Eyeball measuring the Sundance Kid

Today is first day of the 2013 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. It is a special time for those of us who live down the road from Park City. We are visited by Hollywood royalty and Hollywood royalty wannabes, everyone trying to get attention for their project. The festival goes on for 10 days, and so there are chances to do a little celebrity-spotting.

That’s not for me. I stay away from Park City this time of year. It’s crazy in that town. There is one main street, and that street is bumper-to-bumper with not only the royalty, but also the papparazi and the rubberneckers. But not many locals, and yes, there are people who live there year-round. They’ve learned to find alternate routes to stay out of the traffic jams.

The festival is called “Sundance” because Robert Redford – who has done more for our local economy than almost anyone else by bringing attention to both our ski and local movie production industries – played the Sundance Kid in a movie over 40 years ago. He owns his own ski resort a few miles south of us and he lives there part of the year, also.

This article, from New York Magazine, was published in 1975 when Redford was at the pinnacle of his stardom. The article does not describe his movies, his directing accomplishments, nor his techniques for creating a character. It’s about how tall he is. Or how tall the author guesses he is.

Copyright © 1975 New York Magazine