,
Neil Simons, Yes, if.

Speaker 3 (07:51):
I may interrupt really quickly.

Speaker 2 (07:52):
The author of the Atlantic article that we were talking about,
which is called Robert Redford knew that winning corrupts Lovely.

Speaker 3 (07:58):
Lady Sally Jenkins Sally Jink. Yes, And like I said,
I will link it on all our socials. You can
check it out. After Sally hans it, it.

Speaker 2 (08:04):
Just says Sally, let me click on it. And no,
she is a staff writer. She's a journalist, not that
that would be very cool, but apparently mostly a sports writer.

Speaker 1 (08:15):
Fun fact, it's a great article. Eybody should check it out.

Speaker 3 (08:17):
Yeah for sure.

Speaker 1 (08:19):
Oh, I thought I was waiting for your more Broadway
talk on Barefoot of the Park.

Speaker 3 (08:23):
Sorry.

Speaker 2 (08:24):
So Neil Simon is a lauded American. I would say
classic New York.

Speaker 4 (08:29):
He's my favorite player, right.

Speaker 3 (08:31):
I think I knew that Barefoot in the Park is.

Speaker 2 (08:36):
I'm not gonna lie to you've never seen it, never
read it, simply know that it.

Speaker 3 (08:39):
Exists, and I know that it's a classic.

Speaker 1 (08:42):
It's about an uptight lawyer who marries a nineteen sixty
seven y'all free spirited woman.

Speaker 3 (08:50):
I knew it was a romance.

Speaker 1 (08:52):
And they you know, she's perfectly content to basically live
in their New York walk up apart, and he's not.

Speaker 3 (09:03):
He's obviously driven and wants more in me. Exactly exactly. Now.

Speaker 1 (09:06):
This was the movie adaptation because it was a very
famous play at the time, and again it was a
commercial hit. He was the young hot man and you
go find the posters. He's very much a nineteen sixties
you know, you would say those post war posters, you'd
be like that young man's going somewhere. He's got a
straw hat, and he's got a beautiful wife, and he's
gonna take off a Broadway.

Speaker 3 (09:25):
Yes.

Speaker 2 (09:25):
Also two things. One, he was hot. Robert Redford always
was hot, just good look a man all the way
up till the day he died.

Speaker 3 (09:32):
Always looks great. Sometimes you'll hearry this here.

Speaker 2 (09:35):
This play referred to as Barefoot in the Park with
George Yes, but it is the actual published title is
Barefoot in the Park.

Speaker 1 (09:42):
But the movie and this is my well, this is
my second favorite movie of his, And actually I should
probably because I don't think we're gonna actually talk about
my favorite movie of his that much.

Speaker 4 (09:55):
So I'm actually gonna do.

Speaker 1 (09:57):
My do future Jason a quick little help out here
and kind of give you a SYNOPSI here. I'm going
on all the place everybody. But the movie that I
think most people know him from her is one of
the best westerns ever made, nineteen sixty nine's Bush, Cassie
and the Sun Nance Kid. Now Paul Newman is the
big reason why everybody came to this movie.

Speaker 3 (10:18):
Cool hand, Luke mister Salad dressing himself cool hand Luke.
He was a big deal.

Speaker 1 (10:22):
But Butch Castid and Sune's kids sort of based on
a real story, because Buschcasie and Sun's kids were real people.

Speaker 3 (10:29):
Inasmuch as any classic Western is based on a true story.

Speaker 1 (10:31):
Yeah, but if you have never seen Butchcasti in Senance Kid,
you are aware of it because there's so many iconic
things in it.

Speaker 3 (10:39):
It is.

Speaker 1 (10:40):
Not only was it nominated for Best Picture and Best
Director yep, directed by George roy Hill, it's also known
for something that is seen as silly, uh the uh,
sort of helped by Burke backerat range rops keep falling
on much.

Speaker 3 (10:55):
I'm gonna say, if you think that's silly, you're wrong.
That's I love that moment.

Speaker 4 (10:58):
That's all you want?

Speaker 3 (10:58):
An oscar? Yeah?

Speaker 4 (10:59):
For Best Also, it was just this.

Speaker 1 (11:03):
It's one of these movies where you see two actors
pair up in the way that I would say the
modern comparison to me would be like a George Clooney
and a Brad.

Speaker 3 (11:14):
Pitt or Matt Damon, Ben Fleck, Mat.

Speaker 1 (11:16):
Dame, and I would say Abbot, Abbott and Castello, Laurel
and Hardy, Robert Redford and Paul Newman, sort of became
this magnetic duo. And this was the movie that truly
made Robert Redford famous. This was a huge movie. It's
an amazing Western, and it's a subversive Western because it's
very much about not glorifying outlaws because they just keep

(11:39):
trying to you know, and here I thought I was
really in trouble. They're always trying to stay one step
ahead of the law, and they think that their their
their their performances, their their lives are going to be smooth.

Speaker 3 (11:49):
But their lives are never smooth.

Speaker 1 (11:51):
But this is Robert Redford has said that Butch Cassidy
and Senet's Kids was one of his favorite films that
he ever worked on.

Speaker 2 (12:00):
I find the ending of it quite sad, Yeah, because
that's what really went about.

Speaker 3 (12:03):
Not to spoil a fifty year old movie.

Speaker 1 (12:06):
I mean, go Google, Google Butch Cassidy. You're going to
find out what really happened to the Yeah, but.

Speaker 2 (12:11):
I think the way it's presented on film is very beautiful,
very sad.

Speaker 1 (12:15):
There's also he also that same year he had another
big movie come out. Now, some people this is the
interesting thing about Rob Rudford. So Rob Redford, you know,
I just told you about Well, he has this sort
of like romantic comedy that he did where he was
the lead.

Speaker 3 (12:32):
Right, he was also the lead of the play. He's
the only one they brought over.

Speaker 1 (12:34):
Yeah, he did this western western action adventure sort of
comedy and then he starts doing sports movies.

Speaker 3 (12:43):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (12:43):
Yeah, So in nineteen sixty nine, also is this movie
that comes out called down Hill Racer. This is a
Roman Polanski movie.

Speaker 3 (12:55):
Well, let's said about his personal life, the better correct,
But that should tell you.

Speaker 1 (13:01):
Why, you know, this movie is lauded so like, actually,
I'm sorry. Originally it was supposed to be directed by
Roman Polanski. Rome Plancy walked away from Downhill Racer to go,
h put make Rosemary's Baby.

Speaker 2 (13:16):
Ah.

Speaker 1 (13:17):
He wanted Robert Redford to be in Rosemary to be
the husbands.

Speaker 3 (13:22):
Wow, Wow, what a different movie that would have been.

