Customer Reviews

The Way It's Never Been Done Before: My Friendship with Marlon Brando

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This is a sad and poignant memoir and a fine companion piece to Brando's autobiography. I wondered while reading it why Mr. Englund wasn't mentioned by name in the autobiography, but that is made clear toward the end of Mr. Englund's work. A few comments regarding the handful of negative reviews on this site. Brando's legacy as a great actor is not diminished in any way by some of the brutal revelations regarding his personal life. Perhaps a few sordid details could have been left out but I never got the sense that they were thrown in out of a sense of animus directed at Brando. In fact what comes through repeatedly is the author's deep affection for his subject, a mutual bond that was forged through their shared misfortune at having self-absorbed and destructive fathers. To their credit they achieved great material and artistic success in spite of the psychological burdens they both stuggled with throughout their lives.
Now, as for the book itself. There is one chapter dealing with Mr. Englund's relation to his father that is absolutely riveting. Not only did I find it so but Brando himself was absorbed in this story, seeing as it touched on the same issues at the core of his own personality. There are also numerous other anecdotes that shed light on the main question: who is Marlon Brando, what is he really like when the veil of his movie star personna is lifted. In many respects it's a sad picture. It's the classic case of the mistreated child who grows up to perpetuate the wrongs that were once unfairly inflicted on him. As for his acting, he was able to overcome all obstacles and develop his great talent, though there's no doubt that the fuel that fired him was drawn from the well of his bitter early years.

After reading this book, I had to respect the author for surviving the friendship of Marlon Brando. With Brando's keen perception and ability to read people, he stripped friends and acquaintances of their defenses in record time. There is one part describing Marlon's encounter with a cop that is worth the price of the book by itself. The book is both amusing and sad but even the sad parts have a humorous side. I think Mr. Englund tells us more than we need to know about Brando's final days. This part is indeed plain spoken and it's a tribute to the author's writing skills that it was not offensive. For some reason, no matter what we read about Brando, it seems we admire him more. I think it has something to do with the fact he was real and human. And he comes across as both in this book written by his friend.

While their supposed friendship lasted for nearly fifty years, from 1956 to Brando's death in 2004 (with a noticeable break in the 1990's), I can't help feeling that all author George Englund wanted all these years was to earn information about Marlon so he one day would be able to write a book like this one. He claims that they were very close, and one would think he has a reason for saying so, inasmuch as the two talked about quite personal experiences and memories. But tell me: am I unfair to put to question whether a true, close friend would ever publish an intimate account on their relationship after the other's death, despite being well aware that the latter despised to be written about and analyzed in public?

George Englund's book THE WAY IT'S NEVER BEEN DONE BEFORE: MY FRIENDSHIP WITH MARLON BRANDO opens with some reflections from the author, written a few months before the actor's death. "Marlon is an old man. I both laugh and weep as I write the sentence. Marlon Brando old? It can't be true. It is, though; he is eigthy. But it isn't the number of years that's significant, Brando could still be youthful. It's how the years have treated him and how he has treated them." The book eventually covers the first meeting between George and Marlon, the opening of their film-company Pennebaker and the filming of a movie Englund directed which Brando starred in, the lesser known THE UGLY AMERICAN from 1963. Perhaps surprisingly to some, none of this information reveals anything significant about Brando as a man or actor; George nearly fell asleep during at the opening of Pennebaker Productions. Marlon ate too much while filming UGLY AMERICAN. He was wild about women. Thing is, it's "been done" numerous times before. Fortunately for Englund, this is what many people prefer to read about. He describes Brando's relationships with women in a tasteless way, giving the impression that he did not care a whoop about any of his sweethearts except if the setting was in bed. It is no secret that Brando could be a troublesome man at times. My point is just that we need not another account to remind us of that. We have all the tabloids and Peter Manso-book to do that job for us. Instead Englund could, as a "friend," provide us with some new insights into Brando's good qualities, which have been widely ignored ever since he became a star.

But that is not what he does. I don't know if Englund intended a book of this sort, but I find it not only downright disguisting but also completely unnecessary of him to present long excerpts of telephone conversations with Marlon which he'd taped through the years; I also wonder whatever I am to do with descriptions of a nurse cleaning the actor's rear end at a late point in his life, when he was in need of constant care.

But Englund has not reached his peak yet. What really leaves me convinced that the author is, frankly, just another footnote in Brando's life who, unsuccessful as he was, found it necessary to befriend a star in order to get some status, was when the topic of the Drollet-murder was brought up. (In 1990 Brando's son murdered his sister's boyfriend while heavily intoxicated.) Englund admits that he did not attend court during the trials and never got to watch any footage of it anywhere, but when he read in the newspapers that Marlon began to cry in court, he nevertheless knew Brando was lying: "he acted. But this wasn't the greatest actor of his time seizing everyone's imagination, this was a former champion, overweight, out of shape, sloppy with his technique."

