El chico que conquistó Hollywood

Documentaries are a dime a dozen, and I've seen my share. Being the type of person who would watch a documentary on anything, I was excited to catch this film about a man who has had one hell of a career in Hollywood. I knew I would find the subject matter interesting, but was completely surprised at how much I enjoyed the way the story was presented.

The Kid Stays In The Picture is the story of Robert Evans, told in Evans' words and narrated by Evans himself. His amazing career highs and lows are detailed in fantastic cinematic fashion, utilizing photographs and film clips from Evans' acting, then producing career while accompanied by Evans' enrapturing narration. The stories told by Evans were so effective and interesting that it could have been overlaying a blank screen and would have riveting. He is truthful, arrogant and most importantly, self-deprecating. He isn't afraid to admit the mistakes he made in his career, which is a refreshing turn from so many self-serving documentaries.

If anything, this film is worth watching for two scenes: When Evans tells the story of his near-suicidal moments that are harrowing in itself, but is accompanied by appropriate images from some of the films he produced. The other is during the final credits, when you see Dustin Hoffman do an incredible and hilarious impersonation of Evans on the phone. I certainly hope that Evans was proud of the way this documentary portrayed him, and should be commended in the way he portrayed himself.

--Shelly

THE KID STAYS IN THE PICTURE (2002) **** Fascinating and wildly entertaining documentary by Nanette Burstein and Brett Morgen on legendary Hollywood film producer Robert Evans – based on his notorious best-selling autobiography – of his rise from poolside discovery by Norma Shearer as a fledgling B actor to his successful climb atop Paramount Studios upper echelon and responsible for green lighting many of The Golden Age of the Seventies blockbusters (i.e. `Love Story', `The Godfather', & `Chinatown' to name three) to his disdain as an industry pariah involving cocaine and murder. Evans' unique sangfroid mixed with charm, chutzpah and a movie lovers' contempt for those who ‘just don't get it' wields a strong hold in his story and the wonderful cinematic ingenuity of making photo stills into diorama-like animation is used smartly as well as allowing its subject to pontificate without utterly destroying his self-made rakish image. One of the best indie docus down the pike in some time and a valentine for those who like their gossip with popcorn.

Robert Evans's book version of this documentary, The Kid Stays in the Picture, is still un-read by me. But I have read much about him from other movie books from the 70's, and so this film does illuminate certain aspects of him that I already knew- his huge ego, his drug addiction, his proclivity to lots and lots of women, and having some part in the more outstanding films of the 1970's. Sometimes with Evans himself narrating throughout two things become apparent as peculiarities that keep it from being great- 1) the filmmaker's style is rather repetitive and, aside from some flourishes of talent, isn't anything too grand for the material, and 2) the three sides to the story that Evans is quoted with at the beginning become rather blurred as one full-on nostalgia (for bad and good) comes out. What makes it captivating, however, is that Evans is the kind of guy who will be honest about being full of crap and will even call on himself for his past troubles. Rarely has one man's achievements gone neck and neck with his flaws, and let out in a filmic, grandiose style such as this.

Evans is shown to have, basically, a lot of luck as someone getting into Hollywood (as many of these stories go). He starts out as a so-so actor and tries desperately to establish himself as a producer. He becomes more apart of the development side of the pictures, and ushers through Rosemary's Baby, Love Story, and even the Godfather to an extent. As his story includes the personal side (his rise and fall in the relationship to Ali McGraw, the cocaine, the other tabloid stuff), the other side of his professional accomplishments still gears in for room. By the end, one can see that the man has gone through enough to have his rightful reputation as Paramount's longest remaining producer, and will likely hold onto his ego of being the head-cheese kind of 'creative producer' so many directors like or dread till the grave. If anything, the film is actually too short, as at 93 minutes (a brilliant Dustin Hoffman imitation over the credits included) we only get glimpses that are further expounded in the book. Therefore its already subjective viewpoint becomes even more crunched into one all-too-simple story on such an interesting case study.

The Kid Stays in the Picture, despite not being as terrific as the filmmakers might think it is by their sleek camera angles and typical interludes of montage, is as close to being as honest as it could be. Honest, in the sense that Evans doesn't hide much in his story and how his own way of speaking about it, in its deep-sounding and straight-forward Hollywood way, is what film buffs look for. He may have been and done a lot of things, but as he says at the end, "I enjoy what I do, which most people can't say that they do."

"The Kid Stays in the Picture" is a must-see for any person who's interested in movies and their making. This funny and exciting documentary tells the larger than life story of Robert Evans, "discovered" by Norma Shearer swimming in a hotel pool in 1956, who went to become a ham actor and soon afterwards, an extremely successful producer, who took Paramount studios from 9th to first in Hollywood in less than a decade. The man behind legendary films such as "The Godfather", "Chinatown", "Harold and Maude", "Love Story", "Marathon Man" and "Rosemary's Baby", Evans dated beautiful women (he was once married to "Love Story" star Ali MacGraw) and was obsessed with his goals (and he often succeeded, being responsible for some of the biggest hits of his time), what turned him Hollywood royalty and voted the world's most eligible bachelor. With one scandal involving his name, drugs and a murder, though, his career was ruined and he lost almost everything he had. But he came back, and "The Kid Stays in the Picture" explores his fascinating saga with the witty, cynical narration of Evans himself, never being too self-indulgent. Evans himself admits he was no angel. But then again, who is? Michael Moore's "Bowling for Columbine" deserved to win the Best Documentary Oscar back in 2002, but the absence of "The Kid Stays in the Picture" among the nominees is more outrageous than Evans' story itself. 9.5 out of 10.

Legendary Hollywood producer Robert Evans narrates the story of his own life. His movie career started in 1956 at the poolside of the Beverly Hills Hotel. He gets a few movie roles. In 'The Sun Also Rises' (1957), Ernest Hemingway telegrams Darryl F. Zanuck to get rid of Evans with most of the cast's support. Zanuck proclaims "The Kid Stays in the Picture. And anybody who doesn't like it can quit." After an unimpressive acting career, he joins Charlie Bluhdorn whose company Gulf+Western Corporation purchased the failing studio Paramount Pictures. After a string of films such as Rosemary's Baby, Love Story and The Godfather, it had become the biggest studio. He then goes on to produce Chinatown after which his marriage to Ali MacGraw ends. It's also the start of the darker times. He starts doing cocaine. Some film failures such as 'The Cotton Club', and being connected in the murder of Roy Radin would send him out of the studio that he rebuild.

The stories are better than fiction. The name dropping and the movie connections are epic. It starts with Mia Farrow and Frank Sinatra. Through it all, there is the gruff voice of Robert Evans. It's hypnotic. As he falls down the rabbit hole, it becomes even personal. The addition of his movies to portray his life gives such a surreal touch. It is movie magic. One also has the sense that this is an old man telling his tales. Like all such instances, one must take these stories with a grain of salt. It is nevertheless epic.