Blu-ray, DVD Release: Tootsie

Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: Dec. 16, 2014
Price: DVD $29.95, Blu-ray $39.95
Studio: Criterion


Tootsie movie scene

Dustin Hoffman is Dorothy Michaels in Tootsie.

In the beloved 1982 comedy Tootsie, actor Michael Dorsey lands the role of a lifetime—as does the actor playing him, Dustin Hoffman (Ishtar).

The multi-layered comedy from director Sydney Pollack (and written by the fatally funny duo of Larry Gelbart and Murray Schisgal, with uncredited help from Barry Levinson and Elaine May) follows the increasingly elaborate deception of a down-on-his-luck New York actor who disguises himself as a woman to get a coveted soap opera gig; while his female persona skyrockets to fame, he finds himself learning to be a better man.

Hoffman’s ball-busting yet disarmingly sweet Dorothy Michaels is a sensational comic creation, given support by a stellar cast including Dabney Coleman (Boardwalk Empire), Charles Durning (Breakheart Pass), Teri Garr (Firstborn), George Gaynes (Vanya on 42nd Street), Bill Murray (Get Low), and, in her first Oscar-winning role, Jessica Lange (American Horror Story).

Imbued with poignant drama, Tootsie is a funny and cutting film from an American moment defined by shifting social and sexual identities.

Criterion’s Blu-ray and DVD editions of Tootsie contain the following features

• New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
• Audio commentary featuring director Sydney Pollack, taken from Criterion’s 1991 laserdisc edition of the film
• New interview with comedy writer Phil Rosenthal
• Interview with Dorothy Michaels by film critic Gene Shalit, from the film’s production
Making of “Tootsie,” a 1982 documentary directed by Rocky Lang
A Better Man: The Making of “Tootsie,” a 2007 documentary directed by Charles Kiselyak and featuring interviews with Pollack; actors Dabney Coleman, Teri Garr, Hoffman, and Jessica Lange; and writers Larry Gelbart and Murray Schisgal
• Screen and wardrobe test footage of Hoffman
• Deleted scenes and trailers
• An essay by critic Michael Sragow

Check out my favorite scene where a frustrated Dustin drops in unannounced on his equally frustrated agent, played by director Pollack:

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About Laurence

Founder and editor Laurence Lerman saw Alfred Hitchcock’s North by Northwest when he was 13 years old and that’s all it took. He has been writing about film and video for more than a quarter of a century for magazines, anthologies, websites and most recently, Video Business magazine, where he served as the Reviews Editor for 15 years.