R.I.P. Sydney Pollack

Iconic actor/director/producer of the seventies New Hollywood, Sydney Pollack, died Monday at the age of 73. His career produced numerous distinguished pictures including Jeremiah Johnson and Three Days of the Condor, but I will always remember him for his early directorial effort They Shoot Horses, Don't They?. Taking place at a dance marathon in Depression era America, this adaptation of Horace McCoy's novel examines both the depravity of opportunistic businessmen and the helplessness of ordinary folks forced to stoop to unimaginable lows in order to survive. Whereas Bonnie and Clyde is energetic, and The Grapes of Wrath and Bound for Glory are angry, this movie about the Depression is, well, depressing. It captures the mindset of ordinary folks caught up in a force that they can neither control nor understand. They Shoot Horses, Don't They? was every bit as important as Point Blank, Bonnie and Clyde, and Easy Rider in setting the tone for the new generation of realistic revisionist films of the seventies.

Interestingly, Tod Browning unsuccessfully tried for years to adapt McCoy's novel back in the thirties. Were he to make this picture, he certainly would have surpassed Pollack in the cynicism department. I doubt, however, that he would have shown the empathy toward the characters that Pollack did. Coming from an acting background, well defined characters were important for Pollack. As in his other pictures, Pollack succeeded here in allowing us to live with and understand these characters.