Redford Sighting 3: The Kid is still the Kid

PARK CITY – I thought looking for the secret behind the Sundance Film Festival's enduring success was going to take awhile, but I found it already.

It's Bob.

Robert Redford to you and me.

I went to the Sundance Twentyten opening press conference at the Egyptian Theatre on Main Street. It was your typical media horde sprawled out in the seats, sneering, surly, waiting for something to pounce on, and then Redford strolled in. Suddenly, women swooned, men stuttered, cameramen gasped.

I'm kidding, of course. It was actually much more dramatic than that.

What is he, 73? And he looks 43. Or maybe he doesn't look 43, we just think he looks 43. The Sundance Kid is still the Sundance Kid.

Even though we have houses in the same state, it was my first Redford sighting in at least 25 years, and third overall. The first was back in the early 1970s when I was a student at BYU and I was running around the indoor track in the Smith Fieldhouse one night and he passed me on the straightaway.

I did a double take for a couple of reasons. The first was along the lines of "Wait a minute, is that Robert Redford?" The second was because I knew the Academy Awards were on that night, and yet there he was, working out.

He was shorter than I expected, but obviously fit, very fit.

The second time I saw him was when I went to a Willie Nelson concert at Sundance after Redford and Willie became friends while filming "The Electric Horseman," one of the greatest movies ever.

Utah's had some cool moments, but Willie and Redford that night at Sundance was right up there among the coolest.

The third sighting was Thursday's press conference, and I was surprised at how easily Redford walked in, wearing cowboy boots, jeans, a Western-style green shirt and glasses, and took over the room.

Nobody dissed him, not even when he was asked a question about documentary filmmaking and he said that as newspapers continue to die, documentaries will take on even more importance as purveyors of truth.

An entire room full of journalists, knowing full well that film documentaries are notorious for telling only one side of the story (usually the left side), and no one said a peep.

Hey, me included.