Directed by Sydney Pollack Story by Don McGuire and Larry Gelbart ...

Mervyn LeRoy Gold Diggers of 1933 19March 25, 2008 (XVI:10)Sydney Pollock, TOOTSIE (1982, 119 min)Directed by Sydney PollackStory by Don McGuire and Larry GelbartScreenplay by Murray Schisgal, Larry Gelbart, Robert Garland,Barry Levinson, Elaine MayProduced by Sydney Pollack and Dick RichardsOriginal Music by Dave GrusinCinematography by Owen RoizmanFilm Editing by Fredric Steinkamp and William SteinkampDustin Hoffman...Michael Dorsey / Dorothy MichaelsJessica Lange...Julie NicholsTeri Garr...Sandy LesterDabney Coleman...Ron CarlisleCharles Durning...Leslie 'Les' NicholsBill Murray...Jeff SlaterGeorge Gaynes...John Van HornGeena Davis...April PageMurray Schisgal...Party GuestSydney Pollack...the Agent, Trailer Narrator (voice)Gene Shalit...HimselfAndy Warhol...HimselfTootsie was nominated for nine Oscars, including best actor in aleading role (Hoffman), best actress in a supporting role (Garr,Lange), cinematography, director, editing, original song, soundand screenplay, but it won only one: Lange for best supportingactress. The big awards that year went to Ghandi: Ben Kingsleyfor best actor, Richard Attenborough for directing, Billy Williamsand Ronnie Taylor for cinematography, John Bloom for editingand John Briley for screenplay.SYDNEY POLLACK (1 July 1934, Lafayette, Indiana) has directed21 films, the most recent of which is Sketches of Frank Gehry(2005). Some of the others are The Firm (1993), Havana (1990),Out of Africa (1985), Tootsie (1982), Absence of Malice (1981),The Electric Horseman (1979), Bobby Deerfield (1977), ThreeDays of the Condor (1975), The Yakuza (1974), The Way We Were(1973), Jeremiah Johnson (1972), They Shoot Horses, Don'tThey? (1969), Castle Keep (1969), The Swimmer (1968,uncredited), The Scalphunters (1968), This Property IsCondemned (1966) and The Slender Thread (1965). Beforemoving to films he directed numerous episodes of major tvdramatic series, such as "Bob Hope Presents the ChryslerTheatre," "Kraft Suspense Theatre," "The Fugitive," and "TheAlfred Hitchcock Hour." He has been producer or executiveproducer for 46 films, among them Michael Clayton (2007), ColdMountain (2003), The Quiet American (2002), The Talented Mr.Ripley (1999), Sliding Doors (1998), Sense and Sensibility (1995),Havana (1990), The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989), Out of Africa(1985), Tootsie (1982), Absence of Malice (1981) and The Yakuza(1974). He has acted in 32 films and tv series, among themMichael Clayton (2007), "The Sopranos," Eyes Wide Shut (1999),A Civil Action (1998), "Frasier," The Player (1992), Tootsie(1982), "The Asphalt Jungle," "Have Gun - Will Travel," "TheTwilight Zone," "Alfred Hitchcock Presents," and "Playhouse 90."He has been nominated for six Oscars and won two: best directorand best picture for Out of Africa.OWEN ROIZMAN (22 September 1936, Brooklyn, New York) shot26 films, the last of which was French Kiss (1995). Some of theothers were Wyatt Earp (1994), Grand Canyon (1991), Havana(1990), Tootsie (1982), Taps (1981), Absence of Malice (1981),True Confessions (1981), The Electric Horseman (1979), StraightTime (1978), Network (1976), Three Days of the Condor (1975),The Stepford Wives (1975), The Taking of Pelham One Two Three(1974), The Exorcist (1973), Play It Again, Sam (1972), TheFrench Connection (1971) and Stop (1970).

