He may not have been as well known as his contemporaries of the American golden age of cinema—Robert Altman, Woody Allen, Martin Scorsese, Bob Rafelson etc.—but Paul Mazursky was just as influential. A writer, director and actor, Mazursky cemented his reputation with relationship films like "Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice," "An Unmarried Woman," "Blume in Love," and "Enemies: A Love Story" and yet, despite five Oscar nominations, was somewhat underappreciated. He passed away today at the age of 84, and it’s probably time to dip into his oeuvre if you haven’t.
And rather than provide a life overview that you can get from anywhere else with a quick click (Thompson On Hollywood has a pretty good one), instead, below you’ll find about two and a half hours of Mazursky and Dave Poland, chatting extensively about the filmmaker’s career. And certainly, if you want all you can get straight from the man himself, that’s the place do it. But that’s a lot time to devote and perhaps you won’t get to it until later. So to hold you over, this quote by Mazursky to Filmmaker Magazine about the crossover of emotions and themes in his films, is pretty perfect.
