Welcome to the CrimeReads Streaming Guide, where we spotlight a very specific category of crime movies we think you should be watching right now.
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It’s September! Autumn may not have officially arrived, and Labor Day hasn’t happened yet, but still… autumn is just around the corner. Autumn, for me, is about Robert Redford. I don’t know why, but when the air gets chilly and the leaves get crispy, I want to watch a Robert Redford movie (even more than I usually do, which is often). Maybe it’s because he wears the color brown so well? I don’t know. You’d think that his sun-bleached hair would fit the aesthetics of summery movies, but his oeuvre leans much more autumnal. Features SEVERAL wool houndstooth overcoats. Lots of suede zip-ups. Anyway, is there a more perfect theme than “Robert Redford” to spotlight as we transition from summer to fall? I think not.
So, here are some very satisfying, very heavy-jacket-heavy crime movies starring Robert Redford, and where you can find them streaming. (Regrettably, The Hot Rock, The Sting, The Old Man and the Gun, and Jeremiah Johnson are only available for purchase on streaming platforms, at this time. But we recommend those too!)
Three Days of the Condor (1975)
This classic Sydney Pollack film, based on the novel by James Grady, is about a standup CIA researcher who discovers that one of his colleagues has been murdered, and tries to figure out why.
Where to stream for free: HBO Max, Hulu + HBO, Amazon Prime
All the President’s Men (1976)
Ah yes, tis the classic story about how two Washington Post reporters exposed the Watergate scandal and brought down Nixon. It won William Goldman his second Oscar for screenwriting.
Where to stream for free: Hulu + Cinemax, Amazon Prime
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
Paul Newman and Robert Redford play two very nice-guy bank robbers who, after they’re fiercely pursued in the American West, head to Bolivia to keep the party going. It won William Goldman his first Oscar for screenwriting.
Where to stream for free: Hulu
Sneakers (1992)
In the droll Sneakers, Robert Redford, Sidney Poitier, Mary McDonnell, Dan Aykroyd, David Strathairn, and River Phoenix as a motley group of security specialists who wind up having to steal a mysterious device. And then steal it back.
Where to stream for free: HBO Max, Hulu + HBO
Brubaker (1980)
In Brubaker, the film released the same year Redford directed Ordinary People, an idealistic man becomes a prison warden in hopes to fix a very corrupt system. What he finds is that it’s… impossible.
Where to stream for free: HBO Max, Hulu + HBO
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Further reading about classic Robert Redford movies:
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The strange magic of Sneakers
The sleight of hand of The Sting
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If you like 70s movies:
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Literary conspiracy thrillers from the Nixon era
The best under-sung cult classic films from the decade
