Robert Redford Movies

Robert Redford and Paul Newman in 1969's Butch Cassiday and the Sundance Kid.
Robert Redford and Paul Newman in 1969’s Butch Cassiday and the Sundance Kid.

Want to know the best Robert Redford movies?  How about the worst Robert Redford movies?  Curious about Robert Redford’s box office grosses or which Robert Redford movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Robert Redford movie got the best reviews from critics and audiences and which got the worst reviews? Well you have come to the right place….because we have all of that information.

Having taken a small break from writing these movie pages, I decided it was time to do another movie page .  At first I thought I would do a Robert Mitchum page but I got stuck with his many many movies in the 1940s, then I thought I would make my mother-in-law happy and do a Disney Live Action Movie page but then I realized that would be a major undertaking as there are hundreds of Disney Live Action movies. Next I thought I would do an Elvis Presley page but then I realized that I have never even seen one Elvis Presley movie.

Then James Coburn popped into my head but turns out many of his movies are pretty bad and he has supporting roles in most of his movies. So there I was stuck in a rut when I saw a movie clip of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and I realized the Sundance Kid was the way to get out of this rut. So here you go…..a Robert Redford page.

His IMDb page shows 71 acting credits and 10 directing credits from 1960-2017. This page will rank 47 Robert Redford movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. Television appearances,cameos and straight to DVD movies were not included in the rankings.

Robert Redford in 1973's The Sting
Robert Redford in 1973’s The Sting

Robert Redford Movies Ranked In Chronological Order With Ultimate Movie Rankings Score (1 to 5 UMR Tickets) *Best combo of box office, reviews and awards.

Robert Redford Movies Can Be Ranked 6 Ways In This Table

The really cool thing about this table is that it is “user-sortable”. Rank the movies anyway you want.

  • Sort Robert Redford movies by co-stars of the movie
  • Sort Robert Redford movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
  • Sort Robert Redford movies by yearly box office rank
  • Sort Robert Redford movies how they were received by critics and audiences.  60% rating or higher should indicate a good movie
  • Sort by how many Oscar® nominations and how many Oscar® wins each Robert Redford movie received.
  • Sort Robert Redford movies by Ultimate Movie Score (UMR) Score.  UMR Score puts box office, reviews and awards into a mathematical equation and gives each movie a score.

Stats and Possibly Interesting Things From The Above Robert Redford Table

  1. Twenty-one Robert Redford movies crossed the magical $100 million domestic gross mark.  That is a percentage of 44.68% of his movies listed. The Sting (1973) was his biggest box office hit.
  2. An average Robert Redford movie grosses $140.85 million in adjusted box office gross.
  3. Using RottenTomatoes.com’s 60% fresh meter.  33 Robert Redford movies are rated as good movies…or 68.08% of his movies.  The Sting (1973) is his highest rated movie while Havana (1990) is his lowest rated movie.
  4. Twenty-three Robert Redford movies received at least one Oscar® nomination in any category…..or 48.93% of his movies.
  5. Ten Robert Redford movies won at least one Oscar® in any category…..or 21.27% of his movies.
  6. An average Ultimate Movie Score (UMR) Score is 40.00.  29 Robert Redford movies scored higher that average….or 59.57% of his movies. The Sting (1973) got the the highest UMR Score while War Hunt (1962) got the lowest UMR Score.
Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford in 1976's All The President's Men
Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford in 1976’s All The President’s Men

Possibly Interesting Facts About Robert Redford

1. Robert Redford was born in Santa Monica, California in 1936. He went to high school with baseball Hall of Famer Don Drysdale and attended the University of Colorado.

2. Robert Redford appeared on many television shows in the late 1950s and early 1960s before moving into motion pictures. Some of the shows he appeared on were: Maverick, Perry Mason, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Route 66, The Untouchables, Dr. Kildare and The Twilight Zone.

3. Robert Redford the actor has only received one Oscar® nomination for acting(The Sting) and has yet to earn a Golden Globe® nomination for acting.