Speaker 1 (13:25):
Robert Redford believed in Downhill Racer more and stayed and
eventually found an never director called Michael Richie. Now, the
movie stumbled at the box office. It was a box
office bomb because it opened a month after Butch Cassidy
in The Sundance Kid.

Speaker 3 (13:43):
And everyone was still seeing Butch Cassidy in The Sundance Kid.

Speaker 1 (13:46):
But Downhill Racer. If you look up the greatest sports
movies ever played, most people put Downhill Racer in the
top ten.

Speaker 2 (13:55):
It's funny because if you look at the poster, it's, uh,
it looks like.

Speaker 3 (14:00):
It's a sexy movie.

Speaker 1 (14:01):
Yeah, it's like a sexy scheme movie. But this is
one of these movies where a lot of people have
forgotten about this movie and it's really really solid. Again,
it's I do think it's one of the best sports
movies ever made. And it's not really that much about
sports interesting, which is interesting. Yeah, So then we have
to move on to and again I'm telling you about
some of the legendary films of the seventies, and then

(14:22):
we're going to move on to more general stuff Rob Refford.
But these are all movies that I think you should
definitely check out.

Speaker 3 (14:27):
Also, I'm so sorry to interrupt.

Speaker 2 (14:29):
Down How Racer has an absolute murder's rope like Ashian
Hackman's in it, Dadney Coleman.

Speaker 3 (14:33):
Isn't it wow? That movie is forgotten?

Speaker 2 (14:35):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (14:36):
Yeah, I got some homework.

Speaker 1 (14:37):
Now, do we want to do a Redford Club? We
did Costnerson listeners a couple of years ago. I found
out that Ashley had this uncanny valley of not watching
Kevin Costner movies.

Speaker 3 (14:47):
Yeah, and.

Speaker 1 (14:50):
We did this thing called Kevin Costner Christmas, and we
watched a bunch of Kevin Costner movies.

Speaker 4 (14:56):
We could do a Robert Redford review.

Speaker 3 (14:58):
Oh yeah, I like that, you know, because I know
for a retrospective.

Speaker 4 (15:01):
I know for a fact.

Speaker 1 (15:02):
You've never seen my favorite Rob Redford movie. I know
for a fact you've never seen it.

Speaker 3 (15:06):
Maybe we'll learn when we revealed to the audience. Here's
another one. Yeah, this is a movie that people know.

Speaker 4 (15:14):
Because of the gif.

Speaker 1 (15:17):
There's a very famous gift out there where there is
a man. Some people have said that they think it's
Zat Galfanakis.

Speaker 4 (15:24):
It's not.

Speaker 3 (15:25):
Where there is a man and a big bear coat.

Speaker 1 (15:28):
Yeah, big bushy beard, big hair, Yeah, red hair, very
very mid twentieth century.

Speaker 3 (15:34):
And he slowly turns to the camera and gets a
big old smile.

Speaker 1 (15:38):
Yeah, everybody knows this gift. Go look at smiling man.
That's Robert Redford from the movie Jeremiah Johnson nineteen seventy two. Johnson,
this is about frontier existentialism. This movie is about a
Mexican American war. Veteran named Jeremiah Johnson played by Robert Redford.
He heads to the mountain to live in isolation, and

(15:59):
basically he learns that he can't handle it. He's really
bad at it, and he has to beg basically a
mountain man name.

Speaker 4 (16:08):
Played by Real Grier to help him survive.

Speaker 1 (16:11):
And it's all about uh surviving and also being threatened
by the crow Indians of the time. Robert Redford was
insistent because this movie is directed by the legendary director
Sidney Pollack, who also directed is the title someone comes
to Dinner.

Speaker 3 (16:31):
Look Who's coming to there?

Speaker 1 (16:33):
Yes, I always get confused in that. It's like it's
like it's a wonderful one.

Speaker 3 (16:35):
Sorrying Sidney put So.

Speaker 1 (16:37):
Sidney Pollack directed this movie, not the first nor the
last movie that Sidney Pollock and Rob Refford will do
the game.

Speaker 4 (16:45):
But Robert Redford.

Speaker 1 (16:47):
Insisted that this movie be shot on location where it
was based. Actually, would you like to kick a guess,
knowing Robert Redford's life, where this movie was filmed.

Speaker 2 (16:59):
It's going to be like a Colorado, Utah, Idaho, Montana
somewhere kind of mountainey like that.

Speaker 3 (17:06):
I mean, you nailed it.

Speaker 1 (17:07):
In the second one because Jeremi Johnson was filmed near
the actual location of the current sun Dance Film Festival.
This is the movie that it's because of Jeremiah Johnson
that Robert Redford fell in love with Utah.

Speaker 2 (17:22):
I mean, you tell is beautiful, I get it. Sidney
Pollack also, by the way, directed a movie that I
really loved, The Townsend, mister Ripley.

Speaker 1 (17:27):
I also want to tell you that Jeremiah Johnson also
has another first for Hollywood. It is the very first
Western Hollywood Western to play at the con Film Festival.

Speaker 3 (17:39):
Wow. Do you know that he also used to be
an actor, Sidney Pollack.

Speaker 4 (17:43):
Yeah, he does.

Speaker 3 (17:45):
He shows up in some of these. He's in a
Robert Altman movie. I don't know which one. I mean.

Speaker 1 (17:49):
Sidney Pollack mortgaged his home to finish the movie because
when they were filming.

Speaker 3 (17:55):
Damn it good for him, what a flex they got
caught in a snowstorm. Oh and what do you what
are you gonna do and not finish the movie?

Speaker 1 (18:03):
Yes, and he mortgaged his movie to go back because
Warner Brothers and Warner Brothers Films wanted to them to
just build a fake forest on the w B backlot
and Robert it.

Speaker 3 (18:14):
Sounds like something that some executives to tell you do.
And Robert Redford and Cydey Pollack were both like, that's bye. Yeah,
and they were right, and they were one right, yeah, yeah.
Can you imagine? Yeah, can you imagine?

Speaker 1 (18:26):
Can you imagine the cut in between the scaly It's
just like plastic trees or whatever.

Speaker 2 (18:31):
It's like when you're watching mash and you're like, oh,
I see we're inside on the sets now.

Speaker 3 (18:34):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (18:35):
And then after this, so we get we're now in
the early seventies. Yeah, already I've given you a murderous
row of Robert Redford films. Yeah, classic after classic, got
to classic. We're about to kick up a notch because
this is the period that I think most modern audiences No,
Robert Redford, because now we're in the seventies and now
things are getting complicated and scary, and the government doesn't

(18:56):
like us anymore.

Speaker 3 (18:56):
Yeah, presidents are doing things that we don't like you.

