Robert Redford retirement is a chance to appreciate his greatness

Robert Redford in The Old Man & The Gun

Yesterday, Hollywood legend Robert Redford announced that at age 81 (he resembles a man in his mid-60s), he's officially retiring from acting. His last film is the Oscar-baity The Old Man & the Gun, which comes out later this year, and it looks like a wily romp and a fitting finale for one of the most beloved screen actors of our time.

Redford has always been special to me, both as an actor and as a director. He was my commencement speaker in college, so there's a bit of a personal connection as well.

I've previously written about my favorite roles of his -- and in recent years he's had a real resurgence after a week late 2000s output. His remarkable physical performance in All Is Lost was one of the biggest snubs of recent Oscar history, and he ended up playing a featured, rare villainous role in a movie that ironically became the biggest hit of his career  -- Captain America: The Winter Soldier -- without accounting for inflation.

It's kind of insane to me that after so many hit movies and iconic roles -- and a groundbreaking influence on independent cinema thanks to his Sundance Film Festival, Redford still remains and underrated figure for cinephiles.

The regular rub against Redford is that he was and is too good looking to be taken seriously, which of course ignores the fact that with the exception of a few romantic dramas, he almost never leaned into his heartthrob status, instead choosing to play quirky, against type leading men with charm and panache.

Certainly, there are corollaries to the careers that George Clooney and Brad Pitt would have. This is a man who picked smart projects because at the height of his career he could take his pick of any part he wanted (including Michael Corleone, in The Godfather which was absurdly pushed for him by Paramount).

His '70s output in particular is nearly flawless, with The Candidate, The Sting, Three Days of the Condor and All the President's Men standing out among some of the decade's best mainstream entertainment.

He even took four years off at the height of his popularity (from 1980-1984), and didn't miss a step, eventually carving out a solid career as director, with the standouts being Quiz Show, The Horse Whisperer and the Oscar-winning Ordinary People.

Of course, for film snobs, Redford will never be forgiven for defeating Martin Scorsese's Raging Bull in the Best Picture and Best Director categories for that film back in 1981. And yes, Scorsese's film is definitely more deserving, but that doesn't mean Ordinary People is some kind of maudlin fluff, it's a deeply effecting drama about the disintegration of a family that is told with real grace and sensitivity.

As an actor, Redford was dinged for being too cool and removed, but he gave some deeply felt performances too. His one and only Best Actor nom, for the blockbuster The Sting, is well-deserved -- although it's remembered as a buddy movie alongside Paul Newman, it's really Redford's drive for justice for his slain friend that powers that movie.

In that film, and really in all his movies, there was a fierce intelligence behind his admittedly beautiful blue eyes, and while I totally get Redford deciding to hang it up while he's still got it (he apparently wants to continue directing) I am really going to miss seeing him in movies.