4. Robert Redford the director has done much better with Oscar® and Golden Globe® nominations. He has gotten two Best Director Oscar® nominations, including a win for Ordinary People while picking up 4 Golden Globe® nominations for Best Director.

5. Robert Redford and Paul Newman starred in two movies together. Both movies were major blockbusters….1969’s Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is the 33rd biggest box office hit of all-time when looking at adjusted for inflation box office numbers while 1973’s The Sting is the 17th biggest box office hit of all-time. Sadly they were never able to find a third movie to do together. To read more about the Redford/Newman friendship check out this link: Redford Newman friendship and car story

6. Roles Robert Redford turned down or was seriously considered for: The Graduate, Jaws, To Live and Let Die, Barry Lyndon, The American President, Rocky, Apocalypse Now, Misery, The Godfather, Superman, The Verdict and Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

7. Robert Redford has been married twice. His first marriage was to Lola Van Wagenen from 1959-1985. The marriage produced four children and five grandchildren so far. In 2009 he married Sibylle Szaggars.

8. In 2002 Robert Redford was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Honorary Oscar®. One of the main reasons for the award was the fact that he founded the Sundance Film Festival in 1978. The Sundance Film Festival has turned into the biggest independent film festival in the world.

9. Robert Redford was close friends with the late Sydney Pollack. He met Pollack when they were both actors in 1962’s War Hunt. Redford would later appear in 7 Pollack directed movies. This Property Is Condemned, Jeremiah Johnson, The Way We Were, Three Days of the Condor, The Electric Horseman, Out of Africa and Havana.

10. Check out Robert Redford‘ career compared to current and classic actors.  Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time.

Academy Award® and Oscar® are the registered trademarks of the Academy of Motion Arts and Sciences.  Golden Globes® are the registered trademark and service mark of the Hollywood Foreign Press. 
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96 thoughts on “Robert Redford Movies”

  1. I have just heard that Robert Redford is retired from acting. He has long been a favourite actor of mine. I hope he enjoys his retirement.

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    1. Hey Flora….he did say….”never say never”…..but at 81….many screen legends have stopped acting by then…I am still disappointed there was never a 3rd Newman/Redford movie. The closest might be Redford’s A Walk In The Woods…..with Nick Nolte having the Newman role. At one point this was going to be that third movie….but Newman got sick. He has a wonderful movie legacy.

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      1. I saw A Walk in the Woods on the big screen. I enjoyed it. I agree that it would have been wonderful to have Newman and Redford together one more time.

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        1. Hey Flora….the scene where Nolte and Redford get stuck on the ledge…made me think of Butch and Sundance and that epic scene…..it would have been fun watching Newman and Redford hiking for days and talking…..not to say Nolte was not good in the movie….but he is no Newman….lol.

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  2. One of my favorite actors, Robert Redford is calling it quits. Thanks for all the memories Mr. Redford. ‘That’s enough’ – Redford.

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    1. Hey Lauren…..I wish him a happy retirement…..he has a movie coming out in a few weeks….I want have to see it theaters…..see his swan song on the big screen. Thanks for stopping by.

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  3. STEVE 1 Tracy was always regarded and indeed regarded himself as “the great under-player” of old Hollywood. It is said that before he took Robert Wagner under his wing as his protégé he tore strips off Wagner for trying to under-play him in a scene for Broken Lance (1954). For me though Bob Redford has been the definitive under-player of all time as he continually demonstrated in for example The Natural (1984)
    .
    2 Returning momentarily to the McQueen-Newman billing squabble which lost McQueen the part of Sundance Kid, Bob Redford as Steve’s replacement is supposed to have conceded humorously “Let the older man go first!” Later in the mid-1970s always a modest man Paul in turn claimed to journalists “Redford is now THE superstar.” Anyway for me your McQueen/Newman/Redford trilogy would not have been complete if any of the three had been omitted, so a hearty welcome to this final entry in that particular
    series.