Speaker 1 (19:00):
Yes, And spies are everywhere, and newspaper journalists are the best. Yes,
and they actually mattered. They still matter, but they mattered
even more back then. Yeah, And I'll tell you a
little bit about that, because I completely forgot that this
podcast has had breaks. Right after this, Gee Casher lesson,
we're back. I'm still gigging out about Robert Redford because
I miss him.

Speaker 2 (19:19):
Look, the magnificence of the hair alone is worth louding.

Speaker 3 (19:23):
Again.

Speaker 1 (19:24):
I remember the controversy of the Jeremiah Johnson gift because
again I remember so many thinking and I knew what
it was because I remember watching everyone, my dad and
all these people call it. Zach Alfadek has just irked me.
He looks nothing FLI I can kind.

Speaker 3 (19:39):
Of see when you're looking at it, very small. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (19:42):
So this is where I'm not really going to go
into every one of these films, but.

Speaker 3 (19:45):
Because you should go watch them.

Speaker 1 (19:47):
Yeah, And this is where like Robert Redford is putting
out like a film a year, yea sometimes two classic
after class. So he starts doing The Candidate nineteen seventy two,
it's one of his first political movies. He does The
Way We Were with Barbara Streisand, which is a very
famous romantic comedy, very famous song.

Speaker 2 (20:04):
Which a later really excellent episode of the Simpsons, The
Way We Was is parodied and named after.

Speaker 1 (20:10):
Then he finally re teams with this good old buddy
Paul Newman nowy dressing Boyfriend nineteen seventy three, The Sting. Yeah,
this thing. By the way, audiences lined up around the
block because this was the first time that they teamed

(20:31):
up that Robert Redford and Newman came back since Butch Cassidy.
It is, by the way, most people don't know this
the same director as Butch cast sitting in the sinance.
Get George roy Hill came back again. It's a period
caper pic set in the nineteen thirties. It won seven
of ten Oscar nominees it clear, including Best Picture. Redford

(20:53):
was nominated for Best Actor, he did not win, and
then in two thousand and four the film was selected
for Preservation and Library of Congress. Wow, if you have
not seen The Sting, not only does it have a
murderer's row, including James Bond and Jaws his own Robert Shaw.
Every actor you see in The Sting is a that
guy from that movie. You will recognize all of them.

(21:16):
And it also has the amazing repeating motif of the
music of the Entertainer.

Speaker 2 (21:22):
Yes, it also has Robert Redford in a newsboy cap,
which I love very very much trying.

Speaker 1 (21:27):
To make him young, even though by this point I
think he's touching his forties.

Speaker 3 (21:30):
I mean, he's still younger than Paul Newman.

Speaker 1 (21:32):
So it's funny because when you look at when you
look at Butch casting the Sennet's kid, you can clearly
tell that Robert Redford is like the young man, and
that's yes, and that's the that's the point of Sunnett
Sonnets is supposed to be like the young rebel and
Butch Cassidy's the guy that's been around the block, and
they're trying to play them.

Speaker 3 (21:48):
As the same age. But you can, I mean, you
can kind of tell that, Like.

Speaker 1 (21:52):
I'm guessing that Paul Newman was probably closing in on
forty when he's Butch Cassidy. And I know, I'm pretty
certain Robert Redford was maybe thirty maybe if he wasn't
in his early twenties. But it's interesting because by the
time we get to the sting, they were just like, yeah,
Paul just has great hair. Paul Newman has great hair and.

Speaker 2 (22:10):
He doesn't been having so Runn Bradford was thirty two, okay,
and I'm working on Paul Newman.

Speaker 1 (22:16):
Paul Newman's age is when filming Butch Cassidy and the
Sennenzki forty three, he was forty.

Speaker 3 (22:20):
They're eleven years sparts. Like I said, you can tell.

Speaker 1 (22:22):
That Paul has a little bit of a little bit
of mileage on him.

Speaker 2 (22:25):
It was also a time when people smoked and drank
and didn't wear sunscreen, so you just looked older.

Speaker 3 (22:29):
So he had this thing.

Speaker 1 (22:30):
And then he also had two back to back movies
nineteen seventy five and nineteen seventy six, which not only
set up basically this what I think most people know
him for, but also have touched and inspired movies since then.
Nineteen seventy five, he has a movie that I think

(22:52):
redefined all spycraft movies since Three Days of the Condor.

Speaker 2 (22:56):
Yeah, there is a direct line between Three Days and
of the Condor.

Speaker 3 (23:00):
Captain America Weld PC. You can tell they cast him
because of that.

Speaker 1 (23:04):
One hundred percent. Would you bring up the synopsis of
Three Days of the Condor. And then the second movie
that most people know him is his role where he
teamed up with Dustin Hoffman All the President's Men, which
is about the two famous newspaper men who basically exposed
the Watergate scandal.

Speaker 2 (23:23):
So Three Days of the Condor also, by the way,
directed by Sydney Pollock.

Speaker 3 (23:26):
Yep, I have a synopsis for you if you would
like it. Uh.

Speaker 2 (23:31):
Mainly in New York City and Washington, DC. The film
is about a bookish CIA researcher who comes back from
lunch one day to discover his coworkers murdered, then subsequently
tries to avoid his own murder and outwit those responsible
and understand their motives.

Speaker 3 (23:43):
That's a pretty good synopsis. Not spoil it.

Speaker 1 (23:45):
It is an astounding spycraft movie. Who do you Druss?

Speaker 2 (23:49):
Yes? It Also it won the Academy Award for Best
Film Editing, and it's I think one of the clearest
examples where when you watch it, you're like, now I
understand good editing.

Speaker 1 (23:56):
Yes, it is one of these things where again an
America Winner Soldier would not exist. About Three Days of
the Condor. You can directly see it, so like I
that is another great one. Also, here's the crazy thing
about All the President's Men. I think this tells you
exactly about Robert Redford. Yeah, if you wouldn't mind googling
the synopsis of All the President's Men, So just because
I want to get the newspaper men's names exactly right.

Speaker 3 (24:19):
So got it.

Speaker 1 (24:20):
All the President's Men comes out in nineteen seventy six.
Please remind me of the two newspapermen that broke that.

Speaker 2 (24:26):
Scandal, Carl Bernstein and of course Bob Woodward, who is
probably the more famous of the d Bernstein Woodword.

Speaker 1 (24:31):
Okay, so, Robert Redford, could you also remind me Watergate
happens in seventy three or seventy four, seventy four. Okay,
you just heard me. All the President's Men came out
in nineteen seventy six. Robert Redford bought the rights to

(24:54):
these men's story into this breaking because he was very
passionate about politics. He's very passionate stuff.

Speaker 3 (25:00):
And remain so to the end of his life, so
much to.