Not quite as sloppy as yourself, George. You say that you intended this book as a gift for Marlon. Sweet of you. I still wonder, though; how comes it that you actually admits in your book that to write a book about Marlon was the biggest sin a friend could do to him? Do you consider yourself an exception? Or do you in the end realize what you really are? Brando said, several times, "My friends don't write books about me." In a well-published interview with Laurence Grobel, he stated, "["Friends who write books about me] weren't friends from the beginning." Englund furthermore insists that Marlon's true motive for writing his memoirs was not, as he claimed, his children's insecurities of him, but the money which such a book would gain him. All right: what was your motive behind this thing, George?

The ethical aspects apart, THE WAY IT'S NEVER BEEN DONE BEFORE is also a very flawed book on a technical basis. Although pretty well written literally, Englund moves from one time to another back and forward which I found to be very confusing at times. For example, he mentions one incident when he visited Marlon's house while the actor watched ON THE WATERFRONT on TV; it took me a while to figure out that this was at the end of his life.

A little final footnote: in the superb TCM-documentary on Brando in 2007, Englund was one to be interviewed. At one point, he recalls a story to which his wife corrects him, telling his story is not a truthful version. "Who cares about that?" he laughs, "this is Hollywood." In the end, THE WAY IT'S NEVER BEEN DONE BEFORE presents Marlon Brando as little more than a self-absorbed, womanizing, irresponsible money-hunter, but while he may have possessed some of these qualities to various degrees, the man who sent an Indian woman to refuse his Oscar due to the unjust treatment of Indians in America so very obviously consisted of much, much more. It is Englund himself who ends up in a bad light. Ironically perhaps but quite deservedly so.

When I heard that George Englund was writing about his 50 year friendship with actor Marlon Brando, my curiosity of course piqued. I have met several people who have related first hand life experiences with Mr. Brando and after the many stories I've heard, he still had remained an enigma to me and probably to his millions of fans around the world. In "The Way It's Never Been Done Before" Mr. Englund gives us a rare look into the personal life, which differs vastly from his public persona. I found the book to be fascinating. It should be a big seller.

Good book, but I have one major reservation:
In an interview, George Englund said he penned this account of Marlon Brando with, "Brando's dignity in my hand". So presumptively, Englund as a best friend wouldn't think to ever reveal personal information or details that Brando would have never wanted known, right? Isn't that what best friends are for?
Um, quite the contrary here: Englund's telling of Brando's last days were too dam detailed, at times vile and completely unnecessary. Surely, this is not what people want to remember of the revered legend.
I'm unafraid to say that I wept on the day Brando died like I had lost someone I knew and loved. For fans who really loved him a good portion of this thing -in excruciating pain from his disease and lying in helpless condition on a deathbed- you will find incredibly depressing. I'd recommend skipping some parts if you wanna keep the image of Brando the Almighty One intact.
Dark clouds away this was indeed a pure delight to pore through... when is the subject ever boring afterall? I was happy Mr.Englund released this very personal tale of his friendship with Brando I only wish the actor himself were still alive to admire even more.

George Englund's memoir of Marlon Brando is that, a memoir and far from a full-scale biography. It is a touching remembrance, filled with genuine affection for its subject, but not so much as to make the author blind to the shortcomings and warts of the greatest of all our film actors. In its affection it is a welcome departure from some of the more vicious tabloid-like portrayals of Brando--Peter Manso's biography comes to mind. At its best Englund's work is distinguished by some really beautiful interludes and gripping passages--his description of visiting his own absentee father after decades is especially moving. One senses that Englund believed he was privy to the whole of Brando, the insider of all insiders. His graphic description of Brando's last night is almost an exercise in trying to prove to himself, and us, how close he was to Brando. And it is a rare occurrence of Englund going perhaps too far. But for all that he was allowed to see, it is also apparent to the reader, if not to Englund himself, that Georgie was kept at arms length from various facets and compartments of his famous subject. There are dramatic and notable gaps in the book, and one gets the feeling that Englund's import as a macho and intellectual sidekick grew once Wally Cox died. It is perhaps too much to ask any single book to cover the whole of Brando--the subject is simply too complex. But this is a useful glimpse inside at least some aspects of Brando's life.

TERRIFIC READ!
I HAVE JUST READ A MESMERIZING BOOK ABOUT MARLON BRANDO. THE AUTHOR IS GEORGE ENGLUND...I'VE NOT HEARD OF ENGLUND BEFORE BUT THIE GUY CAN REALLY WRITE. I KNOW HOW INTERESTED YOU ARE IN BRANDO SO RUN,DON'T WALK, TO YOUR NEAREST BOOKSELLER AND GRAB A COPY. I KNOW YOU'LL LOVE IT

This book comes straight from the heart. As 3rd son of author George Englund, I, George Englund Jr. am closer my dad than anyone else. I grew up with Marlon and his children; Christian, Miko, and Cheyenne. I spent time with them all in Tahiti on his atoll and worked with Marlon on several projects directly and extensively.