    3 The video has a glut of excellent posters and I will punch out those that pleased me most. (1) The foreign Language one for The Horse Whisperer (2) The Conspirator (3) Capt America (4) Tell them Willie Boy is Here (5) Indecent Proposal (6) A River Runs Through It (7) The Chase and (8) This Property is Condemned. Tom Cruise used to insist that his name be alone above the title and in fact would not allow Gene Hackman to share billing with him on The Firm posters so Cruise must really have admired both Redford and Streep to accept 3rd billing to that pair in Lions for Lambs as your poster illustrates.

    4 Excellent stills from Spy Game, Jeremiah Johnson, with the lovely Jane in Barefoot in the Park, with Babs in The Way we Were, The Sting with all three stars in it and the solo from a Bridge too Far. I liked the poster for that one as well because it is one of those rare posters to highlight among the top stars the wonderful Dirk Bogarde who along with Sir Maurice are my top British idols.

    5 You and WH agree on just 2 of Robert’s Top 5 [guess which 2 !] but he is not far behind you with his placings for two of the remaining three though astonishingly to me your No 5 Out of Africa to which you rightly give a 78.5% rating is ranked way down at 24 for critic/audience with just 66.5% rating by the Work Horse [Hirsch again?]. No Grinch Cogerson marking from me for your video though for which I have an overall 96% rating in my notes. Good stuff.

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    1. Hi Bob, thanks as always for the review, rating, comment, trivia, billing info and comparison, much appreciated. Glad you liked the posters and stills.

      Bruce and I have the same top two which is great, but after that thing’s go pear-shaped. Not sure why Bruce dropped Best Picture winner Out of Africa out of the top 20, and he’s a big Sydney Pollack fan too. Pete’s Dragon is way too high on his critics chart, only 9 Redford films are rated higher, if those 9 didn’t exist Pete’s Dragon would be the highest rated Robert Redford on this page. Apart from the top two our charts are completely dissimilar. At least we’re not boring eh Bruce? 🙂

      Robert Redford is an Oscar-winning director, so it was only fair to include some of his ‘director-only’ movies and make the video a Top 35.

      Captain America The Winter Soldier is a high scoring Marvel movie so this wasn’t a case of me boosting one of my favorites way up the chart. I think it’s the only sci-fi movie in Redford’s filmography. He has one fantasy film – Pete’s Dragon and an animated movie – Charlotte’s Web (which I quickly gave the boot after deciding to include more films he directed) – but no horror movies.

      Four Redford movies scored 10 out of 10 from my sources – The Sting, Butch Cassidy, All the President’s Men and Ordinary People. Four others scored 9.

      Shirley’s little brother next.

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      1. HI STEVE

        1 In a way the jury’s always been out as to whether Robert’s career contained just one fantasy movie or two. Some people feel that it is possible to speculate that Redford’s character Roy Hobbs in the 1984 The Natural was actually a ghost and if that was in fact meant to be the case then to some extent The Natural could be regarded as a fantasy or supernatural film. IMDB classifies the Patrick Swayze/Demi Moore 1990 smash hit Ghost as fantasy.

        2 Anyway I like to see you and the Work Horse being polls apart in your ratings because I don’t feel so dumb when my own view of the artistic worth of a movie is obviously far removed from yours and/or his!

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        1. Bob, it’s been years since I saw it but I believe you’re right The Natural did have supernatural overtones. Maybe Bruce can shed more ‘spectral’ light on this, he is a big fan of sports movies, especially baseball movies. Bruce? I remember enjoying Randy Newman’s theme music for that film.

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          1. Not sure I buy The Natural as a fantasy movie at all. Maybe there was something supernatural about Kim Basinger….the girl that shot him….but always felt that was just a metaphor on how a beautiful woman took down the young Roy Hobbs.

        2. Hey Bob….not sure I buy The Natural as a fantasy movie at all. Seen that movie many times…..and that has been a theory that I did not buy at all….just my take.

          As I just said in another comment….lists are made to be argued with…..variety is the spice of life you know.