Speaker 1 (25:02):
The point that there are articles and reviews in nineteen
seventy six that, because this was such a new story,
a lot of America didn't know this happened until All
the President's Men the movie came out in theater.

Speaker 2 (25:20):
You can also find because obviously everything's digitized now. There
was some controversy about whether or not it was appropriate
to be fictionalizing the story as quickly as they did.

Speaker 1 (25:29):
Yeah, but Robert Redford, the only is the big reason
why that movie happened, and that movie most people. I mean,
it's in the AIFI Top one hundred film.

Speaker 3 (25:37):
As it should be.

Speaker 2 (25:38):
And if you like Dustin Hoffin with big poofy hair,
you're gonna love this movie.

Speaker 3 (25:41):
He's got the biggest hair. What a way to describe.
It's the ultimate puffy hair he does. He's got the
poofy hair.

Speaker 1 (25:49):
So he is on fire right now. He's producing his
own projects in the nineteen seventies, and but he's sitting
here and he's a man. He's saying, hmmm, the top
of my game. H But what if I started directing
some movies, which he does, and we're gonna talk about
them a little bit later. Well, actually we can talk
about him now, Scrow, let's do it. He directed a

(26:11):
movie called Ordinary Man in nineteen eighty. He directed A
River Runs Through It in nineteen ninety two, which is
an amazing Western brats.

Speaker 3 (26:19):
Really good movie. He directed Quiz Show.

Speaker 1 (26:21):
Yeah, good movie starring Rob I'll go and try to
pull the name from Northern Exposure Tomorrow and Ray Fines
Rob Morrow. That was nominated for Best Picture, by the Way,
and then he also directed The Horse Whisper, which is
this It's I always.

Speaker 4 (26:36):
Think it as like sort of Vandy project.

Speaker 3 (26:37):
I liked The Horse Whisper because I was a horse girl.

Speaker 1 (26:41):
But then while he was doing all that, he sort
of like ran into this thing where he was like, hmm.

Speaker 4 (26:49):
I think this is in the eighties.

Speaker 3 (26:51):
Yeah, this is in the eighties. Think about this forty
years ago.

Speaker 1 (26:55):
So Robert Redford was looking at the movies coming out
in the eighties and he started saying to himself, they're
kind of becoming homogenized. I see a little bit too
many sequels out here.

Speaker 3 (27:09):
In the eighties.

Speaker 1 (27:09):
There's a little bit too many franchises out here. Feels
like movies are getting stale in the eighties. Yeah, so
he creates the Sundance Film Festival.

Speaker 2 (27:19):
But you also have to consider that part of that
thought process is it's getting a bit too hard to
break into the film industry in the eighties.

Speaker 4 (27:28):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (27:29):
So he basically looked at founding Sundance on some of
his land in Utah, and he kind of like wrote
this sort of like manifesto for like how he wanted
to be and some of the tenets of this festival
are Basically he wanted to so it was formalized in
nineteen seventy eight.

Speaker 4 (27:50):
So I was a little bit early, I'm sorry.

Speaker 1 (27:52):
Basically, he described it as he wanted to create oxygen
for non Hollywood voices to be able to break into
the film industry. He wanted to emphasize regional empowerment, such
as other places beyond La being able to host films
and make films and stuff like that. And he also

(28:13):
wanted to create competition for American independent films so that
everybody would be trying to make films kind of like
all the President's Men and stuff like that that pushed boundaries, Yes,
to really push boundaries and do things that we had
never seen before on film. And then he also wanted
to be like a living experience or teaching experience, because

(28:34):
he was like, oh, I wanted to be like it
is a film festival. But he also decided to be like, well,
let's kind of make it a convention. Let's do it,
let's have panels. And then also he introduced his idea
of well, let's bring old films that like came out
twenty years ago, show them at the festival, and then
like invite the filmmakers back to do retrospective.

Speaker 3 (28:56):
No, it was very much on talkbacks.

Speaker 2 (28:58):
Yeah, before talkbacks and podcasting, before podcasts.

Speaker 1 (29:01):
And now every film festival is that way, like Tiff
right now, the Toronto International Film Festival is basically the Sundance.

Speaker 2 (29:07):
Tell you're right, it's the same way slam Dance obviously
the most obvious, but you've you might have heard also
of like the Sundance Labs. So that was it eventually
expands out to be uh where you can submit screenplays
and you can even work your projects into development before
they're even ready to film.

Speaker 1 (29:22):
It's the fact that like the and he again was
about top of his power, like he was, and he
looked down.

Speaker 3 (29:28):
And said, I want to bring other people with me.

Speaker 2 (29:30):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (29:30):
Yeah, Like he was like oh again, around nineteen eighty
he was like Hollywood's getting stale. Yeah, and he was like,
we gotta do something to shake it out. But he
didn't have to. He was richer than God at this point.

Speaker 3 (29:41):
Yeah. No, he could have just bought a bigger ranch
and been like, get off my lawn.

Speaker 1 (29:44):
He could have bought all of Utah. But I know,
I know you actually you have a list of like
some of the award winning movies that have come out
of Sundance.

Speaker 3 (29:52):
Okay, so I have.

Speaker 2 (29:53):
A list of all of the uh movies that came
out of Sundance that were ever nominated for the Best
Picture Academy Award. Okay, so I'm gonna run down them.
We are gonna I'm gonna say, we're gonna We're gonna
leave off our relative opinions of some of these filmmakers.
I'm just gonna give you the director in the movie
first one, Woody Allen's Hannah and Her Sisters Uh, Norman

(30:15):
Jewison's Moonstruck, Mike Newell's Four Weddings in a Funeral, Todd
Fields in The Bedroom, Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Ferris's Little Miss.

Speaker 3 (30:22):
Sunshine Love The Little Bit Sunshine.

Speaker 2 (30:24):
Low Lawn, Shirfig's Apologies and Education, Lee daniels Precious, Lisa
Cholodenko's The Kids Are all Right, Deborah Grannix Winter's Bone,
ben Zateln's Beasts of the Southern Wild, Richard Linklatter's Boy Head,
Damien Chazzelle's Whiplash, John Crowley's Brooklyn, Kenneth Lonergan's Manchester by
the Sea, Luca guareg Nino, I Apologize, Call Me by

(30:47):
Your Name, Jordan Peel's Get Out, and then the most recent,
which is the first one to win the Academy Award
for Best Picture, Coda I Film. Yeah, it was speaking
the first Sunn's filmed The Oscar for Best Pictures of
the ninety fourth Annual Academy Awards. But like the fact
that there's more than one, more than five, and all

(31:08):
of those films, whether or not you've seen them, you
have heard of them, they are all they all remain resonant,
and in the film Zeitgeist is nothing short of incredibly
impressive because I haven't.

Speaker 3 (31:18):
Seen all of them.

