A.O. Scott (The New York Times):

"The story of the New Hollywood, dominated by a wild bunch of ambitious, iconoclastic would-be auteurs, is by now overgrown with nostalgia and legend-mongering, but Mr. Pollack’s place in that legend suggests continuity rather than upheaval."

Ty Burr (Boston Globe):

"Pollack would be the first to admit he wasn't an auteur -- he served his actors and the story, not any sense of artistic self."

Michael Sragow (Baltimore Sun):

"Like the moviemakers of Hollywood's heyday, Sydney Pollack...never forgot that the glow of movies came from the stars in front of the camera."

Anne Thompson (Variety):

"...he is respected, admired and personally revered as one of the more gifted, capable and generous talents to come through Hollywood. He certainly has a place in my own pantheon of all-time Hollywood greats."

Carrie Rickey (The Philadelphia Inquirer):

"Significantly, the filmmaker who called himself 'Mr. Mainstream' and scored his biggest critical success with the Oscar-winning 'Out of Africa' was a director's producer."

Robert Redford (Time):

"When I would go to see him these last months...I said, I don't know about you, but success is a funny game. I don't know that the most fun wasn't when you were striving toward it, rather than achieving it."

Explore Film

• Film Reviews

• DVD

• Oscars

• Bollywood

Editor's choice

• Burning Bush with W
• Revolution at the new Saatchi Gallery
• Boy George on sex, drugs and Amy Winehouse