Robert Redford's Pittsburgh-set film 'The Clearing' a good watch to remember a legend

Legendary actor, director, producer and activist Robert Redford will be remembered for roles in classic films including “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” “All the President’s Men,” and “The Way We Were,” and no doubt those films will get plenty of rewatches this week after his passing at the age of 89.

But one film that may get overlooked is 2004’s “The Clearing,” which was set and partially shot in the Pittsburgh area.

“The Clearing” is a thriller that’s loosely based on the real-life 1987 kidnapping of Dutch CEO Gerrit Jan Heijn. In addition to Redford, the film stars Willem Dafoe and Helen Mirren.

In the movie, Redford plays a business owner who lives in a wealthy Pittsburgh suburb with his wife (Mirren) and is kidnapped by a longtime employee (Dafoe) and held for ransom. From there, the narrative splits between Redford and Dafoe’s interactions and Mirren’s cooperation with the FBI investigation into the kidnapping.

“The Clearing” holds a rating of 5.8 on IMDb and a score of 44% on RottenTomatoes.

Film critic Roger Ebert, in a review published July 2, 2004, praised the efforts of first-time director Pieter Jan Brugge, who also co-wrote the film with Justin Haythe.

“They know how to make a conventional thriller but are not interested in making one. Instead, they use the crime here as the engine to drive their parallel psychological portraits,” Ebert wrote.

If you’re unaware of “The Clearing,” you’re not alone. It was distributed by Fox Searchlight Pictures and its widest release was to 449 theaters. In total, the film grossed about $12.5 million worldwide

The good news is that all you need to add “The Clearing” to your Robert Redford movie marathon is an Amazon subscription; the film is currently streaming on Prime Video.