Robert Redford

The Real American Man

I can’t say that I have thought much -consciously - about Robert Redford in my life, but, for me, and I think modern America as a whole, he was foundational. I remember first seeing him, like most of us did, as Sundance in Butch Cassidy. Wow, what a pair of Americans, Bob and Paul.I rooted for that movie to be Best Picture as I was watching it with my parents on our new color console TV in 1969. But alas, Midnight Cowboy won instead. “I’m walking here,” and, “Hell the fall will probably kill you,” two great lines from two great movies, didn’t much matter which won.

A few days ago, I sent a short snippet of Butch Cassidy, that I grabbed from You Tube, to my brother, James. Butch and Sundance are hiding behind a rock, American outlaws being chased by the law. Hunted with perseverance and righteousness. Astonished, and with utter incredulity they say to each other, repeatedly, “Who are those guys?”

I sent this to my brother, of course, in response to the identity concealment of ICE agents currently rounding up, with the Supreme Court’s consent, brown skinned people to deport to foreign lands or prisons - whatever is most expedient I guess.In the movie, the outlaws are true criminals being hunted by lawful men and trackers to bring justice to the American frontier. Today, legal or illegal citizens (like that matters) are digitally tracked and scooped up outside Home Depots, food carts, strawberry fields, by masked bandits: Sort of the same methods, but the intention, well, how things have changed.Or maybe that’s just the movies. I hope not.

I learned sometime long after Butch Cassidy lost Best Picture that Robert Redford went to same college I did, Colorado University - and was there about the time I was born. He didn’t stay long, a year or so, I think - and moved on, eventually,  to Hollywood. That made me feel (still makes me feel) a kinship (however unfounded) to him. And somehow, weirdly and subconsciously, that kinship remained with me, for the next, what 60 years? He never was very from the American scene, commenting and protesting its lies and injustices, cementing into it, the values that used to be called American, (now they are considered “made up” and “damaging” do I need to cite that author?), although, I suspect, that he would have liked to have been far away - and soon would be.

Late at night when everything is done, I like to scroll through my streaming services to find movies I want to watch. There’s a lot of dystopia out there, a lot of revenge and human subjugation, so I am mostly drawn to older movies which are, for the most part, sweet, heroic, inspiring, funny - you know. The ones from the sixties and seventies are my favorites and generally I’ll watch just about anything from those times. Honestly, how many time can you watch, The Great Escape, and The Dirty Dozen? But, for some peculiar reason I have yet to divine, the movie availability of that period is thin, and if I see a movie with Robert Redford in it, or directed by him, my calibration is not if I’ll watch it, but how many times have I seen it?, and how long ago was the last time? The last question being the most salient, because even I have to give it, well a few months. Although I must admit it is not. hard and fast rule. I do think I watched Barefoot in The Park at least a couple, or maybe three times, back to back.

Just the title, Barefoot in The park, conjures a different time, doesn’t it. Now you would neither go barefoot, nor go to the park, let alone both. I’m forever trying to figure out this nutty country - what the hell is happening, has been happening, and will be happening? All of my life America has been a perplexity: Robert Redford, said he developed a hard eye early on in his life about the hypocrisy that is America, and through most of his movies you can feel him working his way through the inconsistencies and the lies that bewilder we citizens. We came, I think, to take that as a given from him, I mean he was a good looking guy, man, but he became way more (which in itself is immensely impressive). Robert Redford was a keen cultural cognoscente, always topical, always skeptically articulating American power while simultaneously revering, celebrating and championing the country’s natural beauty.

Franklin Roosevelt’s vice president, the much maligned lefty, Henry Wallace, was a farmer, and an innovator and a populist. He championed the New Deal programs to help the farmers find solutions and codify programs to mitigate environmental disasters like the Dust Bowl. Later, after having the Democratic Presidency nomination nabbed from him under highly suspicious circumstances, he became blindingly successful creating a hybrid corn company - innovation within an industry so profound, the industry changed. Henry Wallace’s heart, and story reminds me of Sundance and Robert Redford’s pioneering, and ultimately transformational creation.

One time I was driving in my 65 Galaxy back to Colorado from LA. I drove through Utah looking for a sign that would lead me to Park City, either I never saw it, or I missed it. But, either way, I knew I was close to that distant acreage that Robert Redford built -the mythic and elusive Sundance. I can only imagine that he concocted this vision as a kind of Western Yaddo. An inspirational retreat for film makers deep in nature and far from the business. Over time, of course, Sundance became short hand for film festivals, independent movie makers, the place to go to share your work, your vision, with like minded creators. I don’t even know if there were film festivals before that. Maybe there were. But after the successful launching of innumerable successful projects, many, many, many more were born.

I’m not a movie maker and I’ll probably never see Sundance as it once was, but that Robert Redford made that happen is astonishing. Having lived as long as I have, I know what obstacles imperil even the most meager of dreams. Robert Redford was something more than special, he was exceptionally gifted. I told my wife today, almost teary eyed, if I can admit it, that we lost a real American hero today. And how many are there, really? People who do something big, change things for the better because it’s the right thing to do. Stand for decency and kindness. Cherish nature, value creation and use their voice to advocate for peace. Not many. Damn few.

Funny I think, how our lives are built. Built of our experiences - work, marriages, divorce, homes, kids, kids that don’t speak to us, but somehow these things, while they seem like they are our lives, and they are, but their centrality isn’t. Events unfold like nine innings of a baseball game. On the field or in the park, the play is unpredictable. Every situation influenced by the past, is born anew with each pitch. But the rules define the game. They are determinative. In truth it is the rules - the values - that govern our lives, the foundations, that support the innumerable experiences that become our lives. These principles, are ineffable, I think, but they are reified by those heroes that have modeled them. They lift the veil and reveal what we can become. Their legacies, their achievements, their humanity, breathes life into those values and gives a face to these inexpressible ideas. So here’s to the great Robert Redford for putting a face to it, and man what a face!