Before giving my review on the book I must comment on the Publisher's Weakley review which misses the mark almost completely.

This book was intentionally non-chronological, is in no way an attempt to document Brando's career or establish his place in film history. That is another book which I truly hope my father writes and one for which he is eminently qualified.

GE Sr. was arguably Marlon's closest lifelong friend and this book is his truth about their relationship and his deepest most honest perception of who Marlon was. It was finished in an insanely compressed schedule after Marlon's death requiring the author to balance the bereavement of a lost best friend with the pressure of writing a serious comprehensive book with an extremely limited deadline. Contrary to the Publishers Weekly author, I found that Englund's take was consistently un-self centered and reflected the reality of their experiences. They are both spectacularly talented in different and similar ways.

The reviewer mentioned that GE Sr.s career was never fully developed....That is an ignorant statement. It was the opposite of an ego trip. The Publishers Weekly review claimed that the narration ruled out any multi-layered insight but their shared experiences illustrate a deep and complex picture of two highly unique guys sharing a rare set of experiences. Brando was accurately revealed in this book and Englund appropriately represented his role and stature.

Imagine if you had to write a book about your best friend, the greatest actor in the world, within 30 days of his death.

I'm a hard grader on my dad but I think he kicked ass on this one big time. It is honest, fair and balanced

Mr. Englund knew Brando very well, and even got to the point where he would call Brando on his bad behavior. The two of tem developed a film production company together, along with Marlon Brando Senior, and this association with one of Hollywood's top stars catapulted Mr. Englund into the world of the big leagues, where he became a film director. He was also married for a long time to the actress Cloris Leachman, who makes a few cameo appearances in the book but who doesn't seem to have half the affection for Brando that her husband did. Inevitably rumors arose that Brando and Englund were lovers, and Englund addresses these rumors right away, as though to ward off further contagion. He discusses an incident that took place when a cop began hassling Brando and Mr. Englund for sitting alone in a parked car off the side of the road. Usually when men do that, claimed the cop, they are "two males having sex." After they get rid of the cop, they laugh at him on page 20 and then Marlon asks Mr. Englund, "Ever done fruity?" Englund says he has nothing against it, just never wanted to do it. Brando addresses the rumors about himself and Wally Cox, etc. But Englund doesn't convince the reader that there was nothing sexual in their friendship. He denies it too much.

There's an amusing part where Englund and Leachman are chaperones on Brando's date with Anna Magnani. Magnani's all over Brando and can't keep her hands off his crotch, and he is terrified of her. "Cloris and I sat upright, like two Grant Wood figures." In this one instance Brando betrays a fear of women, elsewhere in the book he is the greatest Casanova in the 20th century, and Englund analyzes why in long, admiring paragraphs. Both Englund and Brando had father problems. Brando says that as a father, "he didn't care. He was an absentee landlord."

Sadly, both men's father difficulties carried over into the next generation. Brando's daughter Cheyenne killed herself, and his son turned out to be a killer. In Englund's case, his rebel boy Bryan dies a crack addict after breaking his parents' heart over and over again, while little Max died, not even a teen, of a degenerative muscle disease. Relating these terrible stories, Englund gives dimension to his portrait. I found them all very moving. Perhaps it is because Brando comes off as so selfish and self-absorbed that his fans don't care for this book. He is so full of himself and throws around his own considerable weight so often you wonder how anyone could put up with him. As for Englund, he comes off like a man who lived vicariously through the sex exploits of his famous chum, even if it meant kissing his ass for forty years.

The most revealing chapter is the one in which Brando wants to raise money by writing a memoir, and he charges Mr Englund with peddling it for him to the big NY publishers. Englund successfully sells the unwritten book to Harold Evans from Random House for $5,000,000. The ethics of the situation seem totally out of whack. Englund can't promise Evans that the book will be good or even written by Brando. Evans seems star struck. people wonder what's wrong with publishing, this is a good example of the catastrophic thinking of mainstream publishers. By the way, Brando had nothing good to say about Evans' wife, Tina Brown, calling her "self-promoting" and "sinister."

By the way, Englund directed some great little movies, including one of my alltime favorites SIGNPOST TO MURDER (maybe Joanne Woodward's greatest part). Why isn't this one on DVD?

George Englund's book is the product of 50 years of a friendship with Marlon Brando, the lives of two men and their families intertwined, loving and suffering through the best and worst times. His book portrays the pain and grief of loss, the exultation of success, and the double-edge of fame and reality. George's book goes beyond the commonplace biography, and digs down deep. I recommend reading it.