Downhill Racer (1969 First Feature)

Awesome Movie Year

The second episode of our season on the awesome movie year of 1969 features our pick for a notable filmmaking debut, Michael Ritchie’s Downhill Racer. Directed by Michael Ritchie from a screenplay by James Salter and starring Robert Redford, Gene Hackman and Camilla Sparv, Downhill Racer was filmed partially at actual Alpine Ski World Cup races.

The contemporary reviews quoted in this episode come from Roger Ebert (https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/downhill-racer-1969), Roger Greenspun in The New York Times (https://www.nytimes.com/1969/11/07/archives/screen-for-downhill-racer-time-is-the-master.html), and Time magazine (https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,840387,00.html).

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Please like, share, rate and comment on the show and this episode, and tune in for the next 1969 installment featuring the year’s biggest flop, Carl Reiner’s The Comic.