Pollock—TOOTSIE—2DUSTIN HOFFMAN (8 August 1937, Los Angeles, California) hasacted in 63 films and tv episodes, the two most recent of whichwere as a voice in The Tale of Despereaux and Kung Fu Panda,both of which are in post-production. Some of his other roles werein Stranger Than Fiction (2006), "Curb Your Enthusiasm," Meetthe Fockers (2004), I Heart Huckabees (2004), Sphere (1998),Wag the Dog (1997), American Buffalo (1996), Outbreak (1995),Hero (1992), Hook (1991), Billy Bathgate (1991), Dick Tracy(1990), The Music Box (1989), Rain Man (1988), Ishtar (1987),Sweet Dreams (1985), Tootsie (1982), Kramer vs. Kramer (1979),Straight Time (1978), Marathon Man (1976), All the President'sMen (1976), Lenny (1974), Papillon (1973), Straw Dogs (1971),Little Big Man (1970), Midnight Cowboy (1969), The Graduate(1967), "The Nurses," "The Defenders," and "Naked City." Hewon best acting Oscars for Rain Main and Kramer vs. Kramer andwas nominated for Wag the Dog, Tootsie, Midnight Cowboy andThe Graduate.JESSICA LANGE (20 April 1949, Cloquet, Minnesota) appeared in37 films and tv programs, the most recent of which is GreyGardens, now in post-production. Some of the others were BrokenFlowers (2005), Titus (1999), A Thousand Acres (1997), Blue Sky(1994), Cape Fear (1991), Crimes of the Heart (1986), Country(1984), Frances (1982), Tootsie (1982), The Postman AlwaysRings Twice (1981), All That Jazz (1979) and King Kong (1976).She won a best actress Oscar for Blue Sky and best supportingactress for Tootsie. She was nominated for best actress for TheMusic Box, Sweet Dreams, Country, and Frances.TERI GARR (11 December 1947, Lakewood, Ohio) has acted in139 films and tv programs. Her most recent role was in God Outthe Window (2007). Some of the others are "Law & Order: SpecialVictims Unit," "Strong Medicine," "Batman Beyond," "ER,""Friends," "Frasier," Prêt-à-Porter (1994), Dumb & Dumber(1994), "Dream On," "Tales from the Crypt," "Saturday NightLive," Tootsie (1982), The Black Stallion (1979), "McCloud,"Young Frankenstein (1974), The Conversation (1974), "The BobNewhart Show," "M*A*S*H," "The Sonny and Cher ComedyHour," "It Takes a Thief," "Star Trek," "Batman," and A Swingin'Affair (1963).DABNEY COLEMAN (3 January 1932) has appeared in 157 filmsand television series, among them Hard Four (2007), "TheGuardian," Stuart Little (1999), You've Got Mail (1998), TheBeverly Hillbillies (1993), Meet the Applegates (1991), "The SlapMaxwell Story," “Murrow” (1986), The Muppets Take Manhattan(1984), "Buffalo Bill," WarGames (1983), Tootsie (1982), OnGolden Pond (1981), Nine to Five (1980), Melvin and Howard(1980), "Barnaby Jones," "Diff'rent Strokes," North Dallas Forty(1979), Rolling Thunder (1977), "Quincy M.E.," "Fernwood 2Night," "Forever Fernwood," "Police Story," "The Streets of SanFrancisco," "Petrocelli," "Cannon," "Mary Tyler Moore," "MaryHartman, Mary Hartman," "McMillan & Wife," "Mannix," TheTowering Inferno (1974) "The F.B.I.," "Kojak," Cinderella Liberty(1973), "Ironside," "Banyon," "Nanny and the Professor," "DanAugust," "Bonanza," Downhill Racer (1969), "Then CameBronson,” "The Mod Squad," "Death Valley Days," "That Girl,""The Flying Nun," "I Dream of Jeannie," This Property IsCondemned (1966), "Twelve O'Clock High," "The Outer Limits,""The Alfred Hitchcock Hour," "Dr. Kildare," "Armstrong CircleTheatre," and "Ben Casey."CHARLES DURNING (28 February 1923, Highland Falls, NewYork) has appeared in nearly 200 films and tv series. Some ofthem are Room and Board (2008, in production), The L.A. RiotSpectacular (2005), "Touched by an Angel,” "Everybody LovesRaymond,” "The Practice," "Homicide: Life on the Street," TheGrass Harp (1995), The Hudsucker Proxy (1994), Dick Tracy(1990), To Be or Not to Be (1983), Tootsie (1982), The Best LittleWhorehouse in Texas (1982), True Confessions (1981),“Attica” (1980), North Dallas Forty (1979), The Choirboys(1977), "Baretta," Dog Day Afternoon (1975), "Cannon," TheSting (1973), "N.Y.P.D.," "The Nurses, " and "East Side/WestSide."BILL MURRAY (21 September 1950, Wilmette, Illinois) wasChevy Chase’s 1976 replacement on “Saturday Night Live,” theshow’s second year. He joined Garrett Morris, Gilda Radner, DanAykroyd and Jane Curtin in one of television’s best-ever comedyteams. He has been in about 50 films and television series, amongthem The Darjeeling Limited (2007), Broken Flowers (2005), TheLife Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004), Lost in Translation (2003),The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), Charlie's Angels (2000), Hamlet(2000—yeah, Hamlet: he played Polonius), Cradle Will Rock(1999), Rushmore (1998), The Man Who Knew Too Little (1997),Ed Wood (1994), Groundhog Day (1993), Ghostbusters II (1989),Scrooged (1988), Little Shop of Horrors (1986), The Razor's Edge(1984), Ghost Busters (1984), Tootsie (1982), Stripes (1981),Caddyshack (1980), Where the Buffalo Roam (1980), Mr. Mike'sMondo Video (1979), Meatballs (1979), and 77 episodes of“SNL.”Sydney Pollackfrom World Film Directors, V. II. Ed. John Wakeman. H.W.Wilson Co., NY 1988American director and producer, writes “I was born in Lafayette,Indiana, where my parents, who were both first generationRussian-Americans, had met at Purdue University. I was raised inSouth Bend, a town more noted for its industrial and athleticactivities than its cultural contributions.