Women wanted him. Men wanted to be him. (Some men wanted him, too.) The inimitable Robert Redford — actor, director, and environmentalist — died Tuesday at 89, leaving the American West without its best leading man.
While he may have been most closely associated with Utah — where much of the classic Western “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” was filmed, and where he later founded the Sundance Film Festival — Redford harbored a deep affinity for the Bay Area. He even lived part-time at a cottage in Tiburon until selling it last year.
For Bay Area fans mourning the loss, Redford left behind three films with deep connections to the area that would make a fitting watch in tribute. The 1972 political dramedy “The Candidate” takes place in Sacramento, but was partially shot in the Bay. And then there’s the prescient 1992 spy thriller “Sneakers” — way ahead of its time, dealing with hackers and political espionage — which was both filmed and set here. Additionally, in 2009, Redford narrated “Saving the Bay,” a four-part KQED documentary about the region’s delicate maritime ecology.
Here’s how you can watch Redford’s deeply Bay Area films.
‘The Candidate’
Directed by Michael Ritchie, this Academy Award-winner ranks among the funniest political films ever made. Redford plays Bill McKay, charismatic son of a former California governor who’s recruited into a can’t-win race against a popular Republican senator, with the promise of being able to say whatever he wants — until the party machine steps in. Satirizing the rise of style over substance in politics, the film was released amid the growing scandals of the Nixon Era.
Bay Area locations
Redford’s McKay delivers a stirring speech at the Westin St. Francis Hotel in Union Square. An outdoor political rally takes place at the corner of Bush and Montgomery streets in the Financial District. The Paramount Theatre, Oakland’s Art Deco movie palace, stands in as McKay’s campaign headquarters.
‘Sneakers’
Three years ahead of the better-known hacking thriller “Hackers,” “Sneakers” was one of the earliest cinematic forays to explore the connection between Silicon Valley and the world of espionage. In addition to Redford, the film, directed by Phil Alden Robinson, has a truly star-studded cast of Sidney Poitier, Dan Aykroyd, River Phoenix, and Ben Kingsley. Redford’s character, Martin Price, leads a heist, and the screenplay weaves plenty of then-novel concepts derived from the high-tech underground — hacking and black boxes — into the twisty plot, along with anagrams and conspiracy theories about the moon landing being faked. It’s a hell of a ride.
Bay Area locations
Iconic locales, like Lombard Street and the Embarcadero, appear throughout the film. Redford’s Price conducts a security audit on a bank housed at the real-life Bank of California at 400 California St. The hackers’ base is the Fox Theater in Oakland.
How to watch “Sneakers”
Available for rent or purchase via Amazon and Apple TV.
‘Saving the Bay’
Redford narrates all four one-hour segments of this 2009 KQED documentary that details the history of the San Francisco Bay, from its formation after the last Ice Age through the period when it was nearly destroyed by overdevelopment and into the more environmentally conscious present. Shot in high-definition, it initially aired as a PBS special and won four regional Emmy Awards. For local history nerds, the documentary is a must-watch.
Bay Area locations
Much of the series consists of archival footage of pre-1906 San Francisco and the Golden Gate and Bay bridges under construction, along with footage of the Bay’s wetlands teeming with life.
How to watch “Saving the Bay”
While it often airs on local PBS channels during pledge drives, the full series is available on demand for rent or purchase on Vimeo.