Speaker 2 (31:19):
Yeah, of course that someone listening is like, well, I
have honestly good for you, friend. You know these movies
because I make podcasts.

Speaker 3 (31:27):
Are you a real Robert Redford fan? Well, I'll tell
you my Robert Redford story in a little bit.

Speaker 4 (31:32):
Do you have a reference story?

Speaker 3 (31:33):
I have spoken to Robert Redford before? Really, Yes, I
didn't know this, Yes, of all, I told you when
it happened.

Speaker 4 (31:39):
Oh, okay, I forgot about this.

Speaker 1 (31:40):
Okay, let's talk about Also, he was a huge champion
of activism and environmentalism. Yeah, That's why I say he's
a true renaissance man. So not only is he acting
in movies, he's directing movies, he's producing movies. He created
his own film festival. Yeah, and then he still has

(32:01):
somehow has time to do Look, he's probably paying people
to do this, but he still has time to write
the check to help environmentalism.

Speaker 3 (32:09):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (32:10):
He also and you can find lots of photos and
lots of news coverage of this.

Speaker 3 (32:14):
He went to.

Speaker 2 (32:16):
Washington and would lobby, and would make up, and would
use his celebrity and the visual of him being in
places to advocate for these causes that he believed in.

Speaker 3 (32:25):
He has been publicly associated with.

Speaker 2 (32:29):
Environmental protections, most obviously specifically around the Utah Colorado area.

Speaker 4 (32:34):
In New Mexico, to which was in his life.

Speaker 3 (32:36):
Yes.

Speaker 2 (32:37):
Fox News described him as that he committed himself to
being a good steward of the environmental movement and the
champion of the American Southwest. And I think that's a
really beautiful summation. He also advocated for LGBTQIA rights, Native
American rights, and arts and arts education. And obviously the
arts and arts education can be most obviously seen through

(32:58):
the expression of the sun Dance Film Festival. But I
think he also hits a little bit close to our hearts, Jason,
because he loved the mountains, and he loved the forest,
and he loved the bison, and those are all things
that Jason and I are also very passionate about. And again,
when particularly in the modern world, when you come into
that level of celebrity, privilege and money, the cool thing

(33:20):
to do now is to do nothing and make your
little tiktoks. And I have so much respect for the
fact that he used his voice and his platform, and yes,
his money and his staff to do something about it
and to bring the attention of causes like this to
everybody else, because he could have just sat on his
laurels and been in more Marvel movies.

Speaker 1 (33:41):
He could just rode everywhere.

Speaker 2 (33:44):
Like the first picture if you if you go and
look for some of these photos, the first picture of
him in the White House is him with George H. W.

Speaker 3 (33:49):
Bush.

Speaker 2 (33:52):
So that's how long he's been in and around that game,
so longer than a lot of people's lifetimes.

Speaker 1 (34:00):
Yeah, I mean, it's it's just again, it's it's just
one of these things where.

Speaker 4 (34:06):
The man just never stopped.

Speaker 1 (34:08):
No he just never like he must have been a
dude that said to himself, I can't just sit around
the house.

Speaker 4 (34:14):
I've got to find something to do.

Speaker 3 (34:15):
Yeah. You know the Hamilton song NonStop.

Speaker 1 (34:17):
Yeah, that's Robert Redford. But he just like he never
backed down, Like if he believed in something, he just
went for it.

Speaker 2 (34:25):
Yeah, to the best of his ability, which, obviously, and again,
when you have that much money and privilege, the best
of your ability can be pretty high.

Speaker 3 (34:31):
Yeah. But he took his virgo powers and he used
them for good.

Speaker 1 (34:34):
And you know, we also have to talk about, you know,
of course, his late career and farewell narrative sort of again,
like he showed up in Captain America and The Winter Soldier. Yeah,
you know, and again we talked about the only reason
he's in that movie is because so much of that
movie is based on Three Days of the Condor. Yeah,
and it's it's insane that they got him for that.

Speaker 2 (34:54):
And it also makes me think that he must have
been a Marvel fan, whether that was of the comics
or the movie or.

Speaker 3 (35:00):
Something, because one of his kids was saying, our.

Speaker 2 (35:03):
Grandson, because he absolutely did not have to be in
Captain America, The Winter Soldier, like he.

Speaker 1 (35:09):
Chose to be in that movie, and then it was
such a notable cameo that they that they decided to
bring him back in Avengers in Game. Yeah, they were like, oh,
who would be the person that would like surprise everybody
to be in this movie Robert Redford.

Speaker 3 (35:25):
Alexander Pears, Alexander Peers.

Speaker 1 (35:27):
Right. But that also goes to show you because like
you and I have talked about this so many times
that like, there is a strong argument for Captain America
The Wars Soldier to be the best Marvel movie. And
I'm going to put that on the shoulders Rob Rifford.

Speaker 3 (35:38):
Yeah, sure, I'll do that.

Speaker 4 (35:39):
You did it.

Speaker 2 (35:40):
There is a quote from an interview where when he
was asked, why did you do Captain America The Winter Soldier,
he said he was interested in quote the new order
of filmmaking end quote, and he wanted to work with
high technology.

Speaker 3 (35:50):
And special effects.

Speaker 2 (35:52):
Now there you go, So if you remain curious, you
might get to be in Captain America as well.

Speaker 1 (35:58):
And then he also has a film that I is
pretty good called The Old Man and the Gun in
twenty eighteen. It's sort of he's a outlaw archetype sort
of breaking out of prison that starts to go breaking
into he decides to rob more banks.

Speaker 3 (36:13):
Yeah, says he's basic is in.

Speaker 1 (36:14):
It and it's sort of a lot of people consider
it to be his sort of public hint at retirement
is sort of like.

Speaker 3 (36:23):
Yeah, because he does.

Speaker 1 (36:24):
And I'm going to be paraphrasing this very badly. He
did give an interview somewhere after the pandemic, like two
or three years ago, where.

Speaker 3 (36:33):
He was in his mid eighties.

Speaker 1 (36:35):
Yeah, where they were where they kind of asked him
because he never officially announced that he was retiring from acting.

Speaker 3 (36:39):
You shouldn't have to if you're in your eighties, should
be able to do whatever you are.

Speaker 1 (36:42):
He just sort of kind of like backed away and
they asked him about that, and they were like, oh,
did you retire from acting? And he kind of said
something of like He's like, well, you can't have the
energy to dance all the time.

Speaker 3 (36:54):
I love that.

Speaker 2 (36:56):
Meanwhile, Dick Van Dyke is like, I'll be dancing on
my enduntil I'm in the ground.

Speaker 1 (37:01):
But it is interesting. He again, he never won an
acting Oscar. He did win an Oscar for directing, and
then he also got sort of the Honorary, the Lifetime Achievement.

