Downhill Racer

Downhill Racer (1969)

Timing: 1:41 (101 min)

5.805/10
82

6.543/10
413

6.3/10
6400

All about film

Video 2

Photo 1

Actors and characters

Release date

1969-11-06

Country

United States

Production

Paramount, Wildwood Enterprises

Genre

Drama

Budget

$1 600 000

Revenue

$0

Website

Director

Michael Ritchie

Actors

Robert Redford, Gene Hackman, Camilla Sparv, Karl Michael Vogler, Jim McMullan, Kathleen Crowley, Dabney Coleman, Kenneth Kirk, Oren Stevens, Jerry Dexter
All actors and roles (10)

Scenario

Producer

Richard Gregson

Operator

Brian Probyn

Composer

Kenyon Hopkins

Artist

Audition

Editing

Richard A. Harris
All team (13)

• Ten days before filming began, Robert Redford flipped a snowmobile and tore a tendon, and the actor's knee had to be stitched up.
• Richard Gregson, then Natalie Wood's husband, became the film's producer, and she had been close friends with Robert Redford since school. She came up with hairstyles for several characters in the film, provided wardrobes for some of the actors, made corrections to the script, and even occasionally played an extra.
• It is believed that Robert Redford's character was based on two real American skiers – Billy Kidd and Spider Sabich. Kidd was the first American to win gold in alpine skiing at the 1964 Olympics. Sabich (full name Vladimir Peter Sabich Jr.) was shot and killed by his girlfriend – singer and actress Claudine Longet – in 1976.
• Michael Ritchie replaced Roman Polanski as the film's director. "Downhill Racer" was to be Polanski's first American film, but producer Robert Evans of Paramount Pictures needed a director for the horror film "Rosemary's Baby" (1968), and he gave the project to Polanski. Robert Redford was also considered for a role in "Rosemary's Baby," but it was not to be.
• It is believed that Robert Redford’s character was based on two real American skiers – Billy Kidd and Spider Sabich. Kidd was the first American to win gold in alpine skiing at the 1964 Olympics. Sabich (full name Vladimir Peter Sabich Jr.) was shot dead by his girlfriend – singer and actress Claudine Longet – in 1976.