Downhill Racer

Downhill Racer (1969) is an American sports drama you can watch online on iFILM. Robert Redford stars as David Chappellet, a brash alpine skier out of small-town Colorado who muscles onto the US Olympic squad with one aim: to break every record and finish ahead of everyone else.

On the slope he's brilliant; off it, he's hard to be around. His coach, played by Gene Hackman, preaches teamwork, and Chappellet has no use for any of it. He believes in his own victory and will climb over anyone to reach it. The film tracks the European World Cup circuit, where a cool romance with Carole (Camilla Sparv) flickers between races and the price of a gold medal turns out steeper than it looked at the gate.

Director Michael Ritchie shoots the sport from the inside, the camera strapped to the skis, the mountain rushing past at real speed, the hero magnetic and hollow at once. It was also Redford's first turn as producer, a study of ambition with no sentiment, closer to European art cinema than the usual triumph-of-the-underdog tale. Stream Downhill Racer (1969) online on iFILM.