The legendary Robert Redford has sadly passed away. His legacy, however, is secure. From classic films like Barefoot in the Park to Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, there’s not really a shortage of Redford bangers, each of which represents some facet of his unlimited talent. But, for genre fans, and perhaps Marvel fans in specific, many will note that his last feature film ever was a brief cameo in Avengers: Endgame, in which he reprised his role as Alexander Pierce, one of the higher-ups at S.H.I.E.L.D. The Endgame moment was very brief because the real movie in which Redford plays Pierce is Captain America: The Winter Soldier, which remains not only one of the most consequential Marvel movies in the saga but also holds up today as a solid superhero spy flick.
Interestingly, one of the greatest twists that Redford pulls off in The Winter Soldier is a kind of inversion of his role in the 1975 spy thriller, Three Days of the Condor. In fact, watching these two movies back-to-back makes for an excellent mini-Redford binge, and a great study in how a gritty 1970s spy movie perfectly translated into a solid Marvel movie.
