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Posted May. 28, 2008, 8:05 a.m. PT
R.I.P. Sydney Pollack
By Ann Magnuson
Most folks know by now that the wonderful film director (and equally wonderful actor) Sydney Pollack passed away on Monday. The Academy Award winning director of A-list fare like Tootsie, Out of Africa and The Way We Were, Pollack also directed one of my favorite movies They Shoot Horses, Don't They? They sure don't make movies like that anymore! They don't even make trailers like that anymore!
Pollack also was the uncredited co-director of The Swimmer (see trailer below). I first saw this movie in film history class while a dewy-eyed freshman in college and couldn't figure out what the hell was going on. Now I get it... kind of. Based on a John Cheever short story, it's a great slice of suburban surrealism as well as a fantastic period piece. Hopefully Mr. Pollack is swimming his way to higher astral planes that no doubt align themselves like so many Connecticut swimming pools along the time/space continuum.
Comments
It was always great to see Pollack pop up in some movie playing a small part....like in the last few episodes of the Sopranos,...or in Eyes Wide Shut .....truly a great director and someone I wish I could have meet..... he gave a tour de force in Woody Allen's Husbands and Wives
Posted at 11:49 a.m. PT on May 28, 2008 by randy focazio
A beautiful piece, Ann, and - yes - Mr. Pollack was one of the greats - my favorite of his films is THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR...a spy thriller simultaneously of and ahead of its time. THEY SHOOT HORSES DON'T THEY is a masterpiece, although really painful. And I definitely agree with Randy's comment - Sydney was AMAZING in HUSBANDS AND WIVES! :-)
Cheers!
Scott Bradley
Posted at 5:12 p.m. PT on May 29, 2008 by Scott Bradley
Can the good ones just stop dieing already???
We had Dick Martin the other day and Harvey Korman today and on that note , I will now go outside and scream!!
Posted at 2:18 a.m. PT on May 30, 2008 by Kitty Diggins
I'm no film history buff, but I did see " Emerald Cities" complete with Flipper's Ted Falconi driving a Pinto Station wagon with a bumpersticker reading " They Shoot Students, Don't They? "
Maybe I should upgrade my viewing habits ( the ones I don't really have ).
Posted at 9:07 a.m. PT on Jun 20, 2008 by Steve
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