“I was somewhat at odds with my environmentthroughout my childhood, performing a balancing act between lifeon a football field (I was lousy because I wore glasses andcouldn’t see) and the work I did in high school plays which Ienjoyed enormously.“When I graduated high school in 1952, I went directlyto New York and the Neighborhood Playhouse School of theTheatre where I encountered Sanford Meisner, head of its actingdepartment. Meisner was the single most important culturalinfluence in my life. He is an authentically inspiring man andprimarily because I was so in awe of him I accepted his invitationto return to the Playhouse as an acting teacher and his assistant.“My intention was to be an actor, but as I look back now,the decision to teach at that point ultimately led to directing. Iwas, however, acting on Broadway, in summer stock and ontelevision during the time I was teaching.“Then came a two-year hitch in the Army beginning in1957, my marriage to my wife Claire and the birth of our son,Steven. When I returned to New York, I had to begin the actingcareer anew but I resumed work at the Playhouse and soon afterlanded a very good role in a Playhouse 90 production of ForWhom the Bell Tolls, directed by John Frankenheimer. This led to

Pollock—TOOTSIE—3a job as a dialogue coach for Frankenheimer on his first film inHollywood, which led to a relationship with Burt Lancaster whostarred in the film.It was Burt who suggested to me and toUniversal Television that I had the potential to be a director. I hadnot thought about directing prior to that time and still consideredmyself very much an actor. But I was willing to consider it. Thisentailed moving my family (which would soon include twodaughters, Rebecca and Rachel) to Los Angeles. I considered thisa bold move at the time.“My first directing experience was an episode of a halfhourWestern series called Shotgun Slade. I was a terrible failureand I don’t know how I managed to get a second chance, bit I did.Having learned something about how much I didn’t know, I spenta lot of time with a film editor, started experimenting with stillphotography and ran movies all day long. Gradually the transitionfrom actor to director seemed more accessible. Television offereda marvelous opportunity to experiment, learn and grow as adirector. In the five years in television I directed some eightyshows.“In 1965 I did my first feature film, The Slender Thread.Since then I have made ten additional films.“I suppose I am a traditionalist of sorts. I think that myfilms are conventional in form, but not necessarily point of view. Ienjoy working within the strict parameters of a given film genreand then striving to find some new voice within it. I don’tconsider myself an avant-garde or particularly original filmmaker.The films I’ve made all fall into established categories—Westerns,love stories, action pictures, thrillers—and most of them havebeen period pieces. That is on purpose only insofar as I find agreater freedom in commenting on today by going back in time. Ifind metaphor an easier language to speak in than literal truth andit allows a film to be slightly more fantasy oriented. I think all thefilms I’ve done contain more than an element of fantasy.“I have no strict criteria when searching for a new ideafor a film other than it move me in some way. I would not beinterested in directing a film that did not involve the complexitiesof human relationships at some level, and in that sense perhapsI’m a romantic as well as a traditionalist.“Arguably, film is a peculiar marriage of art andcommercialism. I don’t see this as a disadvantage, but rather as anadditional discipline. The attempt is to succeed on two levels: tosatisfy the needs of popular art, and to deal with issues or ideasthat are intriguing and provocative.