“A first-rate portrait…a rare exception… Cheers to Ms. Jacobson for keeping alive the memory of New York nightlife’s golden era, and a man who embodied it.”
—NY Times review PDF
“Kristi Jacobson, Shor’s granddaughter, has made a loving tribute not just to Shor, but even more perhaps to a time and place: midcentury New York, at the heavy-drinking height of its imperial splendor. Toots, like its subject, makes sure customers have a good time.”
— Boston Globe
“I loved every foot of this film!”
— Jeffrey Lyons, host of NBC’s “Reel Talk”
“Affectionate and vivid portrait of brandly-swilling, mob-friendly, sports-obsessed, celeb-attracting saloonkeeper, Toot Shor… the kind of zingy shot a discerning doc-lover needs.”
— LA Times
I found myself transported back to the Manhattan of yesterday… And the people – Jack Dempsey, Joe DiMaggio, Marilyn Monroe, Lauren Bacall, Frank Sinatra, Jackie Gleason – they are there having a drink with the incomparable Toots.”
- Liz Smith, New York Post
“Toots Shor’s Sweet Sanctuary”
—The Wall Street Journal, by Allen Barra
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“A stick-to-the-ribs tribute… meticulously researched, full-course meal from granddaughter Kristi Jacobson…”
—Variety review by Eddie Cockrell
“Marvelous…Jacobson revives not just Toots, but what he stood for.. It’s a cinematic happy hour.”
—“Critics’ Pick”, New York Magazine
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“Jacobson’s nonfiction form also seems harmoniously entwined with her content… The film sidesteps easy idolization for something more endearing: a multifaceted character study that recognizes that success and failure are often byproducts of the very same impulses.”
—Slant Magazine
“Toasting Toots: a new film celebrates a sports bar where real athletes hung”
—Sports Illustrated
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“Director Kristi Jacobson, Shor’s granddaughter, crafts a GIN-SOAKED VALENTINE TO THE ERA, aptly described by one interlocutor as “a simpler time—not a more innocent time.”
—“Critics’ Picks,” Time Out NY Review
“Glorious…AN EVOCATIVE PORTRAIT of a vanished era…Jacobson’s portrait, while loving, does not shy away from dealing with the darker aspects of her subject’s life…”
—Hollywood Reporter Review, by Frank Scheck
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“Where Everybody knows your Name”
—NY SUN Review
“Jacobson’s camera seems to understand Toots better than he ever understood himself.”
—Gael Greene, The Insatiable Critic