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          1. It’s been a long time since I last saw The Natural, Bruce. Wasn’t there a magic baseball bat in there? Made from a tree that was struck by lightning? btw ‘Hob’ is a nickname for the devil. Trying to remember – at the end do you see him slowly fade away into nothingness after the game? nah I’m messing with you. 🙂

      2. Pete’s Dragon got a Rotten Tomatoe score of 87%…..that helped move up that movie’s critic audience score. But I agree….it seems too high…..but that is what my sources used come up with….and I never ever change the numbers…no matter how much I disagree with it. The way I do show my thoughts is by sometimes changing the default setting of the page. If the UMR scores look off….I will often use the critic/audience ratings as the default setting.

        As for Out of Africa….of all the Best Picture Oscar winners….Out of Africa has some of the lowest scores at IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes.

        I think that A Bridge Too Far is ranked 19th on my critic/audience list…is a good example of how I do not change the scores to match my personal thoughts….to me A Bridge Too Far is a great movie….and would be in my Top 5 Redford movies….not just barely inside the Top 20. Lists are made to be argued with….it is such more fun here to argue than it is when I post my links at Turner Classic Movies…..they are not as nice….as they do not give facts for their disagreements….just call me an idiot and that I waste my time with these lists.

        🙂

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        1. You have to respect a man who never changes his film scores, but what if you add some more sources, like I do?

          My ratings are in a constant state of flux, never the same score twice, it keeps people on their toes. [wink wink] Not entirely true of course but my rating averages do change when I add a new source like I did a few weeks ago. And I do reserve the right to add my own score if I think my sources have been a little unfair to certain movies. But the top scoring movies remain top scoring movies.

          Modern movies need more modern, more savvy, more hip critics, those ancient dinosaurs yawn whenever they see a bit of action, a car chase or comic book shenanigans they still compare every new movie unfavourably to Citizen Kane, Vertigo and Abel Gance’s Napoleon . So nothing is set in stone here in Lensman land. 😉

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          1. When and if we can get this site dynamic….hopefully the critic/audience score will change as the sources changed (especially at IMDb, RottenTomatoes & Meta Critic). As we have said numerous times before….there is no right or wrong answer. If someone has an opinion that Plan Nine From Outer Space is the greatest movie of all-time….there is no way we can tell that person that there opinion is wrong…we can disagree with it….but can not tell them their personal preference is wrong. It makes looking at these lists so much fun. 🙂

    2. Hey Bob….good stuff on Redford. As for Out of Africa…..of all the Best Picture Oscar winners….Out of Africa has some of the lowest scores at IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes. Hirschhorn had nothing to do with it….as his book stopped rating the movies in 1982 or 1983. But I would imagine he would have rated it high…as Redford and Streep were two that got good scores in his book.

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  4. Update on movies I have seen total: 26 movies of his.

    By the way, I am also now a member of a closed Robert Redford fan club on FB too.

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    1. Very cool….those facebook pages have been very supportive of these pages. I recommend joining the Joan Crawford Chat Room page…..good solid fans there….that is where I won my Joan Crawford autograph.

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      1. You “won” an autograph? Great. I will check it out. I love the closed facebook pages. They truly love these people and are not out just for a cheap autograph and then sell it. They love these artists.

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        1. Rigoh, the admen, of that page had a contest….I was one of about 15 people to win a Crawford autograph. Currently there are over 1400 members… but their number is getting bigger every day.

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    2. I am now at 38 Redford movies watched….and I have a Redford autograph on my wall….just had to get that in the comment…lol.

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      1. Excellent Bruce. I just emailed you and a friend from TCM about the letter and photo I have from Edward Hardwicke – to whom we sent the postage for him to send us from Europe.

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  5. Robert Redford was just in the news lately because got a lifetime achievement award 6 months ago and Jane Fonda was recently on The Late Late Show – did not see it but read about it and saw the video – and she said that she and Redford never had an off screen relationship but that at his awards ceremony 6 months ago he had drunk a lot and they ended up French kissing. Jane Fonda wanted to know why it had taken Robert so long to do that. LOL!

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    1. Back to billing! When Redford took over from McQueen in Butch Cassidy the producers were understandably wary about the billing issue after the McQueen squabbles; but when they raised the issue with Robert he simply said: “let the older man go first!”

