The Kid Stays in the Picture (2002)

Once upon a time in Hollywood...

This documentary about the rise and fall and comeback of film producer Robert Evans is a must for anyone who loves movies and is interested in their history. The film is based on Evans's own book and he provides the narration as well. His weary, gravelly voice provides authenticity and I wouldn't change it, but I did switch on the sub-titles after a while because his idiosyncratic vocal rhythms are sometimes hard to follow. (Don't miss Dustin Hoffman's hilarious impersonation of him during the closing credits.) The filmmakers add moving elements and faux 3-D effects to still photographs for an innovative visual look. Evans's versions of events differs that those of many other concerned parties, but he tells an involving story. September 8, 2007

BOB -WE'RE GLAD YOU STAYED IN THIS PICTURE!

This is not your typical Hollywood documentary by any means. Its as vibrant and stylised as Robert Evans himself. A unique,brilliant and volatile force of nature that Hollywood doesn't produce anymore. His story is the stuff that dreams and nightmares are made of. And if you stay with this picture you'll see both and then some. From a short mediocre acting career to the heights of movie moguldom at Paramount, its a warts and all look at Evans' Hollywood narrated by the man himself.

THE KID STAYS IN THE PICTURE manages to be both entertaining and educational. Profound and profane and hardly suitable for "This Is Your Life" as so many legends from old Hollywood were remembered. Evans gets his iconic life interlocked with the very iconic movies he created. "Rosemary's Baby", "Love Story", "The Godfather" to "Chinatown and "The Cotton Club", to name just a few. Paramount Pictures was the first Hollywood studio to be bought by a conglomerate. For Evans it was perfect timing, as he tells it in the picture but even better and more to the point, as documented in Gus Russo's book "Supermob" (also available on Amazon). It wasn't just perfect timing, but having the right friend to recommend you to the powers that be. He's briefly mentioned in the picture, but when it comes to power inside of Hollywood and out of it, Sidney Korshak is the man who takes care of business. But thats another story.

The producers could have easily found a thousand people to talk about Bob, but then that would have made it just another routine fluffy biography. As Evans is quoted at the very beginning "There are three sides to every story. Your side. My side. And the truth". With this story thankfully, its not always easy to tell the sides apart. And thats what makes a great picture! September 7, 2007

Unique doc about memorable Hollywood player

The opening quote in The Kid Stays in the Picture states that there are three truths to every tale; Yours, Mine and The Truth, that none are wrong, and memory serves all differently. That's a paraphrase.
The quote is essential to this unique doc, about the sudden rise and precipitous fall of producer Robert Evans, and his current reassurgance. The quote is apt because, in narrating his own life story we get one of the three truths, and that truth is quite entertaining.
Director's Nanette Burstein & Brett Morgen use none of the standard doc interviews, no filmed footage, and little archived stuff, but mostly stills and pans of various environments that Evans lived in.
I value the doc for a character study and a history of Hollywood from someone who was in the trenches. It's one-sidedness is it's best and worst part. No Ali McGraw, no Coppola, no Nicholson, no Polanski, no Gulf+Western folks, etc. Evans is a hell of a showman, and a distinctly engrossing figure, from his look to his attitude to his wisdom.
But Dustin Hoffman ends up stealing the film, at the last minute, over the credits, with a hilarious imitation, filmed during Marathon Man, one of several gag reels filmed in Evan's honor during the making of the 1976 film.


August 19, 2007

What a Character!

Robert Evans has had a more interesting life than any character in his movies, and that is no small feat considering Evans is the man who produced Love Story, Chinatown, the Godfather and many other blockbusters and classics.

This film is a fantastic portrait of an almost incredible man, one that anyone --even those who are not particularly interested in Hollywood-- will enjoy. A spectacular documentary! Highly recommended.
February 20, 2007

THE ONE AND ONLY ROBERT EVANS

Robert Evans is a creation that could only be conjured up in hollywood. The career this guy has had is nothing short of amazing. It just goes to show you how far looks, charm, and more that a little bullsh#t can take you. I loved this DVD, I mean Evans has no shame and he is what he is and you have to admire the guys candor, i mean he may be a world class as#hole, but he does it with such aplomb and you have to love the fact he is the only white man on earth as tan as George Hamilton, how each of them hasn't succombed to melanoma is beyond me. Highly recommended. September 24, 2006

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