'Jeremiah Johnson' and other great Sydney Pollack flicks...

So I never got around to saluting Sydney Pollack, a favorite director who passed away May 26.

Pollack helmed one of my all-time favorite westerns, "Jeremiah Johnson," as well as the hilarious Dustin Hoffman comedy "Tootsie" and the mid-70s spy thriller "Three Days of the Condor." He'd often show up in his films -- somewhat to his regret, or so he said -- most memorably as Hoffman's long-suffering agent in "Tootsie."

(Hilarious line: "Nobody's going to pay $20 to see two people move next door to solid waste -- they can see that in New Jersey!")

"I do that only when I can't find the right actor for the part," he later said.

I saw Pollack a few times while watching Charlie Rose's show on nights I couldn't sleep. He seemed like the type of guy you'd like to have a beer with and talk about life. In addition to making movies, he was a world traveler, a producer, and a humanitarian in the best sense of what that means.

I've got "Jeremiah Johnson" sitting on top of the DVD shelf at home. With a little luck, it's getting watched tonight. Only thing is, I usually want to drop out of society and live in the mountains after screening it...

Oh, well. That's good movie making, I guess.

Godspeed to you, Sydney Pollack. Thanks for making some great little flicks.