      Robert’s performance as Roy Hobbs in The Natural was one of the finest that I have ever seen about frustrated ambition in relation to the weaknesses of the flesh. It sits alongside Patrick Swayze’s Dalton in Road House as great understated action hero performances Certainly many critics.regard The Natural as THE American baseball movie.

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      1. Yes and aren’t we glad that Robert Redford understands what is most important. So we got two great movies with Robert Redford and Paul Newman.

        By the way, Frank Sinatra always made sure that in every movie he ever made with Bing Crosby, Bing Crosby was billed first – before Frank Sinatra. Because Sinatra agrees wit5h Redford on billing.

        Sinatra also insisted that Rita Hayworth get top billing over him in Pal Joey even though his screen time was larger because he wanted her to have top billing for her final movie with the studio.

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        1. FLORA:

          1. I think that possibly the exception was Robin and the Seven Hoods If I recall correctly that was a Sinatra ‘clan’ movie and Bing had simply a guest role in it; so that in fact Bing agreed to take ‘special’ fourth billing after Frank, Dean and Sammy Davis Jr.

          2 Your mention of Redford reminded me that perhaps I was being a little unkind to Tom Cruise when I accused him elsewhere of being selfish over billing. Apparently when Lions for Lambs was being cast Tom was so keen to make a film with Redford that he accepted even third billing after Robert and Meryl Streep Tom explained later in an interview that he was a great admirer of the fine body of work that Robert had contributed to the cinema.

          By the way I too am a great Greg admirer. The Big Country is in fact my 4th favourite western of all time. Greg remained a gentleman to the end. For example if you have ever seen Other People’s Money (1991) you may have noticed that whilst there was lot of choice language in it Greg was almost the only one who didn’t use bad language.

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          1. Oh, I have seen Other People’s Money for sure.

            the only films of Greg’s I have not seen are Amazing Grace and Chuck and the TV movie The Portrait which he made with his daughter Cecelia.

            It was odd hearing him swear.

            It was odd hearing Richard Widmark swear in Coma. Of course, Widmark had to say the n word all the time to Poitier in Poitier’s debut No Way Out. Then the director would yell “CUT” and Widmark would apologize to Poitier and Poitier told him that he understood – they were actors. the words were in the script. They were great friends.

          2. Oh no….another Peck fan….lol. I am sure that made Flora very glad to read that….I find it hard not to think about Flora when Ithink of Gregory Peck.

        2. Two great movies indeed. I recently watched Redford’s A Walk In The Woods….at one point it was almost the third Redford/Newman movie…..Nick Nolte ended up with the Newman role.

          Very cool about Frank and his billing wishes…..thanks for sharing that.

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          1. I saw Walk on the Woods on the big screen as part of a film festival. Loved it!

          2. Wow….I am shocked you saw Walk On The Woods….I think it would have been a massive hit if Newman had been in the Nolte role. The scene where the get stuck on the ledge….reminded me of the cliff scene in Butch and Sundance.

      2. Hey Robert Roy….I would imagine Redford was glad to be in the movie….he was pretty much unknown when he played the Sundance Kid. I recently re-watched The Sting….and I was surprised how little Newman is actually in the movie…..Redford’s role in that one might have been twice as big.

        The Natural is a great baseball movie…..Redford’s athletic ability makes easy to buy him being a talented player….he has a sweet swing. Interesting thought on Patrick Swayze and his Dalton character. Thanks for the comment.

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        1. Indeed after The Sting Newman [always a modest man in my view] reportedly said in an interview, “Redford’s THE superstar now.” To be admired by someone of Tom Cruise’s stature within the film business shows you what a career Robert has had.

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          1. I recently talked my wife into seeing The Sting for the first time. Part of my commentary to her was that Newman was upset that he did not get nominated….versus Redford who did. Then when watching the movie….other than his poker game with Shaw…..he is entirely in the background to Redford’s story. I imagine if they had suggested a Best Supporting Actor campaign he would not have liked that all. Cruise enjoyed his work with both Butch and Sundance. I got think many times Cruise…thought I am working with the Sundance Kid….or working with Butch Cassidy.

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