“Finally, each film is some sort of argument where I getto take both sides.”The John Frankenheimer film on which Pollack served asdialogue coach to its child actors was The Young Savages (1961),with Burt Lancaster, Shelley winters, and Telly Savalas, all ofwhom have subsequently appeared in Pollack’s own movies.Pollack then began his apprenticeship as a television director, andthe same year secured his only big-screen acting role in DenisSander’s War Hunt (1962), which provided another fortunateencounter—the film also gave Robert Redford his first movie partand he and Pollack became good friends and frequentcollaborators.Among the eighty shows Pollack directed for televisionwere episodes of The Defenders, The Fugitive, Naked City,Slattery’s People, Dr. Kildare, and Ben Casey. One of the latter,“A Cardinal Act of Mercy,” was nominated for five Emmy awards(including best director) and secured one (Kim Stanley as bestactress). Pollack also directed plays in the Chrysler Theatre series,and won an Emmy for outstanding directorial achievement indrama for The Game. In 1963, at Burt Lancaster’s request, hesupervised the dubbing of the American version of Visconti’s IlGattopardo (The Leopard).In 1965, when Paramount invited Pollack to try his handat directing a feature film , he chose a story that had much incommon with a television drama, Stirling Silliphant’s script TheSlender Thread. This was based on a Life magazine article aboutthe Seattle Crisis Clinic, which offers a telephone service to thosewho find themselves on the verge of suicide or violence. SidneyPoitier plays a psychology student who is on duty at the Clinicwhen a woman named Inga (Anne Bancroft) calls. She has takenan overdose of barbiturates, but won’t say where she is. Poitierhas to try to keep her talking until her call can be traced and, asthe vital minutes pass, the reasons for the suicide attempt arerevealed in flashback. The Sender Thread was shot in black andwhite on location in Seattle. A taut and highly efficient drama, itmakes telling use of the sophisticated communications technologythat can be deployed in such an emergency by both the telephonecompany and the police—contrasting all this equipment with thedaunting difficulties Inga had faced in trying to communicate inordinary human terms with her jealous husband, her son, and adoctor.The Slender Thread opens with an aerial establishingshot of Seattle, and Pollack has said that he likes “seeing a placefrom far away, seeing the world in which the characters are going

Pollock—TOOTSIE—5In 1971 Pollack and Mark Rydell established SanfordProductions, which made four interesting films before it ran out ofmoney. The only one of them directed by Pollack was JeremiahJohnson (1972), scripted by John Milius and Edward Anhalt, andbased on the legend of “Liver-eating” Johnson, a mid-nineteenthcentury mountain man who is reputed to have revenged themurder of his Indian wife by slaughtering nearly two hundred andfifty Crow Indians. The film ends with an exhausted trucebetween Johnson and the Crows. Robert Redford was cast in thelead and worked very closely with Pollack in shaping the film,and there is a fine performance by Will Geer as the old trapperwho teaches Johnson how to survive in the mountains. The Indianmaterial was scrupulously researched and the and the film wasmarvelously photographed by Andrew Callaghan in the mountainsof Utah.Jeremiah Johnson was much criticized in some quartersfor romanticizing a mass murderer but elsewhere was welcomedwith enthusiasm. Stanley Kauffmann found “the strength ofJeremiah Johnson...not in its homiletic theme but in its execution,which is its real theme. This is gritty, weather-filled recreation of amountain man’s life.” And for Derek Malcolm “its elegiacpassages are what one remembers—the frozen Hatchet Jackdiscovered by Jeremiah with his last will and testament round hisneck and his legacy, a fifty-calibre Hawkins, in his arms; theghostly ride through an Indian cemetery at the head of a columnof cavalrymen trying to find a beleaguered wagon train. It’s a filmyou can’t help liking.”Redford has a very different role in The Way We Were(1973), adapted by Arthur Laurents from his own novel. The “we”of the title are both graduates of Cornell, where Hubbell (Redford)had been the campus idol and Katie Morosky (Barbra Streisand)an impassioned radical. They meet again during World War II, bywhich time Hubbell has published a novel and is in the Navy, andKatie is still drudging for good causes. They fall in love and inspite of their differences get married, moving to Los Angeleswhere Hubbell sells the film rights to his book. Adapting the novelfor the screen, he soon surrenders his integrity, while Katie goesoff to Washington to protest against the blacklisting of theHollywood Ten; their brief, impossible relationship ends. Achance meeting some years later finds Katie handing out antinuclearliterature and Hubbell scribbling for television. StanleyKauffmann called The Way We Were “glittering trash,” andRichard Schickel found it “ill-written, wretchedly performed andtediously directed,” as well as “slick cold, and gutless,” for onceoutdoing in abuse even John Simon who could manage nothingbetter than “sheer, piddling hokum.” The film was a hugecommercial success.The scenarist Paul Schrader had been introduced toJapanese yakuza (gangster) films by his brother, who worked inJapan. Having studied the genre, which embodies a good deal ofthe samurai code of honor, Schrader produced a script for