Descubriendo a John Cazale

Yeah, it's great to revisit the mammoth talent that was John Cazale, but the best thing about this DVD is the two black and white films that are to be found in the extras section. These films show John as an up and coming actor and as a cameraman. These two films are largely surrealistic attempts at social commentary or in visual puns. Both are excellent and should have captured a larger audience's attention.

But the main feature, the documentary, it is good, a little short, but good nonetheless. I read that Talia Shire's interview footage wasn't used. That's too bad, the film makers could have used a few extra minutes to pad this documentary out.

Great for novice film buffs and for fans of Cazale.

Insightful, but much too short celebration of a great actor; lots of famous actors of equal talent get to pay homage; makes you want re-watch all of John Cazale's films.

Like the man's life, this doc is too short (I thought for some reason it was going to be a feature). The material is the basic stuff of a retrospective and tribute with interviews by collaborators and fans (and certainly some names you probably heard of: Pacino, De Niro, Streep, Sam Rockwell, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Sidney Lumet, uh, Brett Ratner, sure why not) that go into what this man was like as they knew him from being in person (Streep was married to him for a brief time, she's actually his widow) and from simply watching the Godfather parts 1 and 2 five hundred times.

But, man, what an actor and what a career! Sometimes in those luckiest windows of time and in opportunity (don't forget the luck part of it), quality trumps quantity, and in this case Cazale had one of the major careers in 70's American cinema. It must be akin to one of those early rock and rollers from the 50's (Buddy Holly or the Big Bopper or whoever) who you know when listening to their music it's so pure and raw and emotional and that so many others have borrowed from them, and it's a true tragedy from the abyss of nothingness that they're taken so young.

Good stuff though, again, I wish it was a little longer, like even a short feature instead of this long-short film stuff. But some wonderful breakdowns of these scenes he had as Fredo and the long-haired WTF in Dog Day Afternoon and even the sadness he brought to his small role in The Conversation. A lot of time actors try to go big or go home, or take on roles that will show off what they can DO on CAMERA. Cazale never did that, and one wonders this man in dramas in the 80's and 90's and beyond.

Fredo in the two first episodes of "The Godfather" films; Sal in the acclaimed "Dog Day Afternoon"; Stan in the wonderful "The Conversation" and another character named Stan in "The Deer Hunter". Only five movies to make John Cazale a recognizable face in the 1970's. As it was showed in this brilliant documentary he's known by his work and his character and not much by his name. Sadly he died very young and didn't had the chance to show his great talent in more movies.

In "I Knew It Was You: Rediscovering John Cazale" we see the Cazale in multiple faces, as a cinema actor, as a stage actor, the married man (married with Meryl Streep) and the excellent human being he was. Actors and directors who met him like Robert De Niro, Sidney Lumet, Francis Ford Coppola, Gene Hackman and Meryl Streep and fans of his work like Sam Rockwell, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Steve Buscemi, Brett Ratner and many others paid a tribute to this honored actor who gaves us so much in such a shortened life. They talk about their favorite moments with him on and off screen, how he has in person, and his final moments before dying of cancer.

Many people don't know but all of his five movies are listed in IMDb 250 greatest movies of all time and also included in AFI's list. Unfortunately he didn't received the attention he deserved in life, wasn't nominated for an Academy Award and only received one nomination to the Golden Globes (Actor in a Supporting role for "Dog Day Afternoon"), but his performances lasted long enough to be presented to many generations. Very good documentary. 10/10

I Knew It Was You: Rediscovering John Cazale (2009)

**** (out of 4)

Excellent documentary covering the five films that John Cazale made during his short life. THE GODFATHER, THE CONVERSATION, THE GODFATHER PART II, DOG DAY AFTERNOON and THE DEER HUNTER are discussed in regards to how Cazale got the parts as well as what he did with them. I think it says a lot about how much people cared for him when you see the names that turned out to be interviewed for this 40-minute documentary. Al Pacino, Robert DeNiro, Meryl Streep, Gene Hackman, Francis Ford Coppola, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Brett Ratner, Sidney Lumet, Sam Rockwell, Carol Kane, John Savage and Steve Buscemi are among the group gathered for the interviews. That's a mighty impressive list to discuss a man who only appeared in five movies but it's clear that they all loved working with this man. There are countless great stories told about Cazale not only in the movies but also his time on the stage. We hear a few details about his early life but mostly we stick to his movies. We get clips from each of them as people talk about what made the scene so special and how they felt Cazale was able to make those around him so much better. Pacino tells a great story about how Cazale would start scenes on DOG DAY AFTERNOON and it's quite funny. There's also talk about him meeting Streep and marrying her, which of course leads to a discussion on his lung cancer and death at such a young age. The title using "rediscovering" is perfectly used because if you're not familiar with Cazale then this documentary does a great job at making you see why he was so special. If you're familiar with these five films then watching this will just make you want to see them again.