CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Whitech It is not only a funny movie, but it allows a great amount of joy for anyone who watches it.

Helllins It is both painfully honest and laugh-out-loud funny at the same time.

Arianna Moses Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

MisterWhiplash 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.

Prismark10 In the days before the internet a popular question to film magazines was: 'Whatever happened to John Cazale?'People who first saw him in The Godfather films and then saw him pop up in Dog Day Afternoon, The Conversation and The Deer Hunter were flummoxed that this brilliant, distinctive looking actor came out from nowhere, appeared in the great films of the 1970s and promptly disappeared.If John Cazale were still alive now he would be a celebrated actor and likely to have Oscar and Tony awards under his belt.Unfortunately Cazale died of cancer in 1978. He left a legacy in movie history of five performances in five films that were all nominated for the Best Picture Oscar, three of them actually winning the Best Picture Oscar.Actors, friends, family, collaborators discuss John Cazale, his life on screen and stage where he was also a celebrated performer. For the first time you get to find out a little more of John Cazale the man and performer. Meryl Streep, Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and for his first appearance on screen in several years, Gene Hackman all reminiscence about him.

Michael_Elliott 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.

SHB_73 When you think of legendary movie actors names such as Brando, Pacino, De Niro, and Duvall are some that come to mind. But one that rarely, if ever gets mentioned is John Cazale. In the opening scene in this documentary ordinary people on the street are shown a picture of the Godfather cast and while they can name the actors playing their respected parts. the one they don't know is John Cazale who played Fredo Corleone. Cazale only acted in 5 feature films (The Godfathers I & II, Dog Day Afternoon, The Conversation, and The Deer Hunter). He was 42 when he died of lung cancer in 1978, but his impact on movies is still felt today and I feel that had he lived he would be talked in the same breath as his friend and acting legend Al Pacino who along with De Niro and Meryl Streep (who was at one time engaged to Cazale before his death) pay tribute to him as well as actors whom he influenced such as Steve Buscemi and Sam Rockwell. This documentary is worth watching to let people know about the man who could have given us so much more had he not died so young. Rest in Peace John Cazale.