Speaker 2 (37:14):
Yeah, and I'm look, I'm sure at the next Academy Award,
he's also gonna get I know, they always do the immemorium,
but he's gonna get a massive shout out, a massive tribute.

Speaker 1 (37:23):
Oh yeah, he'll be like the he'll be the first
or last picture. He'll be the first of.

Speaker 2 (37:28):
The last one I can yeah, or they'll show a
clip from Butch Cassidy or something like that.

Speaker 3 (37:33):
He's just like again, he's you know, I don't know, it's.

Speaker 2 (37:39):
He's the type of if you are a creator, he
is the type of creator you should aspire to be.
I'm not saying you have to do all of these things,
and I don't mean this strictly as a filmmaker, but
just to remain curious, remain involved, bring up your community,
and just challenge your own understanding and perception of your
art form, Like, like, what what more could you want

(38:01):
an artist, as you say, a true renaissance man to do?

Speaker 3 (38:04):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (38:04):
And he, in my opinion, he's a great American man.

Speaker 4 (38:09):
Yes. And he literally.

Speaker 1 (38:16):
Altered the basically the mosaic of film.

Speaker 3 (38:23):
There's no doubt he altered the entire structure of getting
into Hollywood, because you could go, you could slay at
Sundance and then you could have a career. Yes, like yeah,
like what and you could be you could be nobody
in your home before that. And if you want to.

Speaker 1 (38:38):
Know more about that, we are going to go over
our Patreon at patroon dot com, Sash John and j
W I N and we're gonna be talking about some
of the filmmakers whose careers were launched by Sundance. I
guarantee you you've forgotten about some of them. And we
would not know about any of these filmmakers without Robert Redfords.

Speaker 2 (38:57):
And a lot of them are people that I think
you would consider titans who have some of them have
then turned around and done other great things to bring
other people along as well.

Speaker 3 (39:08):
Yes, which is the least you can do?

Speaker 4 (39:11):
Yes?

Speaker 1 (39:12):
And you know, I think this might be a perfect
place to say what I do believe is Robert Redford's
best film.

Speaker 3 (39:20):
Okay, but you've been teasing us.

Speaker 4 (39:22):
You have to find out Red. After these commercial breaks, g.

Speaker 1 (39:28):
JO, we're back talking about the Master, the Legend, the
Sun Dance Kid himself, Robert Redford, Titan of the industry
renaissance man Ashley. Before we get to my choice, from
the Robert Redford movies that you have seen.

Speaker 3 (39:45):
Yes, I definitely haven't seen as many of you.

Speaker 1 (39:46):
Do you have a favorite, Like, what's one that stands
out to you that you're just like When I think
of Robert Redford, I think of that movie.

Speaker 2 (39:53):
I mean I always think of Butchcastian Sandans Kid, which
I know is the boring answer that everybody gives.

Speaker 3 (40:00):
Most famous movie, though I really like him in it.
I like him in but you know, I've never He's
been in some He's been in some bad movies. Uh,
every actor.

Speaker 2 (40:08):
The movie the movie wherein caused the situation where I
had a very brief conversation with him is a terrible movie.
But he's never bad in them, which is I think
the mark of a true a true professional.

Speaker 3 (40:23):
I also have a real I have a soft spot
for Sneakers, which I watched with you, because.

Speaker 2 (40:32):
He's a little bit too old to be playing the
leading man in it, and it's one of the last
times where he's kind of playing like the hot guy
lead and then he kind of ascends into his like
elder statesman era as a performer and It's not a
perfect movie, but Sneakers is a really like fun, fast
paced It's a good watch. Yeah, so I think I

(40:53):
think it's fun.

Speaker 3 (40:54):
It's a murderer's row of a cast. Absolutely. Dan Aykroyd,
yeah so were we were in that movie too.

Speaker 2 (40:59):
I will tell you in just a second. But so
I think I think just because it hasn't been given
its due, it's a spi craft.

Speaker 3 (41:05):
I'm gonna I'm gonna shout and I'm gonna Mary McDonnell is,
who's in it? President Russelling? Is that also a Sidney
Pollock movie directed?

Speaker 2 (41:14):
Uh, it's a Sydney Platier movie directed by Phil Alden Robinson.

Speaker 1 (41:19):
Ye.

Speaker 3 (41:21):
Ben Kingsley's in it.

Speaker 1 (41:23):
Mestatives, Yeah but not but not that movie.

Speaker 2 (41:27):
So I mean, yeah, butch Casside, I think is probably
my favor of the ones I've seen. I have a
feeling I'm about to uhu my Robert Redford profile. I
want to watch that Twilight's Own episode that he was in.

Speaker 1 (41:37):
Yes, it's well, this is a movie that I might
convince you too. We might be watching later tonight.

Speaker 3 (41:41):
Yeah. Oh yeah, yeah, So.

Speaker 1 (41:46):
My favorite Robert Redford movie is a movie that doesn't
get talked a lot about, and it's another like uh,
like the scheme movie is completely forgotten.

Speaker 3 (41:59):
Oh yeah, I want to Downhill Racer. I want to
watch that too. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (42:03):
It's a movie that splits people because, like when you
go to IMDb it it has like a seven point
four Vanity Fair's obituary didn't even mention it. The Athletics
twenty twenty one hundred Top Sports Movies put it as
number thirty, which I think is catastrophically low. But I

(42:28):
am talking about not only a movie that has an
astounding cast of Richard Farmsworth, Wilford Brimley, Kim basing Your,
Glenn Close, Robert Duval, and of course starring Robert Redford.
Directed by Barry Levison, it also.

Speaker 3 (42:43):
Has Parry Levison. Wow.

Speaker 1 (42:45):
It has an astounding music by our good old dcaster
lesson friend mister Randy Newman.

Speaker 3 (42:53):
Oh yeah, yeah, he loves la. But this is a
film called The Natural. Oh yeah, I haven't seen it.

Speaker 1 (43:00):
The Natural is a baseball movie, and it's about it
was a baseball movie. It's a middle aged unknown talent
comes out of nowhere to become a legendary baseball player
with almost a supernatural talent. They call him the nat
Natural and he has he's too old, he shouldn't be playing.

(43:26):
He has like a very special supernatural bat.

Speaker 3 (43:31):
But it is basically there's the Simpsons Baseball episode is
also a bear.

Speaker 1 (43:35):
It is, and they even do the same music. Yeah, yeah,
and the music is amazing, and it's based on a
very famous novel. But it's like when I think about
Robert Redford, like I think about him from The Natural
holding that bat, looking in the sun, having that Robert
Redford smile he does.

