Downhill Racer - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[discussimdb]

Fan of Downhill Racer or just want to share your movie knowledge? This topic is dedicated to all trivia and questions related to Downhill Racer

[sandra]

Producer-director Mark Robson first bought the movie rights to this picture in 1963.

[claude]

Ten days before filming began, star Robert Redford accidentally drove a snowmobile over a cliff, tearing his tendon and requiring seven stitches in his knee.

[janice]

Before meeting the local girl, Robert Redford is listening to a Denver, Colorado, based country music radio station. A song comes on titled "It Was a Long Happy Day" by a singer named Hank Hopkins. Neither the song nor the artist can be found online, so the song might have been written for the movie.

[addison]

Around 14 years later, director Michael Ritchie directed the snow-set survivalist comedy "The Survivors (1983)."

[addison]

Natalie Wood's then husband, Richard Gregson, was the producer of this film. She was also a good friend and former high school classmate of co-star Robert Redford. She provided hair styles for some of the actors, provided wardrobe styles for some of the stars, and was a visible presence on the European locations for the film.

[sophie]

In real life Robert Redford has lived in a private snow-set ranch in the state of Utah, which is where another snow-set Redford movie, "Jeremiah Johnson (1972)," was actually filmed. It was made and released about three years after "Downhill Racer (1969)."

[bernice]

Michael Ritchie replaced Roman Polanski as the film's director. This movie was going to be Polanski's first ever American movie. Producer Robert Evans of the Paramount Pictures studio needed someone to direct Rosemary's Baby (1968) so Polanski was given that project due to the style and themes of some of his recent dark European films. Robert Redford was also considered for the male lead in Rosemary's Baby (1968).

[melinda]

The film was made and released about six years after its source novel "The Downhill Racers" by Oakley Hall had been first published in 1963. Hall also contributed uncredited to the movie's screenplay.

[tammy]

The first USA skier to win an Olympic downhill medal was Bill Johnson, who won gold in 1984, 15 years after the release of the movie. Johnson was the first racer from a non-Alpine country to win an Olympic downhill race.

[liam]

Co-stars Robert Redford and Gene Hackman also appeared in Richard Attenborough's "A Bridge Too Far (1977)," though they shared no scenes.

[veronica]

Actress Sherry Jackson was one of the early choices to play Robert Redford's love interest, but her agent rejected the deal without her knowledge. Sherry's part would have been the smaller female part, as Redford's girlfriend in Idaho Springs, Colorado. The main female character was to be an European ingenue working for a European ski maker.

[leo]

Robert Redford would work with director Michael Ritchie in "The Candidate." Gene Hackman worked with him in "Prime Cut."

[tammy]

Star Robert Redford, in the audio-commentary on the DVD, reports that this film was in pre-production for a long time. He was supposed to appear in Rosemary's Baby (1968), and then this pet project of his was to go before the camera. Due to a breakdown in negotiations and his eventual refusal to appear in Rosemary's Baby (1968), this film was canceled at least twice before Redford's production company picked up the film and began moving forward with the project.

[richard]

Robert Redford's character Dave Chappellet was supposedly based on two real-life American skiers: Billy Kidd and Spider Sabich. Kidd was the first American male to win an Olympic alpine skiing medal when he won a silver in the slalom at the 1964 Olympics. Sadly, Sabich was killed under mysterious circumstances by his lover, actress/singer Claudine Longet.

[cassandra]

Sylvester Stallone: Uncredited, as a restaurant patron.

[christina]

According to the American Film Institute, "racing footage in the film is a mixture of real races (held at Kitzbuhel, Austria, during February and March, 1969) and scenes staged by the company on location in Kitzbuhel and Wengen, Switzerland. American locations were filmed in Idaho Springs, Colorado, and around Golden, Colorado."

[veronica]

The movie's poster was ranked as #4 of "The 25 Best Movie Posters Ever" by Premiere ( August 2016).

[nina]

Debut theatrical feature film directed by director Michael Ritchie after directing in television.

[wallace]

The movie's name was changed to "Downhill Racer" from that of its source, Oakley Hall's 1963 novel "The Downhill Racers." Though the two titles still remained quite similar to each other, the changed title works well for the movie. From the film's start, the title character is really in it for himself, and he is set apart from the other skiers by his bad attitude and singular skills.