Toots.

Toots "isn't simply a puff piece on a beloved relative; rather, it's a snapshot of a particular post-prohibition, post-WWII period in which looking glamorous and having fun were the prime objectives, as well as a warts-and-all portrait of a self-made man who defined the era," writes Nick Schager at Slant.

"Copious clips of [Toots] Shor on vintage interview shows - This Is Your Life, Person to Person - help to illustrate his rise from a street-fighting Jew holding his own in Italian South Philly to the bon vivant public face of postwar New York nightlife," writes Nick Pinkerton in the Voice. Appreciation will be "largely determined by one's taste for Madison Avenue back-slapping, broiled steaks, alcoholic journalists, and self-amused 'You had to be there' celebrity prankishness, all lovingly recalled by a litany of gargle-voiced sportswriters and Gay Talese, who hogs the best one-liners."

Updated through 9/19.

"Cheers to [Kristi] Jacobson for keeping alive the memory of New York nightlife’s golden era, and a man who embodied it," toasts Laura Kern in the New York Times.

For the Reeler, Benjamin Gold talks with Jacobson "about what drew her to Shor's story and if a place like Toots Shor's could exist today."

Tribeca's got an interview, too, and a great clip.

Updates, 9/19: Jody Rosen talks with Jacobson for the NYT: "'What I want people to understand is that New York at one time - at the time when it emerged as the capital of the world - wasn't just slightly different,' Ms Jacobson said over lunch on the Lower East Side. 'It was drastically different. I wanted to look at this slice of history and ask: What are those things that New York has lost, the things we mourn?'"

"The movie has a joyous swing that would have gladdened its subject's heart," writes David Edelstein in New York. "Toots leaves you longing for a more public culture, for places where the palship isn't just the upshot of intoxication. It's a cinematic happy hour."

Posted by dwhudson at September 14, 2007 9:14 AM