Speaker 3 (43:55):
He's got a bit of a crooked smile, very very unique.
He was forty seven when he made this. Moe, Wow,
he looks great. I'm looking at the photograph.

Speaker 2 (44:03):
By the way, if you're interested in it and you're
listening to this near the time of the recording, it's
available on Netflix to streams.

Speaker 1 (44:10):
Yes, But it's it's it's a very sentimental movie and
it's very much a movie about people believing not believing
in you.

Speaker 3 (44:24):
Do you think if you are a Field of Dreams fan,
you could get a lot out of this.

Speaker 1 (44:29):
Natural and Field of Dreams are in the same parallel.

Speaker 3 (44:31):
The same piece of DNA.

Speaker 1 (44:32):
And that's why I think people don't like it is
because The Natural is very, very sentimental, because the character
that he plays, Hobbes, is a very naive farm boy.
Because I believe it's in the thirties, If I'm right,
I think it's set in the nineteen thirties.

Speaker 3 (44:48):
He's forty seven playing a thirty five year.

Speaker 1 (44:50):
Old, yeut, but it's all about him being like he's
almost killed by the game. I mean, by the way
set in the name intense, so it's set even earlier. Yeah,
you're fine, but it's just this It is just one
of these sports movies that is about failure and love

(45:10):
and myth and I kind of think that's what Robert
Redford's career is.

Speaker 3 (45:15):
And just to let you.

Speaker 1 (45:16):
Know how much this movie has resonated, the National Baseball
Hall of Fame has an exhibit dedicated to Roy Hobbes,
the character that Robert plays in The Natural.

Speaker 3 (45:34):
That's so funny. Jersey and his bat are in the
Hall of Fame.

Speaker 2 (45:38):
I mean, this person it made Bunny, it did well
well again, it almost doubled its budget.

Speaker 1 (45:44):
But it's also it's just it's just kind of been forgotten. Yeah,
and that forgotten, And I really think it's just an
interesting thing. And it's also one of these movies that
it sort of ends and it doesn't really tell you
what happens, and it sort of just leaves you to
be like, like, what do you think happened to Roy Hobbs?

Speaker 2 (46:03):
Yeah, you and I are a little warmer on that,
I think than your average person.

Speaker 1 (46:07):
You know, there's a line in the movie that says,
when I walk down the street, people will look at
me and say, there goes Roy Hobbes, the best that
was ever in this game. And I kind of say
to myself, I think you could use that same description
about Robert Reference. Really do one of the best actors

(46:28):
to ever play this game. And you know, I'm glad
we were able to talk about him because I think
he totally deserves it, and I think he's been overshadowed
by a lot of real events and this is one
of those people. Again, I never knew him, and so
that's why I want to I've completely forgotten this story
about where did you cross Robert Reference?

Speaker 3 (46:45):
To very throwaway story.

Speaker 4 (46:46):
It's fine.

Speaker 2 (46:47):
So I got invited to go do the junket for
Pete's Dragon Pete Drag. He sure is the villain of
Pete stroke okay, and we got invited to interview the director,
who was a very cool dude who went on to
direct The Green Knight and could not have been a
worse person to direct Ate Disney like but like had
a great combo with him. And as I was sitting

(47:10):
in the hallway of the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills
waiting to go.

Speaker 3 (47:15):
Many Many Press.

Speaker 2 (47:16):
Or every junket in the world happens that doesn't happen
on zoom now.

Speaker 3 (47:20):
As I was waiting for for that, Robert Redford walked
by me in the hallway. Very tall man. Now I'm
a short person.

Speaker 1 (47:28):
Yeah, And he caught my eye because you're naturally short,
says I would say.

Speaker 3 (47:32):
Yes, I am a natural short.

Speaker 1 (47:35):
Some might look at that Ashley and they would say
she's one of the shortest to ever play that game exactly.

Speaker 2 (47:40):
So he caught my eye because I was probably staring
at him, sure because it's Robert. And he waved at
me and said, Hi, how's it going, And I said great,
how are you?

Speaker 3 (47:47):
And he goes, oh, you know, long day, and then
just continued on his way. That was my conversation with Robert.
He did not have to say anything to me. He
could have just scowled at me and I would have
been like, I was blessed to be scout that by
Robert Redford, and that was that was the one time
Robert Redford, that's so cool.

Speaker 4 (48:05):
Forgot that you talked to the sun Dance kid.

Speaker 3 (48:07):
I did, and my big takeaway was he's tall. He's
really tall.

Speaker 2 (48:11):
Jason and I had a conversation the other night where
we were like, well, if you made the X Men
in the eighties, who would you have gassed? And I said,
you should have cast Robert Redford to play Cyclops because.

Speaker 3 (48:19):
He's tall with then and he's he's always looked like
Robert Redford is Wolverine, no Wine.

Speaker 4 (48:28):
Where Paul Newman has to be in that movie?

Speaker 3 (48:30):
He do he do?

Speaker 2 (48:32):
Sure?

Speaker 3 (48:32):
He could be great? Why not? Off the top of
my head? Sure, well, I don't know, Scott, what are
we doing here?

Speaker 2 (48:42):
I don't look all of him adressing all love and
respect Paul Newman. I don't know if he plays an
intellectual that one, but there's a place for him there.
He's megana Now, God, Terrence Stamp was Magnet. Anyway, that's
a that's a different episode.

Speaker 4 (48:56):
It is a different episode.

Speaker 1 (48:58):
Okay, so everybody, you know, if you're out there and
you're saying yourself, I want to go to Redford Road,
as some would say, nice, You basically got to watch Butch,
Cassie and Sanance Kid. You gotta watch All the President's Men.
You gotta watch Ordinary People, the movie that he won
an Oscar for directing. Yeah, you know, kick Out Downhill Racer.

(49:19):
That's a fun little one. Watch The Natural because mine,
and then say Goodbye to Raw Rifford and the Old
Man and the Gun. Those would be the movies that
I would say, go check out and if you're you know, yeah,
throw on Captain America and Winter Soldiers as the good,
nice little final one. Yeah, but you know, and I
think we might have a list of some of these
choices on geek cares Lesson dot com.

Speaker 3 (49:40):
We certainly will.

Speaker 2 (49:41):
All of these will be up there as our recommended
watching for the week.

Speaker 4 (49:44):
So there you go, Ashley.

Speaker 1 (49:45):
Where can they find geek history Lesson if they want
to suggest more like sort of focus spotlights on this yeah,
great artists of Time.

Speaker 3 (49:53):
Well, if you want the Paul Newman companion to this episode,
oh my god, we're in.

Speaker 2 (49:58):
I'm gonna I'll say this, we will review at least
one of his salad dressings.

Speaker 4 (50:01):
I was just gonna bring up a bunch of them,
just a.

