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Downloaded from
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Official YIFY movies site:
YTS.MX

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The Los Angeles Times
once said...

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that never in the history
of Hollywood...

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has such glamour and talent
sat under one tree.

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00:02:30,024 --> 00:02:33,569
Dr. Kissinger is here,
and there's no accident.

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There's more oil on Bob Evans...

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00:02:39,367 --> 00:02:42,912
Take him home.
Take him home!

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00:02:42,912 --> 00:02:45,247
Just get him the hell
out of here!

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00:02:45,247 --> 00:02:48,459
These past 10 years as chief of
production at Paramount Pictures,

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I've been lucky, or fortunate enough,
to be closely involved...

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00:02:52,463 --> 00:02:56,509
with such unique pictures
as Rosemary's Baby,

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00:02:56,509 --> 00:03:00,012
True Grit, Love Story,
The Godfather.

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00:03:06,352 --> 00:03:09,021
How did you get discovered
for the movies?

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00:03:09,021 --> 00:03:11,857
Well,
I got discovered by jumping into a swimming pool.

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But I was an actor for many
years as a kid before that.

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In essence, what happened, however,
I was at the Beverly Hills Hotel pool.

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I was a businessman at the time. I was
not an actor. What was your business?

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I was partners with my brother in a company
called Evan-Picone. We made women's pants.

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In other words,
I was in women's pants.

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We actually started the fad
of women wearing slacks.

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I'll never forget it because it
was the day of the Eisenhower...

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It was the fall of 1956.

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I flew out to Los Angeles to
set up Evan-Picone boutiques.

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One afternoon,
I decided to play hooky...

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and sit by the pool and get
some sun at the Beverly Hills Hotel.

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Suddenly, a woman approached me.

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"Excuse me, young man.
Are you an actor?"

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"Yeah, I was
a long time ago."

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It was Norma Shearer.

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Norma Shearer, at the time, was one of the
few remaining icons of Hollywood aristocracy.

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00:04:03,868 --> 00:04:07,288
A petite blonde
in a striped, short robe.

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"Pardon me for being curious, young man,
but why are you always on the phone?"

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"Gotta pay my bills,
that's why."

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00:04:13,419 --> 00:04:16,839
"You're not a bookmaker,
are you?" "No, I'm not a bookmaker."

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Then she changed
the entire course of my life.

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00:04:20,301 --> 00:04:22,720
"Would you like to play my deceased husband,
Irving Thalberg,

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00:04:22,720 --> 00:04:24,555
in a film, Mr. Evans?"

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00:04:24,555 --> 00:04:29,268
I looked at her. Looked at her again. I
didn't know what she was talkin' about.

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"They're making a film at Universal
called Man Of A Thousand Faces."

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00:04:32,438 --> 00:04:35,357
My friend, Jimmy Cagney,
is playing the title role of Lon Chaney.

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Irving was the guy who discovered him
and made him the biggest star in silent film.

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Do you know, Mr. Evans,
he was only 20 at the time?

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"He was even too young to sign the checks,
but not too young to run a studio."

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00:04:46,285 --> 00:04:51,248
I'm thinking to myself, "Wow,
this can't be happening to me."

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"Miss Shearer,
it would be an honor. Why not?

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'Cause Cagney is the one guy
I've always wanted to meet."

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Two hours later, I'm on
a sound stage at Universal.

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00:05:04,345 --> 00:05:08,516
Here I am, like out of a dream,
I'm testing opposite Jimmy Cagney.

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00:05:08,516 --> 00:05:11,477
Mind if I come in a minute?

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I know I don't look dressed for the barricades,
but I've just come from a revolution...

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00:05:15,481 --> 00:05:17,483
The premiere of The Jazz Singer.

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Lon, you should have
seen that audience.

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When Jolson's voice came
from the screen,

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I could hear the bells
tolling for silent pictures.

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You haven't heard a word I said.

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I'm sorry, Irving.

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What were you saying?
Nothing much.

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I was just trying to tell you
about a modern miracle.