ayakuza film which was bought by Warner Brothers. The film wasoriginally assigned to Robert Aldrich but passed to Pollackbecause Robert Mitchum would not work with Aldrich. Mitchumstars in The Yakusa (1974) as a private eye hired to rescue anAmerican girl kidnapped by a Japanese gangster, and the Japanesefilm idol Takakura Ken was cast as a former yakusa member whoowes Mitchum a favor. Pollack shot the film in Japan with anexcellent Japanese crew but used an American cameraman for theAmerican scenes “so you actually see a subtle difference in style.”By and large the critics found the result ponderous, clumsy, andviolent, though there was much praise for Ken’s effortlessdomination of his scenes; the ticket-buying public liked it nobetter than the critics.There was less critical unanimity about Three Days of theCondor (1975), adapted from a spy story by James Grady. RobertRedford plays a functionary of a CIA department in New Yorkthat screens spy fiction for possible security leaks. Returning fromlunch one day he finds that his colleagues have been slaughteredand prudently takes it on the lam, busying himself with trying tofind out who is gunning for whom and why, reluctantly assistedby a neurotic young woman played by Faye Dunaway. Describedby some as “smooth but forgettable,” as well as “nebulous anduninteresting,” it seemed to Dilys Powell “brilliantly, chillinglydone” and to James Monaco “Pollack’s best film.”There were even admirers (but not many) for BobbyDeerfield (1977), based on a story by Erich Maria Remarquealready screened as an Andre de Toth weepie called The OtherLove. As adapted by Alvin Sargent, it presents us with awomanizing but unloving racing driver (Al Pacino) who is finallyhooked by the only girl (Marthe Keller) who is not impressed byhis credentials, and then finds she is dying of an incurable disease.According to James Monaco, the result, beautifully photographedin various gorgeous sections of Europe, made “MagnficentObsession look like a serious investigation into human emotion.”By this time, Pollack must have felt badly in need of asuccess and he achieved a moderate one with The ElectricHorseman (1979), scripted by Robert Garland. Redford playsSonny Steele, a rodeo champion forced by injuries to take a jobpromoting breakfast cereal. For a time, aided by booze, Sonnyadjusts himself to this ignominious role, but when he finds outthat his horse is being doped he rides out on the show and makesfor the desert, hotly pursued by Jane Fonda. She is Halle Martin, atelevision newswoman who starts out after a scoop but winds upcrusading for Sonny and his horse, and sharing the former’ssleeping bag.Pollack had been afraid that this “sweet, gentle” filmmight be considered too naive, but it was generally enjoyed as a“pleasant moral fable.” Richard Combs wrote that “SydneyPollack has stretched another small personal statement into anepic visual one….The ideological content of the film works out toan old-fashioned, Capra-ish populism, involving the ‘people’ inthe stars’ crusade as Hallie and Sonny discover unexpectedsupport in their flight from the forces of law, order, and bigbusiness.”

Pollock—TOOTSIE—6After The Electric Horseman, Pollack occupied himselfas a producer before starting work on his next film, the newspaperdrama Absence of Malice (1981). A Federal agent, hoping topressure a small businessman (Paul Newman) to help in theinvestigation of a gangland killing, leaks a phony story linkingNewman to the murder. Reporter Sally Field, knowing the storyhas been leaked and suspecting that it might be false, prints itanyway. His life ruined, Newman arranges an ingenious revenge.The film purported to be a serous investigation of journalisticintegrity (or the lack of it) and raised some hackles in the printmedia. Critics generally saw Absence of Malice as representing ashift of public opinion away from the exaltation of investigativejournalism in Pakula’s All the President’s Men. The obligatorylove interest (between Newman and Field) was not viewed asbeing credible, but the film’s crisp plotting and dialogue made upfor that. The film, wrote Janet Maslin, was “soulful andserious….There’s some monotony in Mr. Pollack’s approach andan essential indecisiveness—each of [his recent films] ends on arueful note rather than a sharply dramatic one. Yet the intelligenceof his work is unusual and rewarding, even when that work goesslightly awry.”Tootsie (1982), Pollack’s only comedy to date, was apopular and critical success. Dustin Hoffman (who fought withPollack constantly during the production) brilliantly played thedouble role of Michael Dorsey, an obsessive actor who can onlyland a steady job by impersonating a woman, and his creationDorothy Michaels, who becomes famous as the first assertivefemale character in television soap operas. At Hoffman’sinsistence, Pollack himself appeared in the film as Dorsey’s agent.The