Top Ten Robert Redford Movies Review

Robert Redford has had a remarkable life in film, from his breaktthough in the '60s to his '70s superstardom to his current career as craggy character actor, activist, and main man at Sundance.

Here is my highly subjective list of the Top Ten Robert Redford Movies:

1. The Candidate (1972): Redford is at his charismatic, early '70s best as Bill McKay, dark horse candidate for U.S. Senate, whose campaign to unseat the heavily-favored Republican incumbent (Don Porter) gains momentum. Directed by Michael Ritchie, from Jeremy Larner's incisive script, with Peter Boyle, Allen Garfield, and Melvyn Douglas. Available on DVD from Warner Home Video.

2. All the President's Men (1976): RR is Bob Woodward and Dustin Hoffman is Carl Bernstein, the two Washington Post reporters who got the scoop on Watergate. With Jason Robards as Post editor Ben Bradlee and Hal Holbrook as Deep Throat Warner Home Video.

3. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969): The teaming of Paul Newman and Redford as the legendary outlaws was box office gold in the summer of '69. Directed by George Roy Hill, fwritten by William Goldman, with Oscar-winning music by Burt Bacharach. MGM Home Video.

4. The Great Gatsby (1974): Redford is fine as F. Scott Fitzgerald's tragic enigma in this lavish adaptation. It's Mia Farrow's Daisy that's the problem. Too bad Tuesday Weld didn't get the part. With Bruce Dern, Karen Black, and Sam Waterston. Paramount Home Video.

5. The Sting (1973): Redford and Newman are back again as con men in 1930's Chicago who assemble a crew of grifters to pull a sting on an Irish mobster, played by Robert Shaw. Directed by George Roy Hill (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Great Waldo Pepper). MGM Home Video.

6. Barefoot in the Park (1967): Redford and Jane Fonda have great chemistry in the movie version of Neil Simon's play about a pair of newlyweds, one of four films they've made together. Paramount Home Video.

7. The Natural (1984): While great liberties were taken with the ending, and Redford's too old to play the young Roy Hobbes, this adaptation of Bernard Malamud's allegorical baseball novel is one of the best films ever made about the game. With Darren McGavin, Wilford Brimley, and Joe Don Baker as "The Whammer." Sony Home Entertainment.

8 .The Great Waldo Pepper (1975): Redford is good as the depression-era flying ace of the title and a nubile Susan Sarandon is his love interest in this box office failure that Pauline Kael called "coldhearted." MGM Home Video.

9. Jeremiah Johnson (1972): "A Man of Peace Driven Wild!" It's Redford as a Mountain Man in this snowy Western survival  tale. Based on a true story, but toned down a bit, as the real Johnson was somewhat of a maniac, alleged to have eaten another man's liver. Breathtaking scenery captured by director Sydney Pollack and cinematographer Duke Callahan, accompanied by the memorable folky theme song by Tim McIntire and John Runinstein. Warner Home Video.

10. This Property Is Condemned (1966): Expansion of a one-act play by Tennessee Williams teams Bob with Natalie Wood in a down home Southern tragedy, directed by Syndney Pollack, co-starring Charles Bronson and Robert Blake. Makes a good double bill with Inside Daisy Clover (1965), also starring Wood and Redford. Paramount Home Video.

Honorable Mention:

Situation Hopeless... But Not Serious (1965): With Alec Guiness, Mike Connors.

The Chase (1966): With Marlon Brando, Jane Fonda. Directed by Arthur Penn.

Downhill Racer (1969): With Gene Hackman. Directed by Michael Ritchie.

Little Fauss and Big Halsey (1970) :With Michael J. Pollard.

The Hot Rock (1972): With George Segal.

The Way We Were (1973): With Barbra Stresiand. Directed by Sydney Pollack.

Three Days of the Condor (1978)

The Electric Horseman (1979): With Jane Fonda.

Brubaker (1980): With Yaphet Kotto and Morgan Freeman.

Out of Africa (1985): With Meryl Streep

The Horse Whisperer (1998): With Jane Fonda, directed by Redford.

Spy Game (2001): With Brad Pitt.