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Pictures that not only move,
Lon, but they speak.

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Oh, yeah, sure.
Talking pictures.

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00:05:40,798 --> 00:05:44,009
It's the horse and the automobile
all over again. No use tryin' to fight it.

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When it was over, Cagney gave me a quick look,
"You did good, kid."

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00:05:48,138 --> 00:05:52,226
Forty-eight hours later,
I made every newspaper around the country.

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"New York Businessman Dives into
Pool and Comes Out a Movie Star."

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00:05:56,814 --> 00:06:00,150
Was I lucky?
I think so.

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If I had stayed just an actor,
Norma never would have given me a second look.

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00:06:04,572 --> 00:06:09,535
What caught her eye was a young go-getter,
sure about himself, persuasive.

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00:06:09,535 --> 00:06:14,290
A subliminal reminder of the man who
was once her mentor and her husband.

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00:06:14,290 --> 00:06:17,710
It's the old story, though.
Luck doesn't happen by mistake.

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Rather, luck is when opportunity
meets preparation.

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As soon as the picture wrapped,
I flew back to the Big Apple.

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00:06:29,513 --> 00:06:31,682
Evan-Picone was on fire.

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00:06:31,682 --> 00:06:36,186
The showrooms were packed with them
leggy ladies prancin' in their patrician pants.

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00:06:36,186 --> 00:06:38,480
It was turn-on plus.

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00:06:38,480 --> 00:06:41,692
My brother, Charles,
had built the top fashion company of its time.

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And me?
I was lucky to be part of it,

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00:06:44,194 --> 00:06:47,197
never having a second thought
about returning to La-La Land.

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Why should I? In New York,
I was suddenly a celebrity.

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00:06:50,367 --> 00:06:55,039
From debutramp to starlet to model,
there I was on their "most wanted" list.

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00:06:55,039 --> 00:06:58,626
Was I enjoying it?
You bet your ass I was.

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00:06:58,626 --> 00:07:03,422
One night, my brother and I took
a few femme fatales to El Morocco.

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00:07:03,422 --> 00:07:07,676
Me? I didn't feel like conversation,
so I hit the dance floor.

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00:07:07,676 --> 00:07:12,056
Well, that night someone had eyes for me,
and it wasn't "her."

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00:07:12,056 --> 00:07:16,477
It was Darryl Zanuck,
head honcho of Twentieth Century Fox.

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00:07:16,477 --> 00:07:19,480
He had no idea who I was.
But just looking at me,

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00:07:19,480 --> 00:07:24,318
he thought, "That kid's right to play
the matador opposite Ava Gardner."

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00:07:24,318 --> 00:07:28,030
And after years and years of knocking on doors,
being turned down,

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00:07:28,030 --> 00:07:32,910
here I am, discovered to star in
two pictures within six months.

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00:07:32,910 --> 00:07:38,082
That's what you call incident, and that's
what's also known as sense of discovery.

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00:07:38,082 --> 00:07:41,085
Thank God
I was the one discovered.

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00:07:55,015 --> 00:07:58,268
I'm sent down to Mexico
to study to be a bullfighter.

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00:07:59,812 --> 00:08:03,107
Mind you, I have never
once seen a bull in my life.

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00:08:05,067 --> 00:08:07,653
I worked my ass off
for three months,

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00:08:07,653 --> 00:08:11,156
wearing a rubber girdle each day so
I'd lose weight around my midsection.

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00:08:12,324 --> 00:08:14,535
There was one big problem:

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00:08:14,535 --> 00:08:17,830
No one wanted me in the picture.

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00:08:17,830 --> 00:08:21,667
Ernest Hemingway was furious they'd pick
some guy out of a nightclub to play Pedro Romero,

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00:08:21,667 --> 00:08:25,004
who in the true-life story
was him.

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A telegram goes out
to Darryl Zanuck.

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00:08:27,798 --> 00:08:31,260
It reads, "With Robert Evans
playing Pedro Romero,

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00:08:31,260 --> 00:08:34,179
The Sun Also Rises
will be a disaster.

