John Cazale possessed a soulfulness and vulnerability that few actors are able to tap into; in the first two Godfather movies, in Dog Day Afternoon, The Deer Hunter, and The Conversation, Cazale glowed in the background. He wasn’t a scene-stealer — he enhanced and heightened the mood of each scene in which he appeared. Tonight, a wonderful, brief documentary, I Knew It Was You: Rediscovering John Cazale, gives Cazale his due.
Cazale died from cancer at age 42 in 1978. As the film says, “he was only in five films, and each one of them was nominated for [an Oscar] best picture.” Cazale was the sort of performer rare these days: Primarily a stage actor, taking small movie roles when the material, the director, and the rest of the cast interested him. He didn’t seek stardom, and died before any sort of sizable, adoring cult could build him around him.
The title of director Richard Shepard’s documentary paraphrases the famous line in The Godfather Part II, in which Cazale played the weak older brother Fredo.
In I Knew It Was You, you’ll see and hear Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Francis Ford Coppola and others praise Cazale’s subtle gifts, his diffidence, his meticulousness. He had a romantic relationship with Meryl Streep that was cut short by his death; Streep’s comments here are all the more moving for being so simply and briefly stated.
The line that followed Pacino’s famous line to Cazale’s Fredo was, “You broke my heart.” This documentary is likely to break yours, even as it fills you with inspiration to know that such as artist could do such good work in however brief a time he lived.
I Knew It Was You premieres on HBO tonight at 8 p.m. EST, with multiple re-airings.
He transformed “Dog Day Afternoon” from a very good film to a great film. It’s a tragedy that none of his five roles were nominated for Supporting Actor Oscars, as they were exceptionally fine performances.
Oh, and FIRST!
You could argue that Dog Day Afternoon was really his story. Here is this character that has no ostensible reason to be there. Yet, he is the one who breaks your heart.
It’s sad that a lot of people don’t know who he is. I’m 20 years old and have seen all his films because my father is a huge fan. But very few people my age know of him, and if they do it’s only as Fredo. Michael broke my heart when he killed Fredo in Part II, and I was glad when he acknowledged it in Part III. I’m really looking forward to this documentary.
John Cazale’s work was so versatile and subtle. I thought he was the one that made Dog Day Afternoon so heartbreaking.
About to say, I’d be surprised if Streep WASN’T involved as they were a couple when he was diagnosed and they stayed together until his death.
I wish that AMPAS had some sort of “Hall of Fame” into which they inducted a group of important contributors to cinema each year. There are so many people who have made a strong impact on cinema, but who have never been given their due, or whose contributions have been taken for granted. John Cazale is a perfect example of this, and I’m glad that this documentary has been made. He deserves to be honored for his work.
Will have to put this on the Netflix queue, so thanks for the heads up Ken.
What a wonderful actor he was. I am so thrilled to find out about this special on tonight.
First time I ever tried to sprint 600m. Wow it hurt so good.scaled in400m @ 1:17500m @ 1:41600m @ 2:15600m @ 2:20600m @ 2:20600m @ 2:17400m @ 1:25400m @ 1:38 Strong wahdeind came out of no where on my last interval.I need to learn to pace myself a little better. 600m was a long way for me to hold that pace. But hopefully I can hold it much longer in the future.
God it drives me crazy when you guys title your pieces with questions like this. You’re a journalist, man! A *critic* at that. My tenth grade English teacher would have crossed it out with red and told me to state it affirmatively, if that’s what I want to say. “John Cazale, one of the best, most neglected, modern actors.”
He is critiquing the documentary, not the late actor’s career.
I think they do it because they are encouraging reactions, like yours.
Jakob, If you only have an hour a day maximize the hour. I am in a mlsiiar situation, so I go all out on the S&CF portion of each day and give what I can to the endurance portion after only a short break. Not ideal, but realistic. I am a single sport runner, so the cost of this approach is only incurred on Tues. If really pressed for time I skip the Tues run and focus on maximizing the Thursday and weekend runs while still performing the S&CF workouts four days a week. It is about priorities, which is what makes CFE great, though I have to cut short my workouts at times I still get the benefits of the program while leaving much more for my paying job than I did trying to adhere to other programs.
That would be format-correct if this were an essay, not as the opening statement in a discussion, which a blog-comment post really is. Lectures, even ones without Q&As, are frequently titled with questions.
If I’m crunched for time in the AM & want to run long or blast the CFE S/C WOD, then my go to is 2 Tbsp of aonmld butter w/ 2 Tbsp of Honey & 1 Tbsp Coconut oil washed down with 8-12 oz water. Give it a few mins to settle, then go hog wild! Play with these ratios tho, they’re not always perfect for everyone.
Running drills are leanred at Endurance Seminars. Running Drills videos were link on 6-27 Part 1, and 7-1 Part 2. They are on the CFJ. Skills and Drills video linked on the home page. You would follow the site to train for your marathon and choose the number of appropriate repeats. With this being knew to you it may be helpful to work with a coach.Enter a 1/2 marathon during your training as a check.
John Cazale was an amazing actor. I love movies and find it hard to believe that I never knew his name. One of the very best.
I was deeply moved by the love and esteem expressed by these great and wonderful actors for John Cazale. He is greatly missed. I loved his work and his humanity. A rare actor and evidently, a fascinating man. What a legacy.
First time in a long time I wish I had HBO. I would love to see more docs on unappreciated character actors. So many have done great work and maybe a lot of us love them at the time, but years later we may forget them and the new generations have no idea about them. I was thinking about Myron McCormick lately, having watched him as the sereant in No Time For Sergeants. He was wonderful in that and went on to do The Hustler, but he too died too soon from cancer. And Cazale, I can’t imagine he wouldn’t have went on to have a great career. As it stands, he had a perfect film run. Probably the only other one to only appear on oscar nominated films before his death was James Dean.
I had no idea John Cazale appeared in only five films. These were the days before the Internet and IMDB, and I assumed that he had been in other movies I’d missed. I’ve seen all five films. Each performance was remarkable; each film great. I’m going to hound my friends with HBO.
IT’S ABOUT TIME!!! Cazale was a wonderful actor and he was in such great movies. I still think his snub for best supporting actor for the Godfather II is one of the biggest in Academy history. He helped make that classic what it is.
according to the tv..this show doesn’t start on HBO til THURSDAY
He was a terrific actor. I knew he only appeared in 5 films, but had no idea he was banging Meryl Streep!