Downhill Racer is a 1969 American sports drama film starring Robert Redford, Gene Hackman and Camilla Sparv,[4] and was the directorial debut of Michael Ritchie.
Downhill Racer was filmed on location in Kitzbühel and Sankt Anton am Arlberg in Austria, Wengen in Switzerland, Megève and Grenoble in France and Boulder and Idaho Springs in Colorado, United States.
"[7] American downhill skier David Chappellet arrives in Wengen, Switzerland to join the U.S. ski team along with fellow newcomer D. K. Bryan.
Both men were summoned by team coach Eugene Claire to replace Tommy Herb, one of his top skiers, who was recently injured during an FIS competition.
Raised in the small town of Idaho Springs, Colorado, Chappellet is a loner focused only on becoming a skiing champion, and shows little interest in being a team player.
Chappellet drives into town and picks up an old girlfriend, but after they make love in the back seat of his father's old Chevrolet, he shows little interest in the girl's feelings.
Two weeks before the Olympics, and after a day of training at Wengen, Chappellet challenges Creech to a one-on-one race, and the two take off to the bottom as the coaches look on in horror.
The next day, during the Lauberhorn race, Creech is seriously injured during his run, leaving Chappellet as the team's best hope for an Olympic gold medal.
In addition, uncredited appearances include 1967–69 FIS Alpine Ski World Cup Swiss competitor Peter Rohr as one of the racers, and 1966 Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize-winning director Christian Doermer as the German skier who falls while challenging for the gold medal at the end of the film.
In February 1966, the film rights to the book passed from director Mark Robson to Paramount Pictures at a cost of $15,000 for producer Steve Alexander[8] and screenwriter Graham Ferguson.
Salter's starting point for the story was provided by Polanski, who told the writer that the film should be a modern-day High Noon, where the sheriff is killed and someone is called in to replace him.
Focused on directing Rosemary's Baby, Polanski soon left the project, and the studio sued Redford for walking away from the starring role.
Salter's inspiration for the character was the 1964 Olympic silver medal winner Billy Kidd of Vermont, who conveyed an "arrogant and aloof" quality.
While the character ultimately took on aspects of both role models, Salter's original scenes of tense dynamics between Chappellet and the coach survived the writing process.
[8] Downhill Racer was filmed on location in Wengen and Unterseen Switzerland, Kitzbühel and Sankt Anton am Arlberg in Austria, Megève and Grenoble in France, and Boulder and Idaho Springs in Colorado, United States.
[14] The British premiere was at Romaine Hart's Screen on the Green known as the "coolest cinema in London" and the audience included Richard Attenborough, Laurence Olivier and Brian Forbes.
The website's critics consensus reads, "Downhill Racer plunges the viewer thrillingly into the action of the sport -- and continues to hold the attention as a thoughtful drama.
"[7] In addition to praising the performances of Redford and Hackman, Ebert noted how well the film balanced the exciting action sequences and the less glamorous aspects of an athlete's life.
[19] Writing about the lead character David Chappellet, Greenspun observed, "His world is that international society of the well-exercised inarticulate where the good is known as 'really great,' and the bad is signified by silence.
[20] Schickel wrote: Downhill Racer is precisely what we have waited so long to see—a small, tense, expertly made (and, on occasion, surprisingly funny) film about a newly chic form of athletic competition—Alpine skiing.