Themes: Big Break, Hotshots, Rise and Fall Stories
Main Cast: Robert Evans
Release Year: 2002
Country: US
Run Time: 93 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Robert Evans' rise from second-string actor (who really was discovered while lounging by the pool at the Beverly Hills Hotel) to head of one of Hollywood's biggest movie studios is told from the viewpoint of Evans himself in this documentary, adapted from his autobiography (and featuring Evans' own narration). In 1957, Evans had already achieved success in the garment business when actress Norma Shearer spotting him at poolside and suggested he should play her late husband, legendary producer Irving Thalberg, in the movie Man of a Thousand Faces. While Evans knew he wasn't cut out to be an actor, he discovered he liked the movie business, and after becoming a film industry executive, Evans was named head of production at Paramount in the late '60s. Under Evans' leadership, Paramount produced such classics as Rosemary's Baby, Love Story, and The Godfather. He also married actress Ali McGraw; however, McGraw left Evans for Steve McQueen after they starred together in The Getaway. After leaving Paramount to become a producer (and racking up hits like Chinatown and Marathon Man), Evans' golden touch began to elude him; an arrest for drugs seemed to put an end to his career, until he made a comeback as a freelance producer in the 1990s on such films as Sliver and The Saint. Part of the narration for The Kid Stays in the Picture was drawn from the book-on-tape version of Robert Evans' autobiography of the same name, which featured Evans reading his own work; the audio book has developed a cult following of its own, and legend has it Dustin Hoffman based his performance in Wag The Dog on Evans' reading style on the tape. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Review
Since Robert Evans' fingerprints were all over everything he touched during a meteoric rise through Hollywood, it's no surprise that the film version of his autobiography was both narrated and thoroughly controlled by the colorful egomaniac. As a result, The Kid Stays in the Picture relegates directors Brett Morgen and Nanette Burstein (On the Ropes) to the role of window dressers, not the probing interpreters they might have been if filming an unauthorized piece, a la Nicholas Broomfield's Kurt & Courtney. But since there would be no movie without Evans' juicy book, and since the mogul's exhibitionism knows no bounds -- including a willingness to expose sordid rehab episodes and cast doubt upon himself -- this is an acceptable sacrifice. The result is a funny, clever entry into a rich era of film history, by way of one its most attractive and powerful figures. And what window dressing -- Morgen and Burstein adopt a vivid format for presenting the snippets of newspaper and behind-the-scenes footage that chart Evans' journey from poolside dreamer to chief of Paramount Pictures to scandalous burnout. Static still photographs burst with vitality thanks to a device that gives them a third dimension, with each picture element floating on its own plane. The collection of materials on hand indicates some pretty thorough scrounging by Morgen, Burstein and Evans. A standout is the desperate plea Evans filmed to dissuade Paramount's board of directors from closing the studio; in a trademark moment, his suave confidence utterly overcame them. Evans doesn't censor his thoughts on his industry associates, least of all the women in his life, so this is a delicious inside treat with real laughs and genuine, dissociated insight. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide
Christopher Keene - Associate Producer, Kate Driver - Co-producer, Chris Garrett - Co-producer, Sara Marks - Co-producer, Nanette Burstein - Director, Brett Morgen - Director, Jun Diaz - Editor, Jeff Danna - Composer (Music Score), John Bailey - Cinematographer, Nanette Burstein - Producer, Brett Morgen - Producer, Graydon Carter - Producer, Claude Letessier - Sound/Sound Designer, Brett Morgen - Screenwriter, Robert Evans - Book Author
The eclectic and wide-ranging soundtrack to The Kid Stays in the Picture is as much a trip through the highs and lows of producer Robert Evans' life and career as it is a trip through late-20th century music history. Consequently, even those who haven't seen Brett Morgen and Nanette Burstein's fascinating feature -- or read the colorful 1994 autobiography on which it was based -- are sure to find something to enjoy (although the film really should be seen by anyone with even the slightest interest in American cinema). Over half the tracks are instrumental pieces composed by Jeff Danna (0, Green Dragon) that capture significant events, like the castanet-laden "The Sun Also Rises," a reference to the 1957 Hemingway adaptation in which Evans played a matador -- against the wishes of everyone except Darryl F. Zanuck, who famously exclaimed, "The kid stays in the picture!" -- and the ominous "Cocaine/Murder," a reference to the period in the 1980s when it all fell apart for the handsome, debonair gentleman who seemingly had it all during the previous decade (money, power -- Ali MacGraw). The rest of the 25-track selection includes evocative numbers like Irving Berlin's tender "What'll I Do," Michel Legrand's kicky "Di-Gue-Ding-Ding," which captures the Swinging Sixties in an appropriately Day-Glo fashion, and Francis Lai's lush "Theme from Love Story," which should be instantly familiar to the tearstained millions who made this Evans production one of the biggest box office hits of the 1970s. A bonus track, "Love Theme from The Godfather," features Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash adding some heavy metal thunder to Nino Rota's instrumental classic. ~ Kathleen C. Fennessy, All Music Guide
Emmanuel Chamboredon (Executive Producer), Jeff Danna (Arranger), Jeff Danna (Score Producer), Brad Haehnel (Engineer), Brad Haehnel (Mixing), Ian P. Hierons (Executive Producer), Andrew Lockington (Orchestration), Jodi Tack (Art Direction), Anita Serwacki (Music Supervisor), Keith Walner (Executive Producer)
The book chronicles Evans' rise from childhood to radio star to film star to production chief of Paramount Pictures to independent producer, his marriage to Ali MacGraw and his downfall including his 1980 Cocaine bust and implication in the murder of Roy Radin, aka "The Cotton Club Murder" and his banishment from Paramount Pictures, and his return to the studio in the early 1990s.
A revised edition of the book, published in 1995, adds several chapters of new material, including material on his projects after his return to Paramount Pictures.
Evans makes a significant point to often mock Austrian-born Charles Bluhdorn the self-made millionaire who built conglomerate Gulf and Western and purchased Paramount just prior to hiring Evans.
Many elements from the book, according to the commentary by directors Burstein and Morgen on the DVD, such as Evans' childhood and his other marriages (the film focuses only on his marriage to Ali MacGraw) were dropped because they felt that it did not move the story along.
The title comes from a line attributed to studio head Darryl F. Zanuck, who was defending Evans after some of the actors involved in The Sun Also Rises had recommended he be removed from the cast.
