In praise of Pollack

This is Sydney, not Jackson. I love his work.

Right now you can see him on the big screen as the boss who alternately comforts and torments Gorgeous George Clooney in Michael Clayton. He played Will's dad off and on throughout the run of Will & Grace. He was Dustin Hoffman's manager in Tootsie. He seems to have perfected the world-weary, hard-edged, whatever-it-takes businessman who still has a heart of gold buried in there somewhere … or at least remembers what it felt like to have a heart.

The was in front of the camera. Behind the camera, he's an Oscar-winning director (Out of Africa) with a very, very impressive resume including: The Firm, Tootsie, Absence of Malice, and They Shoot Horses, Don't They?

Most of all, I enjoy the movies he made with Redford. In addition to Out of Africa, they collaborated on Jeremiah Johnson, The Way We Were, Three Days of the Condor, The Electric Horseman and the very underrated Havana.

Perhaps I shouldn't admit how low-brow I am, but I've gotten more hours of pleasure from the work of old Sydney here than I ever have from Jackson. Maybe it's me, but I simply don't get him.