The Kid Stays in the Picture

Robert Evans has had a long, winding and rollercoaster career in Hollywood and his story has got screenplay potential. Evans has parlayed that story into "The Kid Stays in the Picture," a 90-minute documentary directed by Nanette Burstein and Brett Morgen and written and narrated by Evans, himself.

The film has a sassy, confident, devil-may-care feels that seems to be what made Evans' career so successful. But this is a grippingly-shot documentary with great use made of TV appearances and still photographs, when footage was lacking. That is to say, most of the time.

Despite his apparently strong personality, it appears things happened to Evans more than he made them happen. His Hollywood career was launched when he was discovered at the Beverly Hills Hotel pool by Norma Shearer, who promptly hired him to play her husband in "Man of a Thousand Faces."

His acting career was a short one -- he knew he wasn't that great -- but he parlayed his connections and his grit into a career as a producer and he ran Paramount Studios from 1966-'74.

In those roles he created some of Hollywood's best and/or most successful pictures ever: "Rosemary's Baby," "The Godfather," "The Odd Couple," "Harold and Maude," "Love Story," "Chinatown," "Urban Cowboy." Although we get a lot of bluster about his various battles with corporate bigwigs, difficult directors and studio fat cats, we don't ever really come to understand how Evans came to be involved in all of these brilliant films, nor do we hear much about his flops, other than "The Cotton Club."

We do hear about his failed marriage to Ali McGraw, with whom he seemed to enjoy early marital bliss. Later, she hooked up with Steve McQueen and left Evans, taking their son with her (again, Evans as victim). We also hear about his arrest in a DEA drug sting, the loss of his house after he is shunned when he is called as a witness in a high-profile murder case. Once more, Evans is the victim; his career was ruined by a murder in which he was not even the apparent suspect.

Although engaging in the first two-thirds, "The Kid Stays in the Picture" loses its dynamism later, accurately reflecting Evans' career and private life. The presentation is grand and so is Evans' early tough-talking. It's his best picture in years, but, sadly, that's not saying much.

"The Kid Stays in the Picture" opened Fri., Aug. 23 at Landmark's Downer Theatre.