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Downhill Racer
Directed by
Michael Ritchie
PG
1969
1h 41m
Drama
,
Sport
6.3
85%
57%
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Quietly cocky David Chappellet joins the U.S. ski team as downhill racer and clashes with the team's coach, Eugene Claire.
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Where to Watch Downhill Racer
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Cast of Downhill Racer
Robert Redford
David Chappellet
Gene Hackman
Eugene Claire
Camilla Sparv
Carole Stahl
Karl Michael Vogler
Machet
Jim McMullan
Johnny Creech
Kathleen Crowley
American Newspaper Woman
Dabney Coleman
Mayo
Kenneth Kirk
D.K.
Oren Stevens
Kipsmith
Jerry Dexter
Engel
Walter Stroud
Mr. Chappellet
Carole Carle
Lena
Rip McManus
Devore
Joe Jay Jalbert
Tommy Erb
Tom J. Kirk
Stiles
Harald Dietl
Christian Doermer
Michael Gempart
Walter Gnilka
Werner Heyking
Noam Pitlik
Sylvester Stallone
Restaurant Patron (uncredited)
Michael Ritchie
Director
Oakley Hall
Writer
James Salter
Writer
Richard Gregson
Producer
Downhill Racer Ratings & Reviews
Mister Arn
May 19, 2025
Great use of cinematography to compensate for the lack of a script.
TIME Magazine
TIME Staff
A modest effort but a good one. It may be the first film in history that starts at the top, goes steadily downhill, and still stays interesting along the way.
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Bill Kelley
The movie avoids the cheerleading approach of today`s sports sagas (Rocky, etc.), but it has a fascinating ending, and is very satisfying.
PopMatters
Stephen Snart
A sports movie that tweaks the formula just enough to make a personal, thoughtful film without refuting genre expectation.
Paste Magazine
Nelson Maddaloni
It's the little things that create this film's powerful atmosphere, and as a result the action sequences are all the more gripping.
Entertainment Weekly
Chris Nashawaty
One of the great unheralded films of the late '60s.
AV Club
Keith Phipps
Downhill Racer doesn't always work... As a look at how [Robert] Redford's character and those orbiting him spend their time between runs, however, it's superb.
Film.com
Amanda Mae Meyncke
Several shots are positively astonishing when you consider that they are in no way manipulated or digitally altered, simply a man on skis flying down a hill with a 40-pound film camera in his hands.
Stream on Demand
Sean Axmaker
Redford's matinee looks are more than just Hollywood casting in this context; the film never says it in so many words, but it's clear that Chappellet's popularity is as much for his good looks as for his success.
Creative Loafing
Matt Brunson
The sort of somber, minimalist drama that can only be found in the cinema of the late 1960s and early '70s.
Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews
Dennis Schwartz
It's better than most sports films since it avoids sentimentality and falsely romanticizing its unsympathetic egotistical hero.
Q Network Film Desk
James Kendrick
could be lumped into the convenient category of "uplifting sports drama," but in fact is a challenging deconstruction of all the underdog clichs associated with that genre
Slant Magazine
Fernando F. Croce
Downhill Racer stands as lean condemnation of the calculating underdog clichs Rocky would bring make the norm.
TV Guide
TV Guide Staff
An influential and extremely well-done sports film, worth watching even if you don't normally enjoy films of this type.
Variety
Variety Staff
An intriguing film that balances skiing and the majesty of Alpine scenery with an absorbing story of hero Robert Redford, young American innocent abroad.
New York Times
Roger Greenspun
Downhill Racer succeeds with sometimes chilling efficiency. Within the limits imposed by the tangential nature of its insights, it is a very good movie.
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
The best movie ever made about sports -- without really being about sports at all.
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