Sydney Pollack, RIP

By far the best way to honor him, as a director and an actor, would be to Netflix Tootsie immediately:

Comments

A rare midnight post. You must have been a big fan, Ross.

Posted by Marc | May 27, 2008 1:19 AM

Sydney Pollack was the consummate film pro: a wonderful writer, director and actor who spent his life raising the bar with serious films that also, often, made big bucks.

I always enjoyed his presence as an actor, which is where he cut his teeth in the biz back in the 50s. As a director of topnotch films like Tootsie, Jeremiah Johnson (Redford) and many many others, I could always count on a good story, told honestly and with integrity, with interesting and complex characters.

I'll miss him a lot. I hope his legacy of making films for the middle ground - between megabuck eye candy and precious little indy films that attract audiences numbered in the thousands - will carry on with other filmmakers.

The recent film The Visitor (by the director who did The Station Agent) shows just such promise.

Adieu, Sydney: your passing will be lamented for a long time and your place in film history assured.

Posted by James Lawrence | May 27, 2008 10:54 AM

I like Tootsie, but seeing it again, you realize the premise is kind of sexist: it takes a man to tell women how _not_ to let men run their lives.

Posted by Dave | May 27, 2008 12:01 PM

"but seeing it again, you realize...." Um, what were you on the first time you saw it? It was, of course, a comedy. And it was based on a perfectly outrageous premise.

Pollack was rare for such an intense person, in that he was somehow irresistible. Smart, obnoxious, and funny. From his on-screen appearances I wish he had done more.

Posted by Rick Rosendall | May 27, 2008 3:34 PM

Tootsie was great, but Out of Africa and Jeremiah Johnson, not to mention The Way We Were, were classics, and they all showcase his talents as a cinematographer, as Tootsie does not.

We need more Minghellas and Pollacks, and the best tribute to their work will be if more young film makers learn from their examples as not merely technical geniuses, but multi-sensory story tellers.

Posted by MD | May 27, 2008 4:23 PM

An incredibly funny performance by Pollack in a film filled with great comic turns, with the exception of Dustin Hoffman's awful job in the title role. A really stupid movie, but the supporting cast makes it.

Posted by Steve Sailer | May 27, 2008 7:34 PM