History Film / DownhillRacer

It centers around David Chappellet (Redford), a--you guessed it--downhill skier added to the U.S. national ski team after another skier shatters his leg. Self-centered, arrogant, supremely confident of his own abilities and ruthlessly driven to win, Chappellet alienates his teammates and irritates their coach Eugene Claire (Hackman) when he complains about a low placement in a race and then blames his loss on that late placement.

->''How fast must a man go to get from where he's at?''

It centers around David Chappellet (Redford), a--you guessed it--downhill skier added to the U.S. national ski team after another skier shatters his leg. Self-centered and arrogant, supremely confident of his own abilities and ruthlessly driven to win, Chappellet alienates his teammates and irritates coach Eugene Claire (Hackman) when he complains about a low placement in a race and then blames his loss on that late placement.

* TheCameo: A longtime friend and collaborator of Robert Redford who helped on this film, Creator/NatalieWood, appeared as an extra in some crowd scenes.

''Downhill Racer'' is a 1969 American sports drama film directed by Michael Ritchie, starring Creator/RobertRedford and Creator/GeneHackman.

Chappellet rises up in the skiing world. He has a messy affair with Carole (Camilla Sparv), who works for the ski team's sponsor, but otherwise doesn't seem to have much of anything that he likes or is good at, besides skiing... but he's very good at skiing. Eventually it's time for the Winter Olympics, and Chappellet's big showdown with Meier, the Austrian downhill champion.

[[quoteright:335:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/downhill_racer.jpeg]]

* AndTheAdventureContinues: The German who was posting a better time than Paul did wipes out, but the brief HeldGaze between them suggests that Paul knows the anonymous German is coming for him, just like Paul came for and eventually surpassed the former champion, Meier.
* ArmorPiercingQuestion: D.K., another skier who has taken a dislike to Paul, complains about Paul not doing anything to help the team. Coach Mayo absorbs this and then answers, "Well, it's not exactly a team sport, is it?"
* ArmorPiercingResponse: Paul's father is a hardscrabble, taciturn chicken farmer who is utterly unimpressed by Paul's skiing adventures. Dad notes that Paul isn't paid and wonders what he even does it for. When a defensive Paul says "I'll be a champion," his father sarcastically notes "World's full of 'em."
* AutoErotica: Paul picks up an old girlfriend in his hometown and, just like that, they're having sex in the back seat of the car. After Paul gets his rocks off he immediately forgets the girl.
* BigGame: The film ends with Paul facing off against Meier in the climactic Olympic downhill slalom.
* BookEnds: In the first scene, a skier crashes, and Paul fills his spot on the team. In the last scene, a skier crashes, which wins Paul the gold at the Olympics.
* CallBack: In an early scene everyone is impressed when Paul posts a great time in a race despite having a low seed, and thus having to race when the course is cut up by tracks. At the end a low-seeded German surprises everybody by tearing up the course and seems about to beat Paul and take the gold, when he wipes out.

* TheFaceless: The face of the skier who wipes out and shatters his leg in the opening scene is never shown, even as Eugene watches while the skier gets an X-ray.

* {{Hypocrite}}: Paul is outraged when Carole essentially uses him for sex and then ghosts him. He doesn't seem to consider that he did the exact same thing with his old girlfriend back in Idaho Springs.
* {{Jerkass}}: Paul picks up an ex-girlfriend, screws her, and immediately ditches her. He whines about hard ice when he puts up a bad time. After he is dissatisfied with a low seed for a race, he simply refuses to participate. He forces his own teammate, Creech, into a wall during a race.
* MathematiciansAnswer: Paul's roommate introduces himself as "D.K.". Paul asks what it stands for, and D.K. says "My name." He steadfastly refuses to reveal what his initials stand for.

* TheRival: Meier, the German skier who holds the record and sneers at Paul the rookie. Paul dedicates himself to beating Meier.

* SnowMeansLove: As it turns out, they aren't really in love, but the snowy slopes certainly set a romantic mood when Paul and Carole go skiing together.
* SuddenSoundtrackStop: At the climax, Paul, who thinks he has won gold, is horrified to see an unknown German skier beating his time. The German makes a turn as the crowd roars--and then the soundtrack goes completely mute as the German wipes out, clinching gold for Paul.
* WellDoneSonGuy: Paul tries to impress his father, a taciturn chicken farmer, with his tales of glory on the ski slopes. His father is not at all impressed and in fact is rather contemptuous, which obviously bothers Paul a great deal.

* WellDoneSonGuy: Paul tries to impress his father, a taciturn chicken farmer, with his tales of glory on the ski slopes. His father is not at all impressed and in fact is rather contemptuous, which obviously bothers Paul a great deal.

* AndTheAdventureContinues: The German who was posting a better time that Paul did wipes out, but the brief HeldGaze between them suggests that Paul knows the anonymous German is coming for him, just like Paul came for and eventually surpassed the former champion, Meier.

''Downhill Racer'' is a 1969 drama film directed by Michael Ritchie, starring Creator/RobertRedford and Creator/GeneHackman.

A young Creator/DabneyColeman appears as Mayo, the ski team's assistant coach. A young Creator/SylvesterStallone makes his film debut as an extra, briefly visible when Chappellet and Carole are having dinner in a restaurant. Three years later Ritchie and Redford collaborated again to make ''Film/TheCandidate''.

[[quoteright:339:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/unnamed_117.jpg]]

''Downhill Racer'' is a 1969 film directed by Michael Ritchie.

Creator/RobertRedford stars as Paul Chappelet, who is a, you guessed it, downhill skier. He is added to the U.S. national ski team by coach Eugene Claire (Creator/GeneHackman) when another skier shatters his leg. Paul is self-centered and arrogant, supremely confident of his own abilities and ruthlessly driven to win. He alienates his teammates and irritates Eugene when Paul complains about a low placement in a race and then blames his loss on that late placement.

Paul rises up in the skiing world. He has a messy affair with Carole, a woman who works for the ski team's sponsor. Other than Carole, Paul doesn't seem to have much of anything that he likes or is good at, besides skiing, but he's very good at skiing. Eventually it's time for the Winter Olympics, and Paul's big showdown with Meier, the German downhill champion.

A young Creator/DabneyColeman appears as Mayo, the ski team's assistant coach. Creator/SylvesterStallone made his film debut as an extra, briefly visible when Paul and Carole are having dinner in a restaurant. Three years after this movie Redford and Ritchie combined again to make ''Film/TheCandidate''.

* ArmorPiercingResponse:
** Paul's father is a hardscrabble, taciturn chicken farmer who is utterly unimpressed by Paul's skiing adventures. Dad notes that Paul isn't paid and wonders what he even does it for. When a defensive Paul says "I'll be a champion," his father sarcastically notes "World's full of 'em."
** D.K., another skier who has taken a dislike to Paul, complains about Paul not doing anything to help the team. Coach Mayo absorbs this and then answers, "Well, it's not exactly a team sport, is it?"

* CallBack: In an early scene everyone is impressed when Paul posts a great time in a race despite having a low seed, and thus having to race when the course is cut up by tracks. At the end a low-seeded German surprises everybody by tearing up the course and seems about to beat Paul and take the gold, when he wipes out.[[note]]The original screenplay has an AllForNothing ending where the unknown German beats Paul to win the gold, but Redford insisted it be changed.[[/note]]