Rating: 
Summary: Fascinating!
Review: Even though the reviews of this film were almost universally raves, I wouldn't have gone to see it. But a friend wanted to go, so I went along. And I'm truly glad I did. This is not like any documentary (particularly of a Hollywood notable) I've ever seen. For those of us who watch A & E Biography to glean tidbits of unknown information about "the famous," The Kid Stays in the Picture is a world apart, a completely refreshing take on biographical film-making.What sets this film apart is its honesty. Evans's narration is self-deprecating, self-mocking, truthful and utterly unpretentious. The combination of TV and film clips, stills with subtle bits of animation (cigarette smoking rising from the surface of a photo) and the voiceover explanations of how some of Evans's films came to be is nothing less than compelling. It's also very, very funny. One notable description is of Frank Sinatra's ultimatum to Mia Farrow during the filming of the groundbreaking Rosemary's Baby. Either Mia finished the picture on day X or she could forget about coming home. How Evans schmoozed Mia into completing the picture is a great combination of smart hard-sell and appeal to the actress's ego. There are similar tales about how Coppola came to be the director of The Godfather. Without copping any attitude, with painting any portion of his career in pastels, Evans comes across as a smart fellow with a great feeling for the books that make good movies. And the final scene, with Dustin Hoffman doing a long impersonation of Evans while the end credits run is absolutely hilarious. If you have any interest in film-making, or want to know about a legendary Hollywood producer, or simply wish to see one swell documentary, see this movie. It's one of a kind.
Highly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: Big phony
Review: For a guy who strikes such a macho pose in the way he talks (as someone else noted, like a character in a 30's gangster movie) and his fondness for women (though not for "women" as people, only as sex objects), Evans looks a bit effeminate, does he not? This is the goofiest documentary I've seen. Definitely entertaining, although Evans is a big phony who lucked out with a job at Paramount, and took credit for other people's achievements. All he ever did was produce "Chinatown" which he admits he didn't understand, and "Marathon Man." Other than that, he was more of an agent, a recruiter of talent, than the producer he claims to be.
Rating:
Summary: Hollywood Babylon Redux
Review: Forget "The Player". "The Kid Stays In The Picture" is the most audacious, unapologetic and revealing look at Hollywood ever put on film. Legendary producer Robert Evans ("The Godfather", "Chinatown") provides the voiceover for this overview of his career with a bemused, world-weary delivery recalling William Holden in "Sunset Boulevard" (this guy's life story could easily eat up an entire season of the E! network's "True Story" episodes). Evans has a knack for recounting immensely compelling, almost mythic backstage tales that manage to be hilarious and harrowing all at once. His candor and self-deprecating charm is so disarming that you'll find yourself leaning into the screen at times as if you were sitting in a quiet bar catching up with an old friend (the man is definitely a "closer"). Directors Brett Morgen and Nanette Burstein do a masterful job blending film clips, stills and subtly moody shots of Evans' gothic Hollywood mansion. Anyone who claims to be a "film buff" would be doing themselves a disservice if they miss this one. Be sure to watch the credits for a funny and priceless "home movie" clip featuring Dustin Hoffman doing an uncanny, riotously profane Evans impression (Hoffman supposedly based his character in "Wag The Dog" on long-time pal Evans).
Rating: 
Summary: The Stuff Dreams are Made Of
Review: Hollywood is a place of fantasy, a composite of all our American dreams. Sure, I read Schulberg's, What Makes Sammy Run. That one covered the first golden age of American Film. The second golden age happened because a young Jewish businessman from New York ran into silent film legend Norma Shearer at a Beverley Hills hotel, and then was propelled into acting. He played the Spanish matador in The Sun Also Rises, a film based on Ernest Hemingway's book. This led to a minor film career that went poof in the fifties, so the young man bought rights to a few novels for peanuts: you know, The Godfather, Love Story, Marathon Man, and Serpico. The next thing he knew, he was running Paramount Pictures and dating every beautiful woman in California. He also discovered cocaine in the 80's and at the same time, a distant association with a murdered producer tarnished his image, so that he couldn't work in this town again. Then he got his job back and made more pictures. This all happened to Robert Evans. The 1994 documentary is really a home movie with Al Pacino and Jack Nicholson, ex-wife, Allie McGraw, and a supporting cast of thousands. I wonder what he's doing now?
Rating: 
Summary: Banality raised to the level of ..............banality
Review: I realize that the poor guy had a stroke, but to listen to him mumble through an entire film's narration is just too painful. This film is a celebration of one man's achievments and failures in the Hollywood film industry system. Certainly not one life's loftiest goals, but in pure Hollywood style it has been raised to the level of Godliness. This movie should appeal to perenially hip and chronically insecure types.
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic Cinema Autobiography! Must See Movie!
