Alicia I love this movie so much

Scanialara You won't be disappointed!

CommentsXp Best movie ever!

Intcatinfo A Masterpiece!

lastliberal I was half way through with the new Hollywood issue of Vanity Fair when I came across the excerpt from Robert Evans new memoir "Kid Nortorius." I had not heard of Robert Evans, but was fascinated enough to get a copy of "The Kid Stays in the Picture" to learn more.I was glued to the tube watching the story of a man who had the incredible luck to get noticed. You all know the story of how some actress was discovered selling malteds in some drugstore. Evan was put into The Sun Also Rises. Both cast and crew, Ernest Hemingway, Tyrone Power, and Ava Gardner included, attempted to have Robert Evans fired during production. Producer Darryl F. Zanuck refused, saying, "The kid stays in the picture," thus leading to both Evans' long career as a producer and the title of his book, and this film.He knew he had no future as an actor, but he also knew that the power was in producing. he managed to get named a Vice President of Paramount in another stroke of luck. Then his talent took over and he is the man behind such memorable films as Rosemary's Baby, Love Story, The Godfather, Marathon Man, and his first as an independent producer, Chinatown. It is the story behind these films that is fascinating, especially the fact that he and Paramount were in on Love Story and The Godfather from the beginning - before they were even written! His story with directors Roman Polanski and Francis Coppola are equally fascinating.His own Love story with Ali McGraw is equally fascinating, though it ended in tragedy. But luck does a strange turn and tragedy really struck in the form of a Hollywood murder case where his name was mentioned. Not a suspect, just on the periphery, but it was enough to send him to the depths of hell - within a hair's breadth of suicide.It was his friends that brought him back to where he is today. Now, he is telling the rest of the story in a new Memoir, "Kid Nortorious".If you love films as I do, then you really need to see this one to provide a back story to some of your favorites. hey, you probably should be buying his books as well.

Poseidon-3 The rather astonishing career of whiz-kid studio head Evans is profiled in this flashy documentary. Evans narrates the film himself (in recordings taken from his audio-book version of his autobiography of the same name as this film) as film clips and enhanced still photos parade across the screen. He wastes no time on his own origins prior to his film career, beginning with his discovery in a swimming pool by legendary Hollywood actress Norma Shearer. His brief career in films is depicted (the title of this documentary comes from a mandate of Darryl F. Zanuck's referring to Evans' role in "The Sun Also Rises" after murmurings of his possible firing began to escalate.) He is then shown taking the reins of an almost defunct Paramount Pictures and working towards making it a top studio again. The roller-coaster ride continues as Evans faces drug problems and a troublesome connection to a murder. Evans has an ego that outdoes many of the most driven men in the movie business. His persona is larger than life, even more so in this documentary that has been put together based on material in his autobiography. The director never even bothers to include anyone else's take as Evans surges forward with his own commentary on his life and times. His foul-mouthed delivery may be off-putting to some viewers, but it's all part of his take-no-prisoners attitude. The film is beautifully put together with wonderful and inventive use of old photographs and plenty of rare footage from various sources (including some long gone talk shows.) The man's gloriously beautiful home is given a showcase as well and serves as home base for his many travails. Character-revealing anecdotes are provided about several folks including Mia Farrow and Ali MacGraw (who he hilariously refers to as "Snotnose".) Most amazing of all is the story of how he used a 20 minute self-produced film to convince the money men of Gulf-Western to not shut down Paramount when he was in the midst of trying to turn it around. As enjoyable as it is, it is hardly a fully accurate view of the man and he admits as much at the beginning when he states that there are three sides to every story, "Your side, my side and the truth". Oddly, he leaves out some of his marriages (especially the bizarre and brief union with Catherine Oxenberg) and notes "The Fiend Who Walked the West" as his last film appearance when it was actually as a loathsome cad in "The Best of Everything". (Interestingly, one of the pieces of artwork from Louis Jourdan's apartment in that film hangs in Evans' house now!) In any case, whether it's one-sided or not, it's a fascinating glimpse into the life and career of this maverick producer who contributed more than a few classics to Hollywood's history.

theprophet-2 ....is Robert Evans' balls clanking together. The man is simply a force of nature, and the film does a good job of telling his story. I'd recommend you also pick up the book--even better the audio version read by Evans himself--which covers a number of subjects that the book leaves out. The book gives more details about his relationship with Henry Kissenger, his marriage to Phylis George and the financial bath he took on the movie "Black Sunday". The book also goes into more detail on his friendship with Jack Nicholson. Evans is an American original. He's just a one-of-a-kind character, and the sort of maverick that today's business and formula driven Hollywood could use more of. Obviously the film (and the book) gives his life the spin he wants to put on it--like him taking credit for editing "The Godfather". To hear him tell the story, Coppola's original cut was unwatchable and it took his touch to make it into the classic it became. That's the nature of all autobiographies, though, and can't really be considered a flaw in the film (or the book). Anyway, I'm a sucker for films about the movie industry which made me like this even more. Just a very entertaining and well made movie about a fascinating individual.

James Owen It would be easy to criticise this documentary as a self-indulgent superficial exercise in egotism, but only if you choose the disengaged cynical view of the film. If you can alternatively sit back and enjoy an autobiographical Hollywood fairytale described by a seasoned storyteller who has been and there done it, who knows both the ugliness and the magic of movie-town, USA, you're in for a treat.The gloss, the glitz, the joy and self-recrimination, it's all seldom been so intimately communicated in film. Dismiss any notion that it's vapid story-light Entertainment Now celebrity pap and rent it out.8 out of 10.