Speaker 3 (50:04):
Bunch of the salad dressings.

Speaker 2 (50:06):
Uh, you can do that all over social media, but
but come to us on threads. We really like threads.
Everyone's still friendly over on threads at geek History lesson.
That is a great place to find us.

Speaker 1 (50:17):
I mean, he's got a nice bosamic vinegar.

Speaker 3 (50:19):
Mm hm.

Speaker 1 (50:19):
He's got as got a lot of deals on ranch.

Speaker 2 (50:23):
Yeah, I'm gonna i gotta say, we probably got to
judge him on the ranch.

Speaker 4 (50:26):
There's a deal on Southwest ranch. He's got a Southwest ranch,
and he's gone.

Speaker 3 (50:29):
He's gone.

Speaker 1 (50:31):
Paul Newman salad dressings that are rated as good consistency
are there. The Caesar dressing and the poppy seed and
I poppy and the creamy Caesar.

Speaker 3 (50:40):
Creamy Caesar. Go to be this person a Caesar not
already creamy. It's made from mayonnaise.

Speaker 1 (50:46):
The interesting thing, though, is I'm noticing as I'm looking
at these, is that sometimes the labels are different because
they're Sometimes they look like a very old school pencil
drawing of Paul Newman and then there's like a newer
picture that's sort of like three d Ish almost.

Speaker 3 (51:01):
I'm gonna say this is my full chest. None of
the logos look like Paul Newman.

Speaker 1 (51:05):
I mean the three d Ish one kind of looks
like him. Nah, I'm going to highly rated Paul Newman's
taste good. It's the creamy Caesar is the number one.

Speaker 2 (51:13):
Paul Newman also appears with My My, My Mash Guy
will Wayne Rogers in Colin Luke.

Speaker 1 (51:21):
There is a Newman's own dressing that is parmesan and
roasted garlic, and in it they have put this cartoon
version of Paul Newman in a Roman Centurion out it.

Speaker 2 (51:33):
Sure, he played a Roman centurion in something who knows
that's very funny.

Speaker 1 (51:39):
If there's anybody that I say it looks like a
Roman centurions.

Speaker 3 (51:43):
It's America's own the most American looking man whoever America.

Speaker 1 (51:47):
This is a very very crazy divergent here specific tangent, yes,
specific tangent.

Speaker 3 (51:53):
I do not remember.

Speaker 1 (51:56):
What sort of biblical Jesus movie it is, sure, but
there's a biblical Jesus movie where John Wayne plays the
Roman centurion that like Pierces oh yes, yes, yeah, and
so when you know Jesus is crucified and and he's
up there on the crucifix, John Wayne is the guy
that stabs the.

Speaker 3 (52:15):
Greatest story ever told nineteen sixty five.

Speaker 1 (52:17):
Yes, and it is the most UnRoman thing ever to
hear John Wayne, Well, I guess he was the King
of Kings.

Speaker 3 (52:26):
I literally googled what Jesus movie is John Wayne.

Speaker 2 (52:31):
I just he just has such a specific deal and
it's very cowboy gangs.

Speaker 4 (52:37):
That is this.

Speaker 1 (52:38):
I saw that when I was probably eight, and that
has never left my brain.

Speaker 3 (52:41):
Thanks Marion Ashley.

Speaker 1 (52:44):
Where can they find you on social media after they're
checking out the Redford round table?

Speaker 2 (52:50):
Yeah, you can come tell me how hot Robert Redford
is over on no social media. I'd actually be Robinson again,
specifically on threads. I like it on threads. It's nice
over there. Yeah, Jason, where can they come and share
their favorite Paul Newman salad dressing with you?

Speaker 3 (53:02):
I'm on Threads at drawin.

Speaker 1 (53:04):
That's jaw I I n And now it's what have
we learned today? Well, we've learned today that Robert Redford
is more than just a pretty boy star. He's a
strategic curator of narrative Echosystems, Sundance equals more than a
glamorous deal hub. It represents protective incubator for regional outsider

(53:25):
of voices. And we've also learned that even though he
has an emotional detachment on screen, his smile is as
crisp and as punchy as the roasted garlic herbs salad
dressing of Newman's Own, Newman's Own. I don't look like
a centurion on this label.

Speaker 3 (53:46):
If you want to sponsor us Newman's Own, we'd be happy.
Paul doesn't need us to create content for you. He's
doing fine. Yeah, he's doing just fine.

Speaker 4 (53:54):
And you know, be honest with you, I don't know
if I've ever had Newman's salad dressing.

Speaker 3 (53:57):
I don't think I have either, do you think, ma'am?

Speaker 1 (54:00):
I'm just saying this. I will throw this out there
to Newman's Own. There needs to be a sundance flavor,
and it's Robert's face.

Speaker 2 (54:10):
There needs to be It should be like a sunflower
Sea Southwest.

Speaker 3 (54:15):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, there needs something sundance, sundance solidress.

Speaker 1 (54:21):
Yeah yeah, I agree. Yeah, if you can put Paul
in a Roman with sundance on there. Absolutely, you know,
big old mustache, big old grin, Jeremiah Johnson all up
in that place. There you go, Robert Redford. Uh, we
salute you, sir. And that's it for Geek Casher lesson,

(54:42):
very somber, very special, very western. We watched in the
Natural tonight.

Speaker 4 (54:47):
Is that where you went?

Speaker 3 (54:48):
Sure?

Speaker 4 (54:48):
Okay, sounds good to me. Great hill racer, Dan hill
Racer is Daniell Racer and streaming.

Speaker 3 (54:53):
I'll tell you in a minute that real quick, let's
find out.

Speaker 1 (54:56):
He wears a lot of ski suits in that surprising.

Speaker 3 (55:00):
Does he look like stupid sexy Flanders in it? Because
we've had a.

Speaker 2 (55:02):
Lot of citizens reference, Yes, yes, it really does.

Speaker 3 (55:06):
Yeah, he's got some stripy crime video. Yeah, it's I'm prime.

Speaker 4 (55:11):
Yeah, there you go.

Speaker 1 (55:12):
I'm all right, everybody go look, go watch Downhill Racer,
then watch the Natural.

Speaker 3 (55:17):
First the Natural.

Speaker 2 (55:18):
I'm gonna say better having seen neither of them.

Speaker 1 (55:21):
I mean, I haven't seen Daniel Racer twenty years, so
uh yeah, I'm gonna say anyways, thank you so much
for listening.

Speaker 4 (55:30):
This has been Geek his lesson.

Speaker 2 (55:31):
I'm Jason Eman, I'm Aster Victoria Robinson and Professor Jason
would you please dismiss the class.

Speaker 3 (55:35):
Rest easy, and hang up your hat.

Speaker 4 (55:36):
Sundance