Downhill Racer

A-

Directed by Michael Ritchie

"Downhill Racer", a 1969 cult film starring Gene Hackman and a young Robert Redford, gets a Criterion release which means that the masses can finally feast their eyes on this forgotten sports gem, tight spandex and all.

Redford stars as Dave Chapellet, an ambitious, narcissistic downhill skier who is called up to join the USA ski team following a catastrophic injury to one of their athletes. Hackman plays the gruff, no-nonsense head coach of the American squad who butts heads repeatedly with the individualistic Chapellet who begins to pile up the victories just as he distances himself from his teamates.

As a sports film, "Downhill Racer" is truly excellent, especially for its racing scenes which are far more authentic and involving then anything I've ever seen on film relating to winter sports. When you consider that the film was made more than forty years ago, the technical achievement of "Downhill Racer" is quite remarkable. The film's setting is breathtaking; snow capped mountain tops and piercingly blue skies to fill up the screen and director Ritchie seems content to allow viewers to luxuriate in his film's mountain splendour.

As a character study, "Downhill Racer" is both interesting and somewhat confounding. Chapellet is an compelling antihero to say the least but he remains totally unlikeable throughout the duration of the film, as aloof at the end as he is at the beginning, a total jerk on and off the slopes. It's difficult to identify with him or sympathize with him, but I still found myself rooting for him as he rips down the slopes in the film's penultimate race. It must be because he's an American. I just can't help myself.