Sydney Pollack, 1934-2008

Like Alan J. Pakula, he apotheosized the intelligent mainstream of Hollywood moviemaking. Trained in theater and television, Pollack was neither an easy rider nor a raging bull, although in his early work—the surreal Castle Keep, the corruscating They Shoot Horses, Don't They?—there are streams that feed into a certain...bullishness.

Pollack's position became harder to maintain as a new generation of suits began running Hollywood—the kids with the notes. "What happened to this guy," I remember thinking, while watching the largely unwatchable The Firm, in 1993. But look hard in that film's margins—I'm thinking of Holly Hunter and Gary Busey, the picture's unfussy appreciation of Memphis, Hackman's quieter moments, and such—and you can see that the problem wasn't Pollack, but them—the army of execs who can focus-group a director's integrity out of existence. Hence, for his best work, you've got to go backward from Out of Africa. One suspects that a reason he became more active in producing in recent years was that it represented a new and possibly more viable way for him to get the films he wanted made, made.

An exemplary director of actors, he was a terrifically engaging performer himself, frequently playing hard-asses with deceptively mensch-like exteriors, as in Eyes Wide Shut and, most recently, Michael Clayton.

The below cap is from '69's Castle Keep...one of Pollack's rare trompe l'oeil shots!

Comments

[Peter Nellhaus]

I keep on hoping that the threatened remake of The Yakuza never gets produced.

[rockandroller]

I was so sad to hear this news this morning. He was near the top of my fantasy list - to work for or with.

[bill]

"The Yakuza" is a great, underrated movie, and it's probably my favorite Pollack film, along with "Jeremiah Johnson".

And I love him as an actor. He may have played the same basic kind of character over and over, but he was so effortless. And although I'm not a fan of the movie, his work in "Husbands and Wives" really showed his depth.

[Dan]

This was sad to hear on a Tuesday morning. Rest in peace, Mr. Pollack.

[Aaron Aradillas]

The Summer of '93 was one of those landmak summers tht any serious filmgoer dreams aobut. I can vividly remember all the hype surrounding the first movie version of a John Grisham novel. What made the movie work is that Pollack knew Grisham's story was barely workable. He knew Grisham was really a hack who celebrated yuppiedom. That's why he boldly re-worked the final act into a cautionary tale for materialism. Like Oliver Stone, he took the All-American image of Tom Cruise and turned it over to reveal the greed and shallowness that goes with that smile. That was one of Pollack's constant themes: the ruthless examination of the shallowness beneath a golden exterior. That's why Redford's best acting has been done mostly in Pollack movies.

One of my favorite performances is in the grossly underrated Changing Lanes. You could literally see Ben Affleck mature into an Actor in their give-and-take scenes.

[Jason]

I'll always remember Three Days of the Condor because of the cold-blooded execution scene at the CIA office--it traumatized me as a child! Pollack made some fine films and his talents will be missed.

[crossoverman]

I met him once and talked to him about producing The Talented Mr Ripley. And it was really as a producer where his talent shone in the last decade of his life - beyond the excellent acting he did through to the end.

[Owain Wilson]

I have to say that his performance in Husbands And Wives was electric - as good, if not better, than any by an established actor. The bit when he called Lysette Anthony a "fucking infant!" has stayed with me since the day I first saw it in 1993. He was a fantastic actor.

Interesting man, made some great movies. Tootsie was one of those films I was allowed to stay up late to watch whenever it was on TV when I was a kid in the 80s. It'll always be one of those special movies for me.

Here's to you, My Pollack.