Robert Redford shares the three films he thinks ‘should be left alone’ and not remade by anyone

The late Robert Redford once named the three films in his discography that “should be left alone”.

Redford, who died aged 89 earlier today (September 16), set a standard in Hollywood that few are capable of reaching. The Academy Award-winner provided the silver screen with some of its all-time greatest movies, with the likes of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, All the President’s Men, and The Old Man and The Gun making up a respectable, decades-long filmography. The Sundance Festival founder retired from the big screen in 2018, but would speak just seven years before that on the films he hoped would be left alone for as long as possible. Redford would share the three films he featured in which would hopefully be preserved as they are, and not fed through the Hollywood machine again for a remake or continuation.

The veteran performer had considered a return to the character seen in The Candidate, his wildly brilliant but lesser-known 1972 political satire film. Redford starred alongside Peter Boyle as a candidate who didn’t care what he said as he had no chance of winning, and found himself in the running to be a candidate for President of the United States.

While that story may seem on the nose now, in 2011, Redford was rumoured to be returning to the screen with a remake of the film. He would rubbish this rumour and say there was “no new story” to tell, and went so far as to say he never wanted it, or two of his other classics, remade.

He said in 2011 at the Sundance Film Festival: “That was a great story at the time, but the more I thought about it, there’s no new story to tell there, so no.” It might be a shame to fans of The Candidate, but films like Bulworth and The Front Runner would follow in The Candidate’s footsteps.

The Candidate was also one of the films Redford hoped would never be remade. He would name the other two in an interview with MovieMaker, where he said a western classic and a film which won an Academy Award for Best Original Song should be kept well away from the adaptation process.

He said: “There are certain films I think should be left alone, like The Candidate, Butch Cassidy and The Way We Were.” Redford would prove himself to be not just a capable leading man but a steady hand behind the camera too. In the same interview with MovieMaker, Redford shared his reaction to winning his first-ever Best Director award.

Redford would win his first of two Academy Awards for his directing of Ordinary People in 1980. He would receive his second, an honorary Oscar, in 2001. He said: “Well, I was not expecting it. But success can be a double-edged sword. I have learned the value of silence and to pay attention to the details. The detailed moments can tell a story all their own.”