Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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44 of 44 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
'For its Existential Angst', September 22, 2002
Just replace the word 'Wanderer' with 'Philosopher' throughout this book and you will get the idea of what the author is unconsciously trying to say. The autobiography WANDERER (c.1963, 2000) by Sterling Hayden, is a narrative written in the first and third person of a man who became enamoured with working sail at an early age, and in its pursuit, acquired a multitude of diverse life experiences few people have achieved, and/or, depending on your viewpoint, would want.The author has compiled a litany of accomplishment simply by writing about the lifestyle he loved best. Sterling Hayden was a dory fisherman in the Grand Banks as a teenager; captained a two masted brig from Boston to Tahiti at age 22; he then became one of the youngest Master Mariners at age 24; sailed around the world twice; sailed to Tahiti several times; was the protege of the top men in his field such as: Robert O. White (Instrument Maker); Irving Johnson, Lincoln Colcord, and Ben Pine. He was also a mate on board the Gloucesterman 'Gertrude L. Thebaud' in its historic race against the big Canadian saltbanker'Bluenose'. He dined with the President of the United States; became a movie star; married a movie star; starred in two Stanley Kubrick productions; became wealthy and became broke; was an enlisted man then a Marine Corp officer; test-ran some of the first PT boats for the U.S. Navy; became an intelligence officer in the Balkans during W.W.II with the nascent O.S.S. and met with its founder 'Wild Bill' Donovan; and testified before the Senate Committee investigating un-American activities in Hollywood. Even from his best jobs Sterling Hayden would willingly descend down the social ladder as drifter, vagabond, and working sailor, because to him they were all interchangeable. Taking his natural abilities and high innate intelligence for granted, Sterling Hayden essentially gravitated to the forefront of every occupation he fell into, and didn't know why. This is one source for the author's angst, that is, his unconscious attraction to the elite, and then when excelling in that particular field with a talent he is unaware and doesn't understand, developed a mental fugue and leaves. Such is the nature of the existentialist who collects life experiences to build his character rather than material goods to increase his mercantile wealth. Sterling Hayden measured his wealth in a different way and just as a rich man might judge a man who lacked money, Sterling Hayden judged men throughout WANDERER who lacked character. Yet Hayden fled from a broken home and his nomadic existence and unstable environment came with a price; the author suffered from alcoholism, depression, conflict, obsessive guilt, and anxiety neurosis. His autobiography is tinged with regret. But Sterling Hayden's autobiography is valuable for the first hand view of Grandbanks fishing schooners during the 1930s; the actual terminology of the fishermen he represents; his first hand accounts of depression era Boston - his experiences in East Boston and South Boston, his employment with fisherman on Boston's old 'T' wharf; and his friendship with Lawrence Patrick Joseph O'Toole (of the South Boston O'Tooles) who pushed Hayden into his acting career; and Hayden's account of Hollywood agents and 'B' movie contracts. The autobiography WANDERER by Sterling Hayden, should be required reading in any philosophy, sociology, psychology, or political science course; and it also makes fascinating reading of the interesting life of a complicated man.
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35 of 35 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Embarrassingly Good, April 27, 2004
I bought my copy of "The Wanderer" when it was first published in 1964, because Sterling Hayden was one of my favorite actors. I especially enjoyed his work in The Asphalt Jungle, Johnny Guitar, The Killing, Suddenly, and Terror in a Texas Town, among others. Now, 40 years later I have decided to reread the book, and I forgot how good it was. The central theme of the book is Hayden's escape from Hollywood, with his young children in tow, on the schooner for which the book is named. He made this voyage to the south seas against orders of the court, who considered it too dangerous for the children. As he tells of this less than idyllic voyage, he intersperses fragments of his life, concentrating mostly on his late teens and twenties when he was a working seaman. He is very stylistic in his writing, and sometimes his switching from first to third person narrative is quite jarring, but the effect is emotionally charging. As he ages into his thirties and beyond, Sterling finds his life falling apart. He becomes a Hollywood heart throb and detests his work and lifestyle. He becomes a Communist for a few months, but never really gets with the program, and to save his hated career, he goes before the HUAC and bares his soul and names names, an action he quickly and forever regretted. He seesaws between impotency and affairs, he can't communicate with the women he loves, he struggles with no notable success with psychotherapy, he finds his life adrift with no anchor in sight. All of these travails he lays out with such frankness, I felt embarassed for him. Hayden holds nothing back as he displays his warts and finds no joy in his life, except with his children. Does he simply settle, or does he come to some kind of compromise he can live with? I hope it's the latter, because after all his trials he deserves it. But I feel it is the former. Yet, shortly after the book is completed, he films one of his most important roles as Jack Ripper in "Dr. Strangelove." I won't wait 40 years to read this book again.
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"Wanderer" - the title says it all, June 8, 2000
By A Customer
I genuinely enjoyed this book. It is an unapologetic autobiography by a complex and sensitive person. I picked it up because I enjoyed Sterling Hayden as an actor, I put it down respecting him as a human. In my opinion, he is not telling his story because he is looking for approval or justification, he is writing the truth about himself, as he perceives it, as an exercise in self-understanding. Enough said, I will not continue to presume to speak for someone who speaks so eloquently for himself.
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