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A review by stewreads
The Kid Stays in the Picture by Robert Evans
4.0
Robert Evans starts his memoir by saying that he won't apologize for anything that he says about anyone he writes about, and that they should be grateful that he even remembered them. That introduction gives the reader a pretty good sense of what to expect from this book.
Robert Evans was an actor turned producer of the Golden Age of Hollywood, who worked on The Godfather, Chinatown, Rosemary's Baby, and tons of other films, some great, some awful. By all accounts (including his own), he was an absolute sleazeball: he was a greed-fueled womanizer, constantly making enemies, constantly fighting to get his way, constantly getting into trouble. His story reads like a Hollywood Goodfellas and, while they've made a documentary on his life, I'm shocked that there hasn't been a biopic yet. The Kid Stays in the Picture is a classic case of fact being more entertaining than fiction, even though it's hard to tell just how much of Evans's story is actually truth and how much has been touched up to suit his ego.
Evans is no role model, but you don't read a book like this for life lessons. From an outsider's perspective, he comes across as a bit of a con-artist, but to a reader, he's charming and hilarious. For such a hotshot, he sure knows how to write. His style words are arranged to pack the maximum punch, whether that punch be comedic or dramatic. You can't help but get sucked into his world; no matter where he takes you, you follow blindly, knowing it'll be a wild ride.
Robert Evans was an actor turned producer of the Golden Age of Hollywood, who worked on The Godfather, Chinatown, Rosemary's Baby, and tons of other films, some great, some awful. By all accounts (including his own), he was an absolute sleazeball: he was a greed-fueled womanizer, constantly making enemies, constantly fighting to get his way, constantly getting into trouble. His story reads like a Hollywood Goodfellas and, while they've made a documentary on his life, I'm shocked that there hasn't been a biopic yet. The Kid Stays in the Picture is a classic case of fact being more entertaining than fiction, even though it's hard to tell just how much of Evans's story is actually truth and how much has been touched up to suit his ego.
Evans is no role model, but you don't read a book like this for life lessons. From an outsider's perspective, he comes across as a bit of a con-artist, but to a reader, he's charming and hilarious. For such a hotshot, he sure knows how to write. His style words are arranged to pack the maximum punch, whether that punch be comedic or dramatic. You can't help but get sucked into his world; no matter where he takes you, you follow blindly, knowing it'll be a wild ride.