I discovered the existence of this little HBO doco about John Cazale early last week looking at IMDB.

Then, in a bizarre, but lucky, coincidence, on Thursday night we were flipping through the channels & caught the credits of something that looked interesting (it was Steve Buscemi referring to his cameo in The Simpsons), my missus checked the TV guide - "Rediscovering John... Cazail...?". Fortunately it was repeated on Sunday afternoon. (ABC TV in Australia)

It's a very short, simple doco (45min), with interviews from his peers - Al Pacino, Meryl Streep (his long-time partner), Robert De Niro, Francis Ford Coppola, Sidney Lumet & so on. Doesn't descend into too much sentimentality, despite it being something of a sad story (Cazale died aged 42 from lung cancer, before the Deer Hunter was released). Focuses on his talent as an actor, & the subtlety with which he made all his characters very real. It made me realise how much depth he gave to the less-than-glamorous role of Fredo - as actor Sam Rockwell points out in the documentary, any actor would want to play Vito, Sonny or Michael.

He only ever appeared in three other films apart from the GF & GF Part II - The Conversation, Dog Day Afternoon & The Deer Hunter. Most actors would count themselves lucky to have one of those five films on their CV, let alone all of them. As a film actor, he's basically got a 100% record. 5 classics, no turkeys.

Definitely worth keeping an eye out for.

Incidentally, the title of the doco (I Knew It Was You) went over my head when I first read about it on IMDB, it was then clarified in the documentary as Michael's line to Fredo on New Year's Eve in Cuba - but I always thought he said, "I know it was you, Fredo. You broke my heart."

Figure this is the best place anywhere to ask - 'knew' or 'know'?

It was "I KNOW" ..... (click on link below):

I know it was you, Fredo - CLICK HERE

I'd suggest that they used, "Knew" in the title because the documentary was a look back on Cazale's work, and since he is dead, it's in the past.

Thanks for the heads-up about the documentary.

If you can believe Wikipedia, it says HBO picked up this documentary. I am going to check HBO on demand when I get home.