It’s amazing how people complain about the shifts and changes of movies for each generation, but what can they do about it? When there’s a new generation, change is inevitable and if you don’t like, go back into your nostalgia club. That’s what I’m feeling after watching The Kid Stays In The Picture about the rise and fall and rebirth of Hollywood hotshot producer, Robert Evans, who personified an era of Hollywood where filmmaking took a grittier approach for an older audience.
In his early career as an actor, he was looked at as a hot new lead for film and was thought to become a movie star, until he quit and became a producer, where his real strength as a smart-mouthed, vulgar, womanizing, and seductive exec was unleashed as he helped Paramount Pictures bring big hits like The Godfather, Rosemary’s Baby, and Chinatown to the screen. He was very much the hot prince of Hollywood in the days of the 1960s and 70s for his wealth, his burning teeth, his slick black hair, his giant glasses, and the group of beautiful women surrounding him. However, it didn’t last for long when he was busted for drugs and suffered one of his first big movie failures, The Cotton Club. This was a new era in which his hot success as a big-time producer was going on a downspin, which isn’t surprising when the 80s brought a new shift in cinema. Those who are familiar with the 80s era may be aware that most of the popular trends in cinema were teen-aimed cult hits like The Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink, and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, blockbuster franchises like Indiana Jones, The Terminator, and Star Wars, and epic films of inspiring true stories like Gandhi, Out of Africa, and The Last Emperor. It was no longer the era of the 70s, when the New Age of Hollywood was about more realistic modern day films aimed at adults on subjects like crime, corruption, drugs, free love, and rebellion. Evans was an icon for the 70s for all his wealth, smart talk, and good looks and knew how to make the movies for the adults
It’s sad for people of his generation to see that old age gone and that he’s not the king he used to be, especially as he began his descent from success. The voice of Evans in this documentary is so gruff and husky that it has a rough edge that is appropriate given the seriousness of what he details from his life in troubled times. It sounds like the in-voice of a main character in film noir who talks about his demons and the situation he’s in. Some of the topics touched upon in Evans’ life are his failed marriage with Ali MacGraw, who he swore to love and give all the time to, and his stepping down as the head of Paramount. In a way, The Kid Stays in the Picture feels like a noirish, psychological profile about Evans’ demons and dwindling success as he narrates the whole film and we feel the journey of his tough descent. The montage we see in which he talks about trying to escape from an asylum and it juxtaposes with clips from the films he produced, like Marathon Man, Chinatown, and The Godfather, bringing a very haunting and poetic feel about his psychology as though he was living the life of the broken male characters in the movies. He could have been in those movies if he had stayed an actor, but his life as a producer is what made his responsibilities more serious and exhausting to try and stay respected in Hollywood and continue making movies. Despite that, he expresses hope in how he managed to stay in his luxurious manor and remain on good terms with his old working pal, Jack Nicholson, who provided support for him in his troubled times.
Today, he’s not as busy a producer as he used to be and Paramount, the studio he used to run, hasn’t made many movies that have gained huge attention lately. Evans helped Parmount gain popularity with its string of successful hits in his earlier producing career, yet his place in Hollywood of the 60s and 70s remains in memory and I still watch the movies he helped bring to the screen. It goes to show he is one of the Hollywood kings of a golden age who we owe a great deal to for how movies have turned out, no matter how sleazy and seductive a wealthy bachelor like him appeared to be. Slick and tough-talking is what made Robert Evans a special man in the hearts of Hollywood and for men and women alike and I indeed owe some of my favorite movies to his contributions. Thank you Bob!
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