Paul Newman and Robert Redford are often referred to as one of the greatest pairings in film history, despite the fact they only appeared together in two movies but never got to make a third. With an 11-year age gap between them, Newman’s clever charm helped craft the perfect mentor to Robert Redford’s handsome but eager straight man. Respect, trust, and raw acting talent were all on display whenever the two crossed paths on-screen – providing an enticing balance of humor and bravado.
At ages 44 and 33, Newman and Redford, respectively, put on boots and cowboy hats and brought infamous bank robbers Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid to life. The breezy 1969 Western was up for seven Oscars, winning four, as it helped bridge the gap of new and old Hollywood. Four years later, the same director, George Roy Hill, reunited the pair for the Chicago-set crime caper The Sting. Winning Best Picture and earning Redford his only acting Oscar nomination (though today he may be known more for being the nodding guy meme), both movies have become undeniable American classics.
The legendary duo both knew that the stakes were high, given how well-received the other two movies had been. In pursuit of matching quality, they became picky when it came to possible projects. A third collaboration had been discussed for decades following their second success in 1973, including a prequel to Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and a sequel to The Sting; both projects were made, but without Newman and Redford’s involvement. Redford would turn his attention to behind the camera, directing his first feature, Ordinary People, in 1980; from then on, he and would take smaller roles like the president in HBO's Watchmen, and spend more time developing his own projects, none of which Newman got involved with. Once Redford launched The Sundance Film Festival, and Newman turned his focus to charity work, finding film projects seemed to be less and less important. Though audiences clearly wanted to see more, the pickiness and focus changes led to old age, which unfortunately prevented another Newman/Redford outing.
The closest the film-going world got to a third film was in 1998 after author Bill Bryson published a memoir titled A Walk in the Woods. The book told the story of two out-of-shape seniors who reconnect by hiking the Appalachian Trail. Redford brought the story to Newman and began developing a script, but Newman dropped out because he felt he couldn’t handle the physicality of the role at his age. Newman would only appear on-screen in one more movie, Road to Perdition, before retiring. He would pass away in 2008 at the age of 83. Redford ultimately made A Walk in the Woods in 2015, with Nick Nolte taking over what would have been Newman’s role.
With Paul Newman’s death cementing any prospect of ever getting another film made (and creating an unofficial trilogy), audiences are still left with two remarkable works. Movie lovers can rest easy knowing Newman and Redford remained friends and did actively want to work together again. The bar was simply set so high, so finding something of the same caliber as Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid or The Sting was always going to be an impossible task. After great performances in movies like All Is Lost, and introducing himself to a new audience in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Robert Redford announced his retirement in 2018, so it looks like this is an end of an era. A movie exploring their friendship and films, however, seems like a likely prospect in the years to come.