Robert Redford (1936 – 2025) was an icon and one of the few movie stars whose surname could promise both entertainment and intelligence in equal measure. Since his passing, the world has lavished some much love and praise on the legend, with his films being revisited and reassessed through what appears to be umpteen examples on YouTube of interviews and his amazing legacy.
Few people can be deemed important enough to both straddle both the mainstream and independent sector, but Redford certainly was one of those key Hollywood figures (though his life for the most part was found in Utah, where he took his last moments surrounded by his family in September of 2025).
Where does one start when it comes to the Redford filmic legacy? Well, there are plenty of well-loved and well-established titles (ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN, THE STING, BUTCH CASSIDY, THE NATURAL amongst others) but it is also fitting to revisit those titles that are lesser known and lesser appreciated.
One such title is LEGAL EAGLES, originally released in the Summer of 1986, but was (in my view even back then) unfairly dismissed and treated as a star vehicle package thanks to the negotiating talents of then-top agent Michael Ovitz. It is a film that certainly may have been mismarketed, partly down to the director Ivan Reitman who was coming off a huge couple of years thanks to GHOSTBUSTERS, which seemed to be everywhere over 1984 and 1985 (it was the UK top film and was hyped up as a huge blockbuster, which it fulfilled)
LEGAL EAGLES is about a contrasting a film from Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd as you can get. Although set in New York, it is the spirit of the city rather than the paranormal which is captured in a tale of art and legal complications.
Lawyer Tom Logan (Redford) is the big cheese, a divorcee with an impressionable daughter, Jennifer (Jennie Dundas) but somebody who, as the present DA says ‘gets the job done’. He hasn’t reckoned without upcoming lawyer Laura Kelly (Debra Winger), who had a reputation for putting a dog on the witness stand in one of her last cases.
Her latest client, Chelsea Dearden (Daryl Hannah) was recently arrested for trying to break into a gallery to steal one of her father Sebastian’s paintings which was a birthday present back in 1968, the night a fire was started and he perished. Reluctantly Logan agrees to represent Chelsea in the trial, which takes the legal partners-in-crime to the gallery of Victor Taft (the late Terence Stamp) who seems to hold one of the paintings which Chelsea is after.
Enter Detective Cavanagh (the late Brian Dennehy) who tells Logan and Kelly of another mysterious figure in the case, a Joe Brock who has revenge in mind against Chelsea….
One of the joys of watching this film present day is the evident chemistry between Redford and Winger, who bounce off each other in great fits and spurs. This is a stylish thriller, co-scripted by Jim Cash and Jack Epps Jr, who also wrote the screenplay for the original TOP GUN that same year. Much of Reitman’s team that contributed to the success of GHOSTBUSTERS is here, including composer Elmer Bernstein, cinematographer Laszlo Kovacs, editor Sheldon Khan (co-edited with William Gordean (SHARKY’S MACHINE) and Pem Herring)) and production designer John DeCuir Jr.
There are some great moments, particularly a scene where Redford and Winger are trying to cure amnesia and a brilliant courtroom monologue that showcases Redford at his best.
Rod Stewart contributes the theme song, LOVE TOUCH:
Time sometimes dampens the initial impact of films from decades past, but watching this now, it is more in sync with the comedy collaborations that Reitman made with Arnold Schwarzenegger like TWINS, KINDERGARTEN COP and JUNIOR. It is a movie that certainly deserves a revisit and has a lot of good qualities and virtue about it.