sharply written script (by Larry Gelbart, Murray Shisgal, andElaine May) contained some of the best lines in recent Americanfilms; at the end of the picture, Hoffman tells costar JessicaLange: “I was a better man with you as a woman than I ever waswith a woman as a man.”Pollack’s approach to directing comedy was typicallyself-effacing. “I am not a farceur,” he told the New York Times in1982. “I am not Blake Edwards. I do not have good control ofrunning sight gags. I laugh like hell when I see them, but I don’tknow how to invent those jokes. So I felt I had to devise a style ofcomedy that was right for me, something you could believe in….Iwas always accused by Dustin and other people of trying to turnthe movie into a ‘gentle love story’ as opposed to an outrageouscomedy. I used to deny that, but in retrospect I can see that theywere right. That is what I wanted to make and that is what Imade.”Pollack worked with Redford again in Out of Africa(1985), a biopic based on the memoirs of Isak Dinesen. Primarilya love story (“I can’t do a movie if it’s not on some level a lovestory,” Pollack has said), the film follows the doomed affairbetween Baroness Karen Blixen (Dinesen, played by MerylStreep) and great white hunter Denys Finch Hatton (Redford,woefully miscast as an English aristocrat). Much of the film’sappeal was in its superb vistas of Africa (David Watkins wasdirector of photography), meticulous period detail, and stunningset pieces. The star chemistry that should have propelled thecentral romance was curiously lacking, however, and the script’sstriving for both historical relevance and a surefire Hollywoodromance resulted in some plot confusion. “This is classical bigstarnarrative moviemaking,” wrote Pauline Kael, “but without thelogic, the easy-to-read surface, and the sureness that contribute tothat kind of picture.” Out of Africa was amply rewarded at the boxoffice and by the Hollywood establishment, winning sevenOscars, including one for Pollack as best director.Vicki Piekarski maintains that Pollack “is an artist with acreative imagination and a filmmaker of integrity,” who is a finedirector of actors and “who has dealt with sensitive matterswithout moralizing.” Until recently, he was taken less seriously inthe United States than in Europe, where the social significance ofhis work has been anatomized in several monographs.The eldest son of David and Rebecca (Miller) Pollack,the director is married to the former Claire Griswold, once one ofhis acting students, and has a son and two daughters. A cameraand hi-fi fan, he collect jazz records and builds his own stereoequipment to play them on. He likes sports cars and is a licensedpilot. He said in a 1980 interview that he is interested now inwriting for the cinema, and “in the problem of age. Twenty yearshave gone by just like a kid walking to school looking at the linesto make the journey shorter. I’d like to get it on paper, but youcan’t make films about problems, it’s too pretentious. You have todo a caper and include a metaphor.”Michael Sragow, “From ‘Tootsie’ to ‘Eyes WideShut’” (Salon.com)http://dir.salon.com/story/ent/col/srag/1999/07/15/pollack/index.htmlJul 15, 1999 | Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman are the stars of"Eyes Wide Shut," but Sydney Pollack plays the crucial role. AsRichard Schickel put it in Time, Pollack is the mysterious highroller"who ties together all the evil that Cruise's characterdiscovers." Coming aboard in the middle of filming to replaceHarvey Keitel, Pollack says he had "the idea of being tougherwith the character of Tom." But Kubrick disagreed. As Pollacklater told Peter Bogdanovich, "Stanley had an idea of my wantingto manipulate him more and be kinder."Kubrick's hunch sounds good because it suits Pollack's onscreenaura. Behind the camera, Pollack is known for directing big starsin box-office sensations, like Dustin Hoffman in "Tootsie" andCruise in "The Firm." In front of the camera, he projects amensch-like presence that gladdens you even when he'stemporarily a jerk. Like all great character actors, he challengesand magnetizes top-billed performers without overpowering them.But no actor could supply what Kubrick asks Pollack to deliver in"Eyes Wide Shut." Pollack's part consists of two bookendsequences; with them Pollack is supposed to give a realistic spineto a bland nightmare narrative. Yet how can you provide a spinewhen the rest of the movie sags like a hammock? Pollack ismasterful in his first scene, welcoming Cruise and Kidman to hisluxurious annual Christmas bash. In the middle of this party, hesummons Cruise, a doctor, into his private quarters, where a

