Customer Reviews

The Good, the Bad and the Dolce Vita: The Adventures of an Actor in Hollywood, Paris and Rome (Nation Books)

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I don't usually write reviews unless I am "blown away", or if I feel that the book is being unfairly ignored. In this case the latter is true...I found the book delightful, yes, a bit gossipy, but in a good way, there is no slander here.The anecdotes are charming ;this is a series of tales , of snapshots of an off-beat Hollywood life well lived.Unlike many other high profile memoirists of late, the narrator, although not lacking in self-esteem by any means- seems to have a realistic view of his own importance in the scheme of things.I appreciate that.I also found some of the glimpses of interactions with well known celebrities very insightful and telling -more sincere than I expected, sometimes it's better when the tales are told my someone in a less intimate position, the stories are told with less varnish.

Simply, I enjoyed the book ; anyone with an interest in movie making , Italy filmaking or 20th century Hollywood should

find something to appreciate in Mickey Knox's stories.

I got this book from my local library while looking for material on spaghetti westerns, after listening to NPR's interview with Christopher Frayling, and accidentally stumbled on this title. Having lived in italy for 17 years, in the same city where the author lived, and having shared time and space with other expats, I was particularly interested in his stories that occurred in Rome, Italy (I didn't go to the Cassia area often or the Overseas School of Rome, so I probably never played with the author's daughters, but did some dubbing at FonoRoma, so who knows, we might have crossed paths).

I enjoyed the terse pace ("she moved out with the children. Divorce number three"). This memoir could have been three times bigger, but maybe it is better this way. It got straight to the point. Typical Brooklyn jewish style. That's good.

As for the spaghetti westerns, I really enjoyed the description of the back-and-forth, push-and-pull, not-this-but-this events of daily life in the production of a film.

His description of his forays into film production italian-style reminds me of american musicians getting gigs in italy in the 70's, maybe getting paid or maybe not. In some ways, this book is the cinema version of what was going on in the music world.

A nice style in his writing is the back-flashbacks or the references to the future (30 years forward), all seeded in a thick webbing of the story.

A page turner, stayed awake into the night to finish it, and done with the last page, all I had in mind is: a good life, packed enough to talk about.