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Signed, Ernest Hemingway,
Tyrone Power, Ava Gardner, Eddie Albert."

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00:08:39,893 --> 00:08:43,022
The only one who refused to sign
it was Errol Flynn. He just laughed.

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00:08:43,022 --> 00:08:45,983
I know I'm gonna get fired.

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00:08:45,983 --> 00:08:49,987
But that gave me the resolve.
I said, "Fuck 'em."

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00:08:49,987 --> 00:08:52,656
And, you know, when I knew
that telegram went out,

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I became Pedro Romero
in one week.

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Zanuck arrives in Morelia, Mexico,
and I'm summoned to show up in the bullring...

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00:09:03,000 --> 00:09:05,586
to do my quites and veronicas
in front of him.

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00:09:05,586 --> 00:09:08,172
I walk into the bullring,

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00:09:08,172 --> 00:09:10,466
take off my hat,
throw it to him,

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"For you."

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00:09:12,342 --> 00:09:15,345
And then I started going
through my various things,

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00:09:15,345 --> 00:09:17,556
except I feel like an idiot...
I know I'm gonna get fired.

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Aha. Ah.
¡Toro!

117
00:09:20,184 --> 00:09:22,144
¡Olé! ¡Olé!

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00:09:24,063 --> 00:09:27,024
Suddenly, Zanuck stands up,
all five-foot-three of him,

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00:09:27,024 --> 00:09:29,026
picks up a bullhorn,

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"The kid stays in the picture.

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And anybody who doesn't
like it can quit."

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00:09:34,406 --> 00:09:38,285
Puts the bullhorn down...
and walks out.

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And also it was then I realized,
"That's what Evans wants to be.

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00:09:50,089 --> 00:09:53,258
Not some actor shitting in
his pants waiting to get a role,

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00:09:53,258 --> 00:09:57,054
but the guy who can say,
'The kid stays in the picture."'

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00:09:57,054 --> 00:09:59,431
Bob Evans is
a 28-year-old New Yorker,

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00:09:59,431 --> 00:10:02,017
who currently is in
the enviable position...

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00:10:02,017 --> 00:10:05,145
of pursuing two successful
careers on two coasts.

129
00:10:05,145 --> 00:10:08,774
Here in the East, Bob Evans
devotes his time and energy...

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00:10:08,774 --> 00:10:12,569
to being a vice president of
the Evan-Picone sportswear firm.

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00:10:12,569 --> 00:10:17,366
On the West Coast, Bob Evans devotes
his time and energy to being a movie star.

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00:10:17,366 --> 00:10:20,410
And at last reports,
he's doing pretty well at both.

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00:10:20,410 --> 00:10:22,329
Good evening, Bob.
Good evening, Ed.

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00:10:22,329 --> 00:10:24,081
How are you?
Very fine, thank you.

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00:10:24,081 --> 00:10:27,292
Well, now that you're getting established
and recognized as a movie star,

136
00:10:27,292 --> 00:10:30,254
how much longer do you think you'll
be able to hold out as a bachelor?

137
00:10:30,254 --> 00:10:33,590
Just introduce me to the right girl, Ed,
and I can end my bachelorhood right here.

138
00:10:36,093 --> 00:10:39,763
With all the hullabaloo and
excitement about the new Valentino,

139
00:10:39,763 --> 00:10:42,099
I wasn't gettin' the parts
I wanted.

140
00:10:42,099 --> 00:10:44,935
Yeah, there were half a dozen
parts that they offered to me.

141
00:10:44,935 --> 00:10:46,979
I was looking for bigger things.

142
00:10:47,980 --> 00:10:50,649
One day, my agent calls,
George Chasen.

143
00:10:50,649 --> 00:10:54,027
"Bob, I'm calling
with good news.

144
00:10:54,027 --> 00:10:57,781
Fox is remaking Kiss of Death into a western,
and we've got you up for the Widmark part.

145
00:10:57,781 --> 00:10:59,950
It made him a star overnight."