Pollock—TOOTSIE—7voluptuous junkie whom Pollack is shtupping has OD'd. WhenCruise counsels him to keep her where she is for an hour,Pollack's beaming bonhomie dissolves to reveal, not anguish orpanic, but the clock-watching attentiveness of a man with a lot onhis mind. He puffs out his lower lip, makes a soft sound offrustration and assent -- and is instantly believable as an astuteManhattan power broker.Unfortunately, Pollack reappears only after Cruise goes through aspacey odyssey that climaxes in a ritualized, peculiarly uneroticmasked orgy. (It's as if the spirit of Rudy Giuliani's New York hadsomehow infected Kubrick even while he was sequestered in hisEnglish digs.) And the ensuing confrontation with Cruise isthuddingly expository, with Kubrick slowing the place to glacialspeed and Pollack manfully trying to juice up every piece ofgodfatherly advice. Although you wish Pollack could cut loose,you also admire his authority -- something he has displayed inmovies from the get-go.In his only screen role before "Tootsie" (1982), Pollack played asergeant in Korea in the 1962 anti-war film "War Hunt." From acast studded with such talented unknowns as Robert Redford (aprivate) and Tom Skerritt (a corporal), Pollack stood out for thecasual authority with which he commanded most of his men andthe screen. (The one man the sergeant can't control is a psychoplayed by teen idol John Saxon, who wriggles special privilegesfrom the brass because he's an exceptional scout and killer.)Pollack was still in his mid-20s, but he was persuasive as amodest career soldier (he calls himself a "20-year man") with awife and kid back home. He gave the sergeant a rooted decencythat colored the man's military compromise.In "Tootsie," Pollack's portrait of an agent, George Fields, couldhave been crass and undercutting. After all, Michael Dorsey(Hoffman), George's most difficult client, is a thespian dreamerwho's been waiting tables between acting jobs for years. WhenMichael demands to know why George didn't push him for aproduction of "The Iceman Cometh," George tells him thatMichael Dorsey is a "name" only "when you want to send back asteak."But Pollack goes on to transform their battles into virtuoso duetsof show-biz digs, weighted almost equally in argument andsympathy. Pollack's George is a man of the world -- from hisperspective, Michael's integrity is both noble and blind. Georgeknows he's being insensitive when he says he wouldn't wantMichael to give up "his standing as a cult failure," but he's right toreject Michael's request to help raise money for a play called"Return to Love Canal." As George asks, "Who gives a shit?Nobody wants to pay $20 to watch people living next to chemicalwaste. They can see that in New Jersey." Each of their scenestogether is a classic, because Pollack doesn't give an inch.Hoffman imbues Michael with righteous outrage, but Pollackreacts with the sureness of someone who refuses to have hisintelligence insulted.The warmth and sagacity Pollack showed then may be essential tohis personality. In 1983, I interviewed him about the relay-racewriting process behind "Tootsie" for an article on Hollywoodghostwriters in Film Comment. He sent me a note to thank me forthe article's accuracy, and to say that, "given the possibility forcharacter assassination inherent in these pieces," he felt he "gotoff lucky" -- despite the editors laying out his picture under aquote from William Goldman dubbing him a "writer-fucker."With "Eyes Wide Shut," Pollack completes a trilogy ofperformances with notoriously challenging stars and star directors.In "Tootsie," in addition to directing, Pollack played the agent ofthe ultimate New York actor, Michael Dorsey -- a role that tookDustin Hoffman's own dedication and combativeness to selfdestructiveextremes. In "Husbands and Wives," Pollack was thesane best friend to the neurotic persona of New York's mostprolific and idiosyncratic writer-director (and star), Woody Allen.His association with "Eyes Wide Shut" began when he suppliedKubrick, that legendary New York expatriate perfectionist, withCruise and Kidman's fax numbers. Then Kubrick called on himfor a part that Kubrick's cowriter, Fredric Raphael, consideredcritical: an orgy master who also functions as "protective,castrating father" to Tom Cruise's character.It's as if Pollack has become a specialist at humanizing menwhose work process consumes them and whose vision tends to besolipsistic.As deliriously enjoyable as almost all of "Tootsie" is, it's a reliefwhenever Pollack's trim, forward-pushing George barks or stridesinto the picture. He always seems to be in "mission mode." Thetheater folk and soap folk are so absorbed in their own emotionsor sensations, ambitions or jealousies, that a fellow whocommunicates directly is a welcome interloper. George's energyanimates his whole body, to the edges of his wiry hair.And that energy is friendly — it even makes Michael morelikable. George gives Michael pause when he asks why Michael ishurting him; after all, George never attacks Michael's ability orgifts, only his mulish arrogance. One of George's funniestmoments comes when he tries to follow the romanticcomplications that have developed because Michael posed as awoman. George simply can't keep up. It takes a fellow as drivenas Michael to come up with the myriad pluses and minuses of this

