Product Details

• Actors: Harrison Ford, Dave Mann, Tom Hanks, Meryl Streep, Jon Voight
• Format: Color, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Winstar
• VHS Release Date: February 22, 2000
• Run Time: 60 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 1572527730
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #689,350 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

This incisive documentary traces the long, varied career of Sydney Pollack, whose movies have been nominated for 46 Academy Awards. Extensive interviews with Pollack get inside the mind of a hard-working man dedicated to his craft. "I've never been completely content with my career," Pollack declares, a surprising admission for a man who's enjoyed such remarkable success. On a personal note, Pollack confesses to having had a crush on Natalie Wood, star of This Property Is Condemned. He addresses the technical problems of his first critical success, They Shoot Horses Don't They?, starring Jane Fonda. (How do you shoot a film in which "people do the same thing over and over for two hours in the same place?") We get the kick of feeling like a Hollywood insider when Pollack divulges his prolonged campaign to convince Robert Redford to star in The Way We Were. Interviews with actors who have worked with Pollack--Sidney Poitier, Paul Newman, Harrison Ford--paint a vivid picture of the man. One revealing anecdote comes from Out of Africa star Meryl Streep, who tells of filming a scene with a tethered lioness. To heighten the drama--and without telling Streep--Pollack set the lioness free. Clips of Three Days of the Condor, Absence of Malice, Tootsie, and many other Pollack films provide a comprehensive showcase for the work of a masterful American director. --Laura Mirsky

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars One of the Great (and versatile) directors, August 31, 2000

By 

Frank Adoranti (Sydney, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Directors - Sydney Pollack (DVD)

A neat bio of this most talented directors. His life and work are examined (although maybe not as close as some might like) in this entertaining and easy to watch documentary. I would have liked to see more personal comments about his favourite films and more about the acting parts he tends to take from time to time.

I guess to have all that, it would become a three hour documentary. However, on the whole highly watchable and recommended.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars dvd=Director's, January 9, 2007

By 

Sheryl Martens "Pollack Fan" (Anderson, SC USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Directors - Sydney Pollack (DVD)

It was a great DVD but he has done much more since then that I hope it is remade for the present.