146
00:10:59,950 --> 00:11:03,871
Finally, I got
my first title role. Wow.

147
00:11:03,871 --> 00:11:05,747
He's a kooky killer,

148
00:11:05,747 --> 00:11:08,876
the most diabolical horror
that ever roamed the earth.

149
00:11:08,876 --> 00:11:12,087
The Fiend Who Walked The West.

150
00:11:12,087 --> 00:11:14,840
He'll cut out your heart
or break your neck,

151
00:11:14,840 --> 00:11:17,467
and laugh while he's doing it.

152
00:11:17,467 --> 00:11:20,304
My acting career was over
and out.

153
00:11:20,304 --> 00:11:24,308
It was my last appearance
on the silver screen.

154
00:11:29,521 --> 00:11:32,608
By decade's end,
I was sure of one thing:

155
00:11:34,151 --> 00:11:37,362
I was a half-assed actor,
and I knew it.

156
00:11:37,362 --> 00:11:40,115
I knew I'd never become
the next Paul Newman.

157
00:11:41,158 --> 00:11:43,452
Maybe the next Troy Donahue.

158
00:11:43,452 --> 00:11:45,829
But you know who
I really wanted to become?

159
00:11:45,829 --> 00:11:48,916
The next Darryl Zanuck.

160
00:11:50,209 --> 00:11:53,045
Thus was my goal for the '60s.

161
00:11:53,045 --> 00:11:55,964
And I went for it all the way.

162
00:11:55,964 --> 00:11:58,592
Sounds easy, doesn't it?

163
00:11:58,592 --> 00:12:00,344
It ain't.

164
00:12:00,344 --> 00:12:03,513
Next to winning the Olympics, I don't
think that there's a more difficult thing...

165
00:12:03,513 --> 00:12:07,434
than a pretty-boy actor
transforming himself into producer,

166
00:12:08,852 --> 00:12:11,521
especially in those days.

167
00:12:11,521 --> 00:12:15,108
I realized that I had to own
something that nobody else could get.

168
00:12:15,108 --> 00:12:20,155
I met a guy named George Weiser
who worked for Publishers Weekly.

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00:12:20,155 --> 00:12:23,116
He moonlighted for me
for about 150 bucks a week.

170
00:12:23,116 --> 00:12:27,204
He comes to me and he says, "I just
finished a book, Bob. It's called The Detective."

171
00:12:27,204 --> 00:12:29,373
This is one hot book.

172
00:12:29,373 --> 00:12:33,210
I read it, put $5,000 down
on it as an option,

173
00:12:33,210 --> 00:12:34,962
and go in to see David Brown,

174
00:12:34,962 --> 00:12:38,465
who's a pal of mine from Twentieth Century Fox,
who's a top producer there.

175
00:12:38,465 --> 00:12:41,718
I say, "David, I think
I have the next big book."

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00:12:41,718 --> 00:12:46,223
He reads it. In 48 hours he says,
"Bob, we're in business."

177
00:12:46,223 --> 00:12:48,433
"Uh-uh-uh, David.
Not so quick.

178
00:12:48,433 --> 00:12:51,770
I wanna know what kind
of business we're in.

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00:12:51,770 --> 00:12:55,732
Now, these are my conditions:
I want a full spread of offices.

180
00:12:55,732 --> 00:12:57,985
I want a three-picture deal."

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00:12:57,985 --> 00:13:02,281
To make a very long story short,
I get everything I ask for.

182
00:13:03,740 --> 00:13:06,910
By the way,
they would have bought me out for half a million.

183
00:13:06,952 --> 00:13:11,081
But I wanted my foot in the door,
and I got it in the door, but good.

184
00:13:11,081 --> 00:13:15,877
I learned a lot from that. When
you own the property, you're king.

185
00:13:15,877 --> 00:13:18,046
Without it, you're a peon.

186
00:13:22,092 --> 00:13:26,221
If the euphemism, "You live by the press,
and you die by the press"...

187
00:13:26,221 --> 00:13:29,224
ever fit anyone, it fit me.

