The Kid Stays In The Picture Movie Review:


Robert Evans is an icon of Hollywood history, whether one likes him or not. Some consider Evans too controversial or a devil, while others consider him misunderstood or a saint.

Evans' story is now told in an excellent documentary film based on his memoir novel of the same name called The Kid Stays in the Picture. The film opens with telling the luck that Evans had of going from women's pants dealer to lead actor in a short time. Then he amazingly becomes vice president of Paramount Pictures, and helps bring the studio from the rank of number 9 in power, to being number 1 in the industry. The title of the film refers to the line that legendary producer Darryl F. Zanuck stated to his cast and crew of the film The Sun Also Rises (1957), after there was heated debates of keeping Evans, an actor at the time, out of a role in the film. Evans refers to the statement as the moment that he decided he wanted to be a producer. The film leads the audience through the chronicles of his life, which includes his successful film productions like Rosemary's Baby (1968), Chinatown (1974), The Godfather (1972), Love Story (1970), The Odd Couple (1968) and Urban Cowboy (1980). Evans, himself, narrates the film, which I found to be a very good decision. I honestly don't believe every single thing Evans' states in the film, but it is his own side of it. His crusty voice becomes hard to follow in the first 20 minutes, but it becomes flowing as the film moves on. Evans not only speaks of his successes, but also his failures, such as the love of his life (actress Ali MacGraw) leaving him for Steve McQueen, his differences with Francis Ford Coppola, as well as his involvement with cocaine and murder suspicions.

The Kid Stays in the Picture has an overall great flow as it goes through 50 years of Evans' life in the Hollywood industry. The filmmakers, Brett Morgen and Nanette Burstein, obviously could not fit everything about Evans into the film, but both are sharp documentary filmmakers. Over Evans' narration, the screen is covered with still sots, news clippings, and past television interviews of Evans and his life. There is never an actual interview with Evans himself about the film itself. It is a total memoir of Evans, so beyond the controversy, there are no interviews with DEA agents, former Paramount executives, Francis Ford Coppola, or Evans' beloved friends, Dustin Hoffman and Jack Nicholson. The filmmakers craftily visualize Evans' productions deals and development through still shots and media outlets to help tells the life story. Another aspect that the filmmakers use to make the documentary unique, is the sound effects and visual effects through the still shots. An example is in a photo of Evans' and a cup of coffee; steam is heard and seen rising off the cup. The directors also use a lot of pan and scanning through the photos to create conversations between Evans' and his encounterments.

The Kid Stays in the Picture is a very well done documentary film that is not only vivid, but also totally entertaining. I have not seen too many documentaries in my lifetime, but this is one of the best I have seen outside of Hoop Dreams (1994). The two documentary filmmakers do an outstanding job of telling the story of Robert Evans. As the promo flyer for the film states, "Success…Scandal…Sex…Tragedy…Infamy…And that's just the first reel," which is very true to the tale of Robert Evans. This film should be nominated for an Academy Award for best documentary film.

Report Card Grade: B+

10/07/02
Copyright, 2002

Joseph C. Tucker

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