Thursday, August 18, 2016

Good Morning, Gratuitous Robert Redford

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When I saw it was Robert Redford's 80th birthday this morning I went a'looking for scenes o' skin from him and do you have any idea how rare they appear to be on the internet? It's a real pain. The above picture is from the 1969 film Downhill Racer, as is this...

... shot directly proceeding that. (You can see a crappy quality clip on YouTube.) I have not seen this movie, have any of you? But the one that really caught my attention, which quickly turned into irritation that I couldn't find more about it, is from his 1966 Tennessee Williams adaptation This Property is Condemned opposite Natalie Wood. Look what we're missing!

Thing is I can't figure out if this scene is actually in the movie or if it's just something they filmed that never ended up in the film because the clips from the movie on YouTube are scarce and mostly Wood focused. I mean I can tell the film has a killer set of bookshelves in it...

... which is important, obviously, but not our focus right this moment. (Although good god look at his ass in those slacks. We have been cheated, never seeing that ass in all its glory.) There is a seller on eBay who had several shots from behind-the-scenes of Redford's shower scene in the film for sale, which is really the only place I found proof it existed...

... unfortunately the seller stamped their irritating watermark across all of the pictures. God watermarks get on my last nerve. But when it's all ya got...

... it's all ya got. Which brings us to the 1970 motorcycle racing flick Little Fauss and Big Halsy (what you've never heard of Little Fauss and Big Halsy before? Where you been living?) and guys, I must own this poster...

... classic! I love it so. But once 
I stumbled upon this movie, well...

... can you say mother-lode? It would appear 
that he never once puts his shirt on in this movie.

Have any of you seen it? Have any of you seen any of these movies? All that and a happy 80th birthday to the OBP (Original Brad Pitt) -- now let's hit the jump for a random assortment of pictures from this Halsy movie plus a couple others I gathered up along the way....











4 comments:

Pierce said...

I had forgotten about some of these movies. He is such a great looking man, but a smart and sensitive man as well, who has aged gracefully. I think he's best in All The President's Men, but also in Jeremiah Johnson, The Sting and I think he's the most handsome choice of all the actors who've played The Great Gatsby. Who looks better in the clothes than Redford? Happy Birthday!

Pierce said...

I need to add The Way We Were. There's a great pic of him lying in bed, his beautiful chest exposed and Barbra Streisand with the sheet in her hands and a huge grin on her face. Sexy!!!

OhYouBoy said...

You drew the comparison of Redford being the "Original Brad Pitt" and I agree. What other pairs of actors do you see that have striking resemblances to each other? It might make an interesting post. I've always thought that Charles Bronson and Josh Hartnett had the whole doppelganger thing going on.

joel65913 said...

I've seen all three of the above films. That is literally the only peek of skin you get in Downhill Racer concerned as it is with skiing, not a bad film though.

This Property is Condemned is minor Tennessee Williams but still fraught with his many psychosis though it doesn't deal as much with faded gentility as was his norm. Both Bob and Natalie was amazingly beautiful in it. I don't recall that shower scene either but it's been many years since I saw it last.

Little Fauss and Big Halsy is the closest Redford ever came to making a himbo movie though it has a serious edge. I think you're correct in the fact that he is shirtless throughout and he is choice but the movie is crap.

I'll stick with The Way We Were where he is occasionally shirtless AND the film is great.