Customer Reviews

Kid Stays in the Picture

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Bob Evans. What a guy. I must admit I loved this book. It is pure gossip and not exactly Dickens. But, Evans is completely honest and his own harshest critic. He tells fantastic stories (was there a woman in Hollywood he did not date between 1950 and 1980?). He takes responsiblity for the many, many mistakes in his life and spins fantastic yarns. Toward the end, it can be a bit annoying reading about how once again, he made the right choice and get railroaded by justice, but at the same time, you care about him. Those amazingly honest stories (particularly about his destruction of his marriages--the story on Phyllis George is a hoot) make the book even more interesting. A must read for film fans and anyone interested in one of our more fascinating Americans. Who else would tell stories about Jack, Warren, and Henry Kissinger? It ends in 1994, before his stroke and bizarre 10 day marriage to Catherine Oxenberg (and his highly medicore movies of the last 7 years or so); but that is nomatter. You'll want to hang at Woodland with Evans by the end. You might even be using "the kid stays in the picture" as your own mantra. Then again, maybe not. Just find a copy and read it.

In "The Kid Stays in the Picture", legendary movie producer Robert Evans tells the story of his tumultuous but undeniably exciting life. The son of a Harlem dentist, a teenaged playboy, Evans was the man who put women in pants -Evan Piccone pants- before he ever set foot in Hollywood. A chance meeting by the pool at the Beverly Hill Hotel in 1956 made him a hot young actor. 10 years later, the failed actor without even a high school diploma was head of production at Paramount Pictures. Under Evans' reign, Paramount went from dead last number nine to the top studio in Hollywood, producing some of the 1970s most memorable films: "Rosemary's Baby", "Chinatown", and "The Godfather", and "The Odd Couple". Then things got bad. Then things got worse. But Robert Evans remains in the picture in Hollywood.

Robert Evans' account of his personal and professional up and downs strikes me as an honest one. He certainly doesn't spare himself criticism or hide his faults. He was a good producer and a terrible businessman. He was blessed with extraordinary luck, a lot of talent, and a gambler's lack of discipline. Like most autobiographers, Evans takes this opportunity to blast his enemies and praise his friends. Francis Ford Coppola is on the receiving end of Evans' wrath. Considering that Evans knew everybody who was anybody in Hollywood at one time, and considering the length of this book, I'm surprised he doesn't blast more people. -Well, he does, but not as thoroughly. The only criticism I have of Evans' writing style is that he doesn't include many dates. Evans doesn't tell his life story in chronological order. It reads well and is easy to understand. But trying to place the events in order in one's mind can be difficult. If he mentioned the year every time he changed subjects, it would have been helpful. As he states in the book's preface, "There are three sides to every story: yours...mine...and the truth." "The Kid Stays in the Picture" is Robert Evans' life as he experienced it. It's entertaining, enlightening, and a must-read for anyone interested in Hollywood of the 1970s.

Evans tells it all, and it is all true about the inner workings of Hollywood, and his rise, fall, and plateau within the film industry. Evans, a man with virtually no production or business experience, along with the help of Peter Bart, then a New York Times Columnist, saved the Paramount Studio from becoming extinct. Their work persuaded Gulf and Western to keep the studio alive. Under their tenure, such films as Love Story, The Godfather, Rosemary's Baby, Chinatown, and the Odd Couple helped to bring Paramount back in business. Evans' account is a great historical romp on his superhero excess and success in Hollywood. As a 'Renaissance Man', he describes how he also started the Evan Picone fashion company with his brother. His life will teach many lessons to youngsters who are 'wet-behind the ears' and desire to work in the film business. Evans doesn't crucify people in his book like Julia Phillips does in hers. Evans tells the truth on how Hollywood can make you a hero for a year, and a vagrant the next. Evans' text indirectly warns readers of the dangers of excess.

In many biographies, the authors try to explain why they were mis-judged and cast stones on the people making the accusations. Well, Robert Evans does some of that. But, to his credit, he casts dispersions on himself for his mistakes. Evans is a billiant producer, and when you listen to this book in his signature gravely voice, complete with expletives, you'll walk away (or drive away if you're listening in your car) with an incredible understanding of how Hollywood works. And...with some good advice for life in general. "You don't learn from your mistakes. You learn from what you did right." It's the kind of book you want to listen to more than once.

This recounting of an amazing life story reads like fiction - and Evans has the voice for it. Every anecdote has you wide eyed in amazement - the tapes last 6 hours and not for a minute are you bored.

Is this the best book ever?
Not a chance.

Will you enjoy it?
You bet your ass.

Does Robert Evans skip over the embarrassing details of his life?
Sure some of them.

Does he talk out of both sides of his mouth?
Yeah well who doesn't.