188
00:13:29,224 --> 00:13:32,978
Who would have thought a journalist
would change the entire course of my life...

189
00:13:32,978 --> 00:13:34,938
and also my career?

190
00:13:34,938 --> 00:13:38,734
On reflection, I don't know whether
I should love him or hate him.

191
00:13:38,734 --> 00:13:41,945
Peter Bart, the West Coast
correspondent for The New York Times,

192
00:13:41,945 --> 00:13:45,907
said he wanted to write a feature story
about me in the Arts & Leisure section.

193
00:13:45,907 --> 00:13:47,451
"Is this a joke, Peter?
Come on."

194
00:13:47,451 --> 00:13:49,828
He said,
"Uh-uh. This is not a joke.

195
00:13:49,828 --> 00:13:53,623
What's interesting about you, Evans,
and why you're worth writing about,

196
00:13:53,623 --> 00:13:56,626
is you're beating all these
big shots at their own game.

197
00:13:56,626 --> 00:14:00,839
You know, you could become the guy you played,
the next Thalberg."

198
00:14:00,839 --> 00:14:04,217
That's just what I want the audience to see,
Mr. Chaney...

199
00:14:05,385 --> 00:14:09,056
The soul of a man
that God made different.

200
00:14:09,056 --> 00:14:13,268
If I was really smart,
I should have retired after Peter's article.

201
00:14:13,268 --> 00:14:17,147
Instead, Greg Bautzer,
the power broker of the town, calls and says,

202
00:14:17,147 --> 00:14:19,483
"Pack your bags, Evans.
You're goin' to New York."

203
00:14:19,483 --> 00:14:21,818
"I can't, Greg. I got plans."
"Break 'em.

204
00:14:21,818 --> 00:14:24,780
Charlie Bluhdorn just bought
Paramount and wants to meet you.

205
00:14:24,780 --> 00:14:27,824
He read the article about you
in Sunday's New York Times.

206
00:14:27,824 --> 00:14:31,787
"He's a doer, Bob, not a talker.
Now pack your bags."

207
00:14:31,787 --> 00:14:34,206
And pack 'em I did.

208
00:14:34,206 --> 00:14:36,041
♪♪

209
00:14:46,468 --> 00:14:51,014
Within five minutes after meeting
Charlie Bluhdorn, I know this is no kibitzer.

210
00:14:51,056 --> 00:14:54,643
Before I finished trying to answer one question,
he was asking me more.

211
00:14:54,643 --> 00:14:57,562
With him was a guy named
Marty Davis, his top capo.

212
00:14:57,562 --> 00:15:00,649
He was the one responsible for the
go-go conglomerate Gulf and Western,

213
00:15:00,649 --> 00:15:03,235
buying this aging mountain
they call Paramount.

214
00:15:03,235 --> 00:15:06,071
There were eight major studios
at the time.

215
00:15:07,489 --> 00:15:10,867
Paramount?
It was ninth.

216
00:15:10,867 --> 00:15:13,745
Bluhdorn bought this sleeping
giant at bargain-basement prices.

217
00:15:13,745 --> 00:15:15,997
That's the only way
he knew how to buy.

218
00:15:15,997 --> 00:15:20,585
Still, everybody thought he was nuts to get
involved in a business he knew nothing about,

219
00:15:20,585 --> 00:15:22,879
much less a business
as crazy as show business.

220
00:15:22,879 --> 00:15:25,215
"But, guys, I got a deal
with Twentieth and"...

221
00:15:25,215 --> 00:15:29,553
"Get out of it! You'll be running
Paramount in a few months.

222
00:15:29,553 --> 00:15:32,973
Is that right, Marty?"
Davis gives me a look.

223
00:15:32,973 --> 00:15:36,476
"If you're gonna run Paramount,
you better be tougher than you seem to be."

224
00:15:36,476 --> 00:15:38,603
Did I get the message?
You bet.

225
00:15:38,603 --> 00:15:41,898
Then Bluhdorn blasted my other ear,
"Go by the seat of your pants."

