Pollock **** (2000, Ed Harris, Marcia Gay Harden, Jennifer Connelly, Val Kilmer, Tom Bower, Bud Cort, John Heard, Robert Knott, David Leary, Amy Madigan, Jeffrey Tambor) – Classic Movie Review 448

In 2000 Ed Harris directs himself in a magnificent performance in his harrowing but revealing, moving and quite sterling biographical portrait of the hard-drinking, insecure American abstract expressionist painter, Jackson Pollock (1912-1956).

In a stupendous labour of love from co-writer/co-producer/director/star Harris, the movie really gives you a picture of what the man, his life and art were like.

Marcia Gay Harden won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her marvellous portrayal of Pollock’s wife and mentor, artist Lee Krasner, who puts her own career on hold to be his companion and champion. Jennifer Connelly as Ruth Kligman, Val Kilmer as the artist Willem DeKooning, Tom Bower as Dan Miller, Bud Cort, John Heard, Robert Knott, David Leary, Amy Madigan as Peggy Guggenheim and Jeffrey Tambor as Clem Greenberg are also in the fine cast.

Margaret von Biesen and Lisa Lawley re-created the Pollock paintings. The screenplay by Harris, Barbara Turner and Susan Emshwiller is based on the book Pollock: An American Saga by Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith.

Ed Harris was Oscar nominated as Best Actor, one of his four nominations up to 2015 (along with Best Supporting Actor nominations for Apollo 13, The Truman Show and The Hours), but no wins so far. He has won two Golden Globes, as Best Supporting Actor for The Truman Show and Best Supporting Actor in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television for Game Change (2012).

Barbara Turner, the screenwriter who worked on Pollock, Petulia (1968) and Georgia (1995), died in her mid to late-70s on April 5 2016, in Los Angeles. She was the mother of actress Jennifer Jason Leigh.

© Derek Winnert 2013 Classic Movie Review 448

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