Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.5
Overall		4.0

Downhill Racer Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov November 18, 2015

Michael Ritchie's "Downhill Racer" (1969) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the disc include an original trailer for the film; archival featurette with Robert Redford and screenwriter James Salter; archival featurette with editor Richard Harris, production manager Walter Coblenz, and technical adviser, ski double, and cameraman Joe Jay Jalbert; promotional featurette; and more. The release also arrives with an illustrated leaflet featuring Todd McCarthy's essay "Trailblazers". In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

The Racer

The overwhelming majority of the film takes place in various popular European resorts where teams of skiers from around the world compete. These are young and handsome men who have trained hard to become winners.

Chappellet (Robert Redford) has recently joined the U.S. team and is still learning what is expected of him. He has tried to impress coach Claire (Gene Hackman), but his tactics have repeatedly annoyed him. The rest of the skiers have noticed, but have chosen not to publicly address the tension.

As the U.S. team moves from one location to another Chappellet becomes aware that his unbridled desire to be a winner is transforming him into an unbearable cynic, but he refuses to change because he sees it as an integral part of his identity. He prefers to have people around him adapt and accept him as he is -- a fearless competitor on a mission. If they don’t, he tries to overpower them and in the process treats them as disposable objects.

A short affair with a beautiful French girl (Camilla Sparv), however, surprises Chappellet. She makes him feel vulnerable and when eventually turns his back on him he loses his cool. Meanwhile, a serious incident leaves the leader of the U.S. team with a broken leg and opens the door for Chappellet to achieve his ultimate goal.

Redford’s initial intent was to shoot Downhill Racer with Roman Polanski, but top executives at Paramount were not enthusiastic about the prospect of having the two working on a film about an overly ambitious skier. As a result, plenty was done to convince Polanski that Rosemary's Baby was a much more attractive project. It was then that Redford teamed up with Michael Ritchie, who made his directorial debut with Downhill Racer.

The film is very unusual. It has the raw appearance of a documentary feature, but its strength is actually in the eye-opening relationships between its key characters. Indeed, it is precisely the manner in which these relationships are observed that reveals the uncompromising and quite troubling environment in which professional skiers find themselves once they begin competing on the international scene.

The main point is that a winner is untouchable for as long as he wins. He could be an unstable and abusive individual, someone that is utterly incapable of being a team player, but as long as he can deliver results his personality and morality essentially become irrelevant. In the early '70s to some this was probably a pretty far-fetched observation, but the evolution of professional sports since then has made it painfully obvious that the logic behind it has actually become even more potent. (Today, there are countless examples in virtually every single sport, with the most disturbing one being the fall of Lance Armstrong).

The original script for the film was written by James Salter, but Redford and Ritchie made various changes that altered key relationships and even entire sequences. For example, in an interview included on this release Salter mentions that the excellent sequence where Chappellet loses his temper after the beautiful girl gives him his present in the car was completely redone by Redford.

The impressive skiing footage was shot with hand-held 16mm cameras and doubles. The 16mm footage was then edited and integrated into the film.

Downhill Racer Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Michael Ritchie's Downhill Racer arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.

The following text appears inside the leaflet provided with this release:

This high-definition transfer was created on a Spirit Datacine from a 35mm fine-grain master positive print. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, splices, warps, jitter, and flicker were manually removed using MTI's DRS and Pixel Farm's PFClean, while Digital Vision's Phoenix was used for small dirt, grain, and noise management. The original monaural soundtrack was remastered at 24-bit from a 35mm magnetic soundtrack. Clicks, thumps, hiss, hum, and crackle were manually removed using Pro Tools HD and iZotope RX 4.

Transfer supervisor: Maria Palazzola.
Colorist: Sue Gates/Modern VideoFilm, Los Angeles."

The release appears to have been sourced from the same master that was used to produce the initial DVD release of Downhill Racer. Nevertheless, the bulk of the footage looks quite nice. At times it is easy to tell that the wider panoramic shots as well as some of the indoor footage should look sharper, but depth remains pleasing. There are some minor density fluctuations during the skiing footage, but this is hardly surprising considering the fact that the majority of it was shot with hand-held 16mm cameras and later on integrated into the film. There are no traces of recent degraining corrections, but grain clearly could be better defined and resolved. Still, it is visible throughout the entire film and quite well balanced. There are no traces of problematic sharpening adjustments. Overall image stability is very good. Finally, there are no large cuts, damage marks, or torn frames, but a few tiny printed dirt marks remain. My score is 3.75/5.00. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

Downhill Racer Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English LPCM 1.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.

The quality of the audio is very good. During the races, in particular, clarity and sharpness are excellent. However, the film's original sound design is unlikely to impress viewers who appreciate the excellent fluidity and nuanced dynamics modern audio mixes have. Balance is very good. Lastly, there are no audio dropouts or digital distortions to report in our review.

Downhill Racer Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - original trailer for Downhill Racer. In English, not subtitled. (3 min, 1080p).

• Redford and Salter - in this featurette, Robert Redford explains how the idea for Downhill Racer emerged, and discusses his interactions with top executives at Paramount and Roman Polanski (he was approached to direct the film before Michael Ritchie, but abandoned it in favor of Rosemary's Baby), some of the funding and logistical issues that had to be addressed during the pre-prodction process, the unique qualities of the character he plays, the film's rhythm and atmosphere, etc. Screenwriter James Salter also discuses the original version of the script for Downhill Racer, the corrections that were made, and his interactions with Robert Redford. The featurette was produced in 2009. In English, not subtitled. (34 min, 1080i).

• Coblenz, Harris, and Jalbert - in this featurette, editor Richard Harris, production manager Walter Coblenz, and technical adviser, ski double, and cameraman Joe Jay Jalbert explain why Downhill Racer remains a relevant film, and discuss its production history, its visual style and atmosphere, the 16mm footage that was integrated into the film, the different European locations where the skiing footage was shot, how various falls were staged, etc. The featurette was produced in 2009. In English, not subtitled. (30 min, 1080i).

• Michael Ritchie at the AFI - presented here is a collection of audio excerpts from a seminar which the late Michael Ritchie, who made his directorial debut with Downhill Racer, gave at the American Film Institute in 1977. He explains how he became involved with the film, and talks about his TV career, his interest in "accidental/off-center" filmmaking, some of the directors he admired (Martin Scorsese, David Lean, Stanley Kubrick, Ken Loach, Peter Watkins), etc. In English, not subtitled. (72, 1080p).
  
  1. Writers and directors
  2. Downhill Racer
  3. TV career
  4. Stars and Smile
  5. Commercial instincts
  6. Use of reality
  7. Other directors
  8. Casting

• How Fast? - presented here is an archival featurette, narrated by Robert Redford, with some raw and behind-the-scenes footage which was used to promote Downhill Racer. It was produced in 1969. In English, not subtitled. (13 min, 1080p).

• Leaflet - an illustrated leaflet featuring Todd McCarthy's essay "Trailblazers". (The author is the chief film critic for the Hollywood Reporter and for many years held the same position at Variety).

Downhill Racer Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Downhill Racer was way ahead of its time. There is so much in it that basically highlights everything that is wrong with the culture and standards professional sports promote today. Sadly, the same trend is now a fact of life in college sports -- winners are above everyone else. Criterion's upcoming Blu-ray release of Downhill Racer is sourced from the same master that was used for the initial DVD release, but the film looks very good in high-definition. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.