Review: I saw this autobiographical movie/documentary on cable TV early AM, May 28th, 2003. The story of Mr. Evans and his rise to become one of the top movie producers of the late 20th century is mingled with genuine introspective commentary by the narrator, Robert Evans himself, combined with a sardonic wit, a great sense of humor and irony, and the open admission of the calculated expertise necessary to wangle one's way through the corporate jungle, and above all, the film industry's ultimately most competitive one at that. His own admission of the egotism necessary to accomplish such extraordinary feats, combined with good luck, being in the right place at the right time, sheer hard work, the willingness to take chances and gamble all, based upon one's own faith and belief in the ability to achieve greatness despite the challenge of adversity posed by more conservative investors, studio executives, board members, and critics surrounding him, display the successful achievement of the ultimate challenge; through a combination of greatness, innovation, wit, and sheer balls, and is mingled with his own readiness to admit character flaws, and ultimately his sheer honesty in expressing the results of introspection after total disaster precluded by ultimate success. These can serve as an inspiration to anyone (myself included) seeking to accomplish greatness in whatever field of endeavor they choose, and record for others the testament of a living legend in the field of cinematic production. His portrayal of the ultimate conquest of the greatest human challenge, that of the loss of belief in oneself, mingled with the loss of self itself, triggered by drugs and their progressively insidious control over one's own perception and values, by overcoming these life-threatening situations and gaining back the self-respect and most cherished possessions having been previously lost, is tempered by his own willingness for brutal self-honesty in admitting and characterizing the road from ultimate success to a living hell, and the successful, slow struggle back to comparative normalcy. These all serve as an example of the strength of the human will to accomplish any task set before oneself, despite any adversity, combined with the essential ingredient of raw talent, perceptual insight and sheer drive. This film is a legacy to all who seek to achieve their own breed of greatness. An absolutely MUST SEE MOVIE!
Rating:
Summary: He knows everybody
Review: Maybe the most engaging documentary ever made. Brilliant style is used in telling the story of one of the giants of the movie industry, producer Robert Evans. Giving magical illumination and motion to still pictures in a way that I could only describe as psychedelic.
Being a film fanatic for the last 43 years I was shocked and ashamed to find that I had not heard of Robert Evans. In all my reading of credits over the years I had somehow missed his name. I had remembered seeing William Castle's name at the beginning of Rosemary's Baby but not Evan's. Then, at finding out that he was the driving force behind Love Story, The Godfather, The Godfather Pt.2, Chinatown and one of my personal favorites The President's Analyst and that he was a big reason why those movies were so good, well I was just dumdfounded. And these are just a fraction of the films he's produced.
Of course he didn't start as a producer. He had been in women's apparel with his brother and accredited their endeavours as the reason why women wear pants today. While lounging around a pool one day he was discovered by Norma Shearer, lauching his career into show biz. It seems he knows everybody and I mean everybody.
After watchng this extraordinary film I called my father to ask him if he had ever heard of this astonishing personality. I queried, "Have you ever heard of Robert Evans?" anxiously awaiting a "No" so I could tell him all about this amazing show biz entity. He replied, "You mean Bob Evans." Yes, it seems he knows EVERYBODY. My father had come across him as a buyer for Macy's. I asked, "Do you know what he does now?" "He's some sort of movie director or something now, isn't he.", Dad answered. I bought him the audiobook.
Evans narrates both the documentary and the audiobook, both which are drawn from his autobiograghy by the same name. His voice is almost as amazing as his story and probably greatly enabled his prowess. He also lent his voice to the short-lived, hysterically irreverent cartoon series Kid Notorious that still airs on Comedy Central.
All in all, whether you know Evans or not this is a fascinating, beautifully made film about a producer who's achievements are arguably greater than Thalberg's and Selznick's combined. The story of his life and loves is the stuff of legends and it goes on and on. This is a must see for anyone interested in Tinseltown. PS:I don't usually care for the added features but these are worthwhile and the credits to the main part of the documentary are alone worth the price of the disc. What a hoot and more proof that he knows everybody. Ask your dad. Who knows?
Rating:
Summary: Outrageous
Review: Okay, find a film where the narrator is almost the only voice you hear, playing all the parts -- voices of the 20th century's most famous moguls, actresses, actors, directors -- along with mostly stills and very little action photography, and yet causes one to feel completely enthralled? Where the narrator allows himself to be shown in all of his disgrace as well as his glory, not hiding the irony in his successes and failures -- showing alongside his unashamed pride, his sense of humor about himself and his weaknesses -- and still comes across as a whole, real, man? One to be admired (because one surely will not envy him)? Only the indominable Robert Evans could pull this off. See this movie for the dirt, for the history, for the kind of story you can't make up ... and you'll think about him and everyone in it, long after. This man was born to make movies.
Rating:
Summary: Great doc. Totally worth owning
Review: Producer legend Robert Evans is the subject for and narrator in this wonderful documentary of the classic "rise and fall" variety. This is just a really vibrant and dynamic film, and really seemingly raises the bar for biography documentaries. Evans himself narrating is funny and self-recriminating about his past, and by the film's end, one really feels to have a better understanding of the time period as well as Bob Evans himself. The way the film plays with moving around still photos kinda spells out the entry of the flash/photoshop generation into film, and this is not such a bad thing, at least in this genre. Film fans will adore this, everyone else will really enjoy it. The extras feature some of Bob's acceptance speeches upon receiving lifetime achievement awards from various sources, and are well worth a look.
Rating:
Summary: Great doc. Totally worth owning
Review: Producer legend Robert Evans is the subject for and narrator in this wonderful documentary of the classic "rise and fall" variety. This is just a really vibrant and dynamic film, and really seemingly raises the bar for biography documentaries. Evans himself narrating is funny and self-recriminating about his past, and by the film's end, one really feels to have a better understanding of the time period as well as Bob Evans himself. The way the film plays with moving around still photos kinda spells out the entry of the flash/photoshop generation into film, and this is not such a bad thing, at least in this genre. Film fans will adore this, everyone else will really enjoy it. The extras feature some of Bob's acceptance speeches upon receiving lifetime achievement awards from various sources, and are well worth a look.
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