Does he say he isn't about to talk about his sexual escapades then say he is sure he "scored" better than Warren Beatty?
Yeah.

Is the audiobook they way to this book?
Absolutely.

Does Evans do credible impressions of Jack Nicholson, Cary Grant, and other Hollywood figures?
I have to say yes.

Does he like to ask rhetorical; questions then answer them?
Yup.

Robert Evans is the baddest boy in Hollywood, and if there's a shred of reticence or shame in his personality, he's keeping it well-hidden. If you like celebrity dish and are not offended by the flagrant vulgarity of Evans' self-told tales, there isn't a Tinseltown story better than this one.

If Evans was assigned a copy editor to work over the manuscript, he or she must have simply thrown up their hands and let him rip. This stream-of-semi-consciousness story runs away like an eighteen-wheeler with no brakes.

Unlike Julia Phillips, whose memoir, "You'll Never Eat Lunch in This Town Again," spits acid in the faces in practically everyone but herself, Evans isn't particularly nasty about other people. His most unspeakable stories are told about himself, as though he can't bear to share the spotlight--not surprising, considering how tiny and unremarkable his career as an actor turned out to be. (Life most closely imitates art when Evans plays the caddish Dexter Key in the film version of Rona Jaffe's "The Best of Everything." In the book--though not in the movie, heavens, not in the '50s!--Dexter takes his bewildered small-town sweetheart to a New Jersey abortionist in a limousine. He's just that Evansy kind of guy.)

Evans is unabashedly proud of his many, many lapses from grace, both professional and personal. The only tedium in "The Kid Stays in the Picture" comes from his (yawn) innumerable sexual conquests, which all sound the same after awhile. Leaf past those and focus on Evans' rise to preeminence as a producer in the film industry in the '70s, making some of its very best movies, including "Chinatown" and "The Godfather."

In Dominick Dunne's novel, "An Inconvenient Woman," the coke-snorting, career-in-a-tailspin producer Casper Stieglitz is reportedly based on Evans. However, Evans didn't really have a toupee for each day of the month, with lengths ranging from just-barbered to needs-a-haircut. "I made that part up," Dunne said. But after reading "The Kid Stays in the Picture," Evans' excesses appear so legendary that one is forced to admit that Dunne's little fib might just as well have been true.

Part of my weakness for this lusciously tacky book comes from the fact that the copy I own used to belong to Peter Bogdanovich. His name is rubber-stamped all over it, and the flyleaf bears Evans' lavish inscription, "Peter-- Let's make magic together!" The dealer who sold it to me said that Bogdanovich unloaded his library during one of the many times that he ran short of ready cash.

Just another Hollywood story. But even in paperback, this book is a substance-free indulgence, unless you're in a twelve-step program declaring that you are powerless against the temptation to read trash. "The Kid Stays in the Picture" is a no-cal, fat-free, smokeless treat.

Robert Evans has often been described as a drug-addled high-powered Hollywood player, mostly by comedians who have nothing to fear from him. That's how I first heard about this bio, from Patton Oswalt and Bob Odenkirk, and a few other mentions.

Let me dispel the misconception first: the stories talked about were nowhere near as decadent as Patton made them out to be. Sure there were some amazing encounters (most might actually be true as well), but Bob Evans wasn't a sex-zombie, he was working 18-hour days just trying to keep Paramount functioning. Did that involve a lot of coke? Probably, but he doesn't harp on it.

In the book, the man is often self-effacing, but always confident. He admits when he's wrong, and things turned out the way he wanted only about half the time.

You learn about his start as a boxer and struggling actor, his failures and his successes. The guy is even-handed and he's never petty. The major arc of the work is Evans recounting a period of time where Paramount was resurrected through his own actions.

6:06:11 is the runtime, so I'll say it's unabridged, and Evans speaks the whole thing himself after the introduction by Peter Bart of Variety.

If you have any interest in the inner-workings of Hollywood, if you listened to the Godfather's DVD commentary (or any DVD commentary for that matter), if you have a CD player and ears, you should listen to this book.

Ok. He's a bit self-absorbed. But that's what you expect of Robert Evans. "The Kid Stays In the Picture" is an interesting book about his rise and fall from fame. It is similar to Rikki Lee Travolta's "My Fractured Life" with not quite the same writers flair. It's still interesting though. At times Evans muddles in his self-aggrandizing, but eventually he gets back on path. If you enjoyed "My Fractured Life" "Hollywood Animal" and "Postcards From the Edge" you should enjoy this one too.

This autobiography is a wonder to behold and a story of so many highs and lows you wonder how one person can be so talented, lucky and unlucky, a cad and a loving father, a lover and a steel-hearted scion. You will read about an interesting life in spades where there is action on every single page. A page turner if there ever was one. I raved so much about it that, now, my wife is starting it.