Like half of the people in America (and perhaps the world), I am somewhat systematically reprising the movies of Robert Redford in the wake of his sad, but not so untimely death at age 89. According to IMDb, Redford has 82 acting credits to his name and 10 directorial credits. Of those acting credits, 50 were movies in which he acted (as opposed to narrated or for a series episode or two). I shouldn’t really ignore his early focus on TV since he did episodes of The Twilight Zone, Maverick, Perry Mason, The Naked City, The Americans, Route 66, Dr. Kildare, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Virginian and The Defenders, all iconic American television and all a big part of our national heritage. Redford came on the scene via the stage in New York in Barefoot in the Park (also one of his movie credits) and we know him best from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Sting, The Natural and All the President’s Men. While he got one Oscar nomination for his role in The Sting, it was his directorial activities that got the most acclaim with nominations for Quiz Show and Ordinary People (which won him his one and only Oscar). By the way, one of my all-time favorite movies, A River Runs Through It, was directed and produced by Redford (actually, discovered and produced). Also, by the way, the list of A-list stars that Redford has chosen to work with over the years is nothing short of amazing. My guess is that no one other than Meryl Streep could compete in that regard. There are only three movies that Redford both directed and starred in, the best known of those is The Horse Whisperer. Last night I watched another of them, The Company You Keep, which boasts an all-star ensemble of some of my favorite actors, including Nick Nolte, Richard Jenkins, Julie Christie, Brendan Gleeson, Terrence Howard, Stanley Tucci, Susan Sarandon, Chris Cooper, and Sam Elliot. It has all left quite an impression on me.
Robert Redford had an extensive and deeply committed history with activism, particularly environmental causes, spanning over five decades. Redford was an NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) trustee, selflessly working to elevate its issues and support the organization. His environmental activism began in the early 1970s and was shaped by his personal experiences. His experience working in the oil fields fueled a lifetime of climate activism, including his strong advocacy for clean energy policies in the United States. In 1974, fresh off a string of critically acclaimed movies, Redford was involved in fighting the construction of a massive coal-fired power plant in southern Utah in an area that would someday become part of Grand Staircase-Escalante, one of the most beautiful national monuments in America and an area I hold very dear to my motorcycling heart. Later in the ’70s, Redford argued for passage of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, leading to the establishment of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Redford took on former Rep. Newt Gingrich’s Republican “Contract with America” plan, which experts called a “war on environment” for suspending environmental programs and slashing local funding. He was an early and persistent voice on climate change. Redford demanded action on climate change ahead of the Paris Climate Summit. He even traveled to Paris to help rally the international community behind bold climate action and the Paris Climate Treaty. Beyond NRDC, Redford also founded The Redford Center to support environmental filmmakers and storytellers and The Sundance Institute as a non-profit that “provides and preserves the space for artists in film, theater, film composing, and digital media to create and thrive.”
There was a broader role to his activism than the environment and film with his support for Native American rights, LGBT rights, and the arts in general. He was also a supporter of advocacy groups like the Political Action Committee of the Directors Guild of America. Unlike many of his contemporaries or co-stars, Redford delved into politics his own way, largely avoiding the partisan fray of a political campaign or polarizing spotlight of protest. “I guess you could call me an activist,” Redford said in 2015. What I most admire about Redford’s activism besides its consistency and longevity, was that it seemed somehow more balanced than most.
In The Company You Keep, made in 2012 (so, when he was 76), he puts this balance on the line for audience conjecture. The film follows Jim Grant (Robert Redford), a former Weather Underground activist of the 1960s, who has been living under an assumed identity as a lawyer and single father for over 30 years. His quiet life is shattered when a young investigative journalist, Ben Shepard (Shia LaBeouf), discovers his true identity after another former Weather Underground member, Sharon Solarz (Susan Sarandon), is arrested. The film explores several key themes. The overriding one is how radical political activities from decades past continue to shape and haunt the characters’ lives. This seems poignant in an era when, once again, people feel forced into making decisions about standing up to authority at the risk of continuing or achieving a peaceful life. There is also the tension between a journalist’s pursuit of a story and the human cost of exposure. This is interesting given Redford’s role as Bob Woodward during the Watergate investigation. There is the juxtaposition in of identity and reinvention and whether people can truly escape their past and become someone new. And, most impactful on me, was the fundamental issue of political idealism versus the reality of life. The gap between youthful revolutionary ideals and the compromises of adult life takes shape in the form of what Jim Grant describes as his obligations as a father versus his societal obligations as he sees them. Redford the activist admits to us that parenthood is nature’s most important role for all beings and that we are defined by it far more than our lofty and somewhat detached ideals. That’s powerful stuff.
The whole topic gave me pause. I am quite passionate about the things I see around me that are wrong in the world. I learned this from my mother, who spent a lifetime working to make the world a better place. I recall wondering how, in her later years, she could sit in her condo in Las Vegas drinking a beer and reading the Wall Street Journal. I recall reflecting at the time that sooner or later we all become humans more than we are activists and our human needs simply take over. I recently spoke to someone who is quite passionate about several high profile global societal issues. Her passion could put her in harm’s way, potentially impacting her career or life, especially in the current political environment. She has small children and I wondered how she coped with that concern. Her reaction was to remind me that her mother was an activist in her own day and that she could not live knowing that she was less prepared to risk everything for her ideals than her mother had. It created a very vexing conundrum in my soul because I see both sides of that argument. That is what Redford’s enlightened film evoked in me. What it also made me realize was that there is a reason I admire Robert Redford so much. And while I only met him briefly in passing once at his Sundance Resort (which I frequented in my Utah days), I feel he is part of my coterie through his films. The company we keep matters.