Sydney Pollack : A Subliminal Existentialist

By Wes D. Gehring
 
Filmmaker Sydney Pollack found his greatest success as the director of such celebrated pictures as They Shoot Horses, Don't They?, The Way We Were , Tootsie , and Out of Africa which won Pollack Oscars for both director and producer. Pollack found early success as an actor, an acting teacher, and later as a producer. In ensuing years, he would be praised as a character actor, from Dustin Hoffman's scene stealing agent in Tootsie to a sympathetic cynic in Eyes Wide Shut. Forever curious, Pollack often used these films to see how other significant directors plied their trade. Trying to balance time for family and his many other soon-to-be-explored talents, Pollack's ability to recognize quality material also made him a producer of such memorable works as The Fabulous Baker Boys, Sense and Sensibility, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Iris, and Michael Clayton. This work, Sydney Pollack : A Subliminal Existentalist weaves the story of Pollack's life and career through ten of his films and covers his relationship with two actors; teacher and mentor, Burt Lancaster, and Robert Redford, with whom he frequently collaborated.