Sydney Pollack left us today at the age of 73. 

Pollack was one of my favorite directors. When he started to produce and act more than direct, I was worried because I wanted him behind the camera. He knew how to make a complete story on film.

Whenever I went to see a Pollack film, I knew I was going to see a complete, beautiful, meaningful film.  I often described his films ”as a full course meal, including desert.”  I felt completely and utterly satisfied  at the end of his movies. I never felt cheated. I never felt left out. I was awed, each and every time.

Films like “The Way We Where,” “This Property Is Condemned,” “Jeremiah Johnson,” “Three Days of the Condor,” “Electric Horseman,” “Out of Africa” and “They Shot Horses Don’t They,” “Tootsie,” “Bobby Deerfield,” The Firm” and “Havana.” 

His films never required CGI or special effects to bring the audience into the story — his films are real stories — true to the meaning of the word “real.” 

He said in an Actor’s Studio interview that he looks for the spine of the story and builds the film from there, amazing.

The films he leaves behind are magnificent. The ones he never directed are sorely missed. 

God bless, Sydney Pollack.

Articles that outline Sydney Pollack’s prolific career: The Hollywood Reporter and Variety