This morning while brewing coffee and getting ready for the day, I've been listening to NPR reports about the passing of Sydney Pollack (yesterday, of cancer). The name fills me with so many memories. Tootsie came immediately to mind. I think it was the first film of his I saw and I fell absolutely in love. I didn't always enjoy Sydney as an actor -- probably because he played the same type of role frequently -- but his work as Michael Dorsey's agent remains my favorite of his supporting turns. The scene when Michael first approaches him as "Dorothy" is a perfect comic jewel. Pollack does flustered double taking with the best of them. I think about that scene almost every time I think of Pollack and it continually endears me to him. He must have been so proud of the scene and Dustin. He must have known that film was gold. But he's digging for his own there at the table.I love so many of his films as a director. My other two favorites are They Shoot Horses Don't They (previous appreciation) and The Way We Were (with apologies to Out of Africa and This Property is Condemned --but mostly for Natalie Wood in the latter).
Regarding The Way We Were: I think it's one of the best romantic dramas Hollywood ever produced. When I first saw it in college --I'm not sure what prompted me, but it was probably one of my many aborted attempts to get through all nominated Best Actress Oscar performances -- I was completely wowed by how substantial it actually was. Romantic films are so often critically dismissed. Even the smashes are often scorned once there's a little distance (see Titanic appraisals for a modern case). I liken this to people being embarrassed about their initial openheartedness... sort of the way that most of us are so easily aggravated by our significant others after the heady rush of the falling in love phase passes. Surely the contempt with which many romantic dramas (and comedies come to think of it) are held with both the public and critics after the fact has more to do with human nature than with the work. Like any genre, romance has its masterpieces. I think it's better than the other Robert Redford picture that won Best Picture that year (The Way We Were was not nominated)It's always interesting to see how people view the work of artists when they pass on. One of the voices on NPR was talking about the lack of auteurial signatures or visual flourishes in his movies. This was spun in the most flattering possible way. It went something like 'it makes you concentrate not on the man behind the camera but on the film itself' When people pass away, you should always go with the positive. In this case it isn't difficult.
Sydney Pollack, you will be missed.
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