Pollock—TOOTSIE—8charade — and an actor as fervent as Hoffman to catalyze"Tootsie."In the running commentary he provides to the laser disc of"Tootsie," Pollack says that doing his own close-ups was easy. Yetwhenever he was in a scene with the star of the film, Pollackfound himself doing what any other director would do -- zeroingin on Hoffman. This focus pays off: George is locked in aperpetual struggle to grasp the roots of Michael's nonstopdelirium.A portrait of Pollack as George belongs in a dictionary of catchphrases next to "I can't get my mind around that" — the phrasepops up more than once in "Husbands and Wives." It's whatWoody Allen, as Columbia creative writing teacher Gabe, sayswhen he berates Pollack's Jack for leaving his hyper-cerebral wife(Judy Davis) and moving in with a bouncy, pretty aerobicsinstructor (Lysette Anthony). The result is a primal friendshipscene, with Gabe trying to persuade Jack that he knows what'sgood for his buddy and Jack drawing the line at Gabe's viciouscritique of his girlfriend. Jack makes clear that Gabe has noconcept of how edgy his married life had become. He refuses tolet Jack condescend to his new woman simply because she's anaerobics instructor.There's no question that Jack gets the better of the argument, atleast as far as the audience goes. That's partly because of Pollack'senormous vitality in the role. Jack is a recognizable type. He's asmart professional man who enjoys sparring with his culturedurban friends but also likes sports and watching dumb comedieson video—and at this point in his life, he wants to be able to relax.Pollack extracts every ounce of complexity from this type, untilhe becomes an archetype —almost an ideal. He tries to get Gabeto see that he can separate from his wife without denying his loveand admiration for her. The way Jack vows respect and fondnessto his ex, the emotions are real, not willed or dutiful. But whatJack gets from his new relationship is real, too: physicality andspontaneity. When Jack tells Gabe to stop talking like his rabbi,you feel like applauding.Unfortunately, in order for Allen the writer-director to prove thatAllen the persona knows the score, the aerobics instructorultimately comes off as an astrology-fixated airhead who can'tkeep her mouth shut in intellectual company. Apparently, in theAllen universe, that disqualifies her from mating with any selfrespectingperson. "Husband and Wives" becomes Allen's dubioustestament to his own ravaged romantic wisdom. But Pollack andJudy Davis pull you close to their marital ups and downs -- theymake you feel the residual commitment and hunger forcompanionship that bring them back together.Pollack is too shrewd a director himself not to have recognizedwhat he was getting into with "Eyes Wide Shut." I assume hesigned up mostly to help out an admired fellow director --something I've seen him do before. Six years ago, I bumped intoPollack before a screening of someone else's troubled cablemovie. Though embroiled in a brutally short editing period for"The Firm," he was there to lend support to the other besiegeddirector. Pollack was alarmingly upfront with his doubts aboutwhether he had made sense out of the typically sprawling and farfetchedGrisham plot. I told him how much I liked hisperformance in "Husbands and Wives." "Maybe I should just bean actor," he self-mockingly moaned.No filmmaker with a roster that includes "The Scalphunters,""They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" "The Way We Were" and"Tootsie" should think of giving up directing. But no one who canembody wised-up (yet confused) urban men with as much depthand panache as Pollack should deprive audiences of his acting.Maybe he and Mike Nichols (an epochal creep in the film andplay "The Designated Mourner") and Mark Rydell (indelible in"The Long Goodbye" and as Meyer Lansky in Pollack's own"Havana") should start the Director-Actors Co.JUST FOUR MORE IN THE SPRING 2008 BUFFALO FILMSEMINARS:Apr 1 Krzysztof Kieslowski THE DOUBLE LIFE OFVERONIQUE (1991)Apr 8 Jane Campion THE PIANO (1993)Apr 15 Clint Eastwood UNFORGIVEN (1992)Apr 22 Ingmar Bergman THE SEVENTH SEAL (1957)CONTACTS:...email Diane Christian: engdc@buffalo.edu…email Bruce Jackson bjackson@buffalo.edu...for the series schedule, annotations, linksand updates: http://buffalofilmseminars.com...to subscribe to the weekly email informational notes, send an email to addtolist@buffalofilmseminars.com....for cast and crew info on any film: http://imdb.com/The Buffalo Film Seminars are presented by the Market Arcade Film & Arts Centerand State University of New York at Buffalowith support from the Robert and Patricia Colby Foundation