226
00:15:41,898 --> 00:15:45,193
Make pictures people wanna see,
not fancy-schmancy stuff people don't understand.

227
00:15:45,193 --> 00:15:49,406
I want to see tears, laughs. I want
pretty girls in the pictures, beautiful girls.

228
00:15:49,406 --> 00:15:51,908
Pictures people in
Kansas City want to see.

229
00:15:51,908 --> 00:15:56,163
"That's all,
Evans. What else do we have to go over?"

230
00:15:56,163 --> 00:16:00,041
Being the production head
of a studio such as Paramount...

231
00:16:00,041 --> 00:16:04,087
And I'm sure you're well aware of it...
involves a tremendous responsibility.

232
00:16:04,129 --> 00:16:06,423
You are dealing
with millions of dollars.

233
00:16:07,466 --> 00:16:09,759
They sure as hell had
great names for me.

234
00:16:09,759 --> 00:16:12,679
One was "Bluhdorn's Folly"
by The New York Times.

235
00:16:12,679 --> 00:16:15,265
Another was "Bluhdorn's Blow
Job" by Hollywood Close-up.

236
00:16:15,265 --> 00:16:17,100
Good feeling, huh?

237
00:16:17,142 --> 00:16:21,146
There was, to put it mildly,
a great deal of skepticism...

238
00:16:21,146 --> 00:16:23,398
from people in the industry.

239
00:16:23,398 --> 00:16:26,276
After all, where does an
ex-actor, and a bad one at that,

240
00:16:26,276 --> 00:16:28,778
come off running a studio?

241
00:16:28,778 --> 00:16:32,866
From the day I arrived,
the rumor mill had me packing my bags.

242
00:16:32,866 --> 00:16:36,244
Time magazine ran a story
saying my firing was imminent.

243
00:16:36,244 --> 00:16:38,788
Friends, columnists, agents,
lawyers, all of them let me know...

244
00:16:38,788 --> 00:16:41,249
that I wasn't going to
be there for Christmas.

245
00:16:41,249 --> 00:16:45,295
Then it happened.
Front page of Variety:

246
00:16:45,295 --> 00:16:47,088
"Evans Tenure
Over By End Of Month."

247
00:16:47,088 --> 00:16:50,634
I called Charles Bluhdorn,
who was chairman of the board of Gulf and Western,

248
00:16:50,634 --> 00:16:53,386
who owns Paramount,
who had bought Paramount and put me in there.

249
00:16:53,386 --> 00:16:55,222
And he was in Spain at the time.

250
00:16:55,222 --> 00:16:59,476
And I... I got him out of a board of
directors meeting in Madrid, and I said,

251
00:16:59,476 --> 00:17:02,979
"Uh, Charles, there's a story in
Variety that I'm gonna get fired.

252
00:17:02,979 --> 00:17:06,691
If it's true,
tell me. I don't like... Tell me if it's true."

253
00:17:06,691 --> 00:17:09,319
I'll pick up my laundry,
you know? I'm ready to go.

254
00:17:09,319 --> 00:17:11,446
And he says, "Let me
tell you something, Bob."

255
00:17:11,446 --> 00:17:15,242
When you're gonna get fired, I'll let you
know. Stop reading this Hollywood gossip.

256
00:17:15,242 --> 00:17:18,495
As long as I own Paramount,
you're gonna be right where you are.

257
00:17:18,495 --> 00:17:21,373
Now just relax and do your job."
And he hung the phone up.

258
00:17:21,373 --> 00:17:24,918
My first move was to hire
Peter Bart as my right-hand man.

259
00:17:24,918 --> 00:17:29,589
He's not Hollywood. He doesn't read
synopses. He reads the entire text.

260
00:17:29,589 --> 00:17:34,177
He can read six books over a weekend
and I'm hard-pressed to finish one in six.

261
00:17:34,219 --> 00:17:38,848
And even more important, it was his
article that got me into this fuckin' mess.

262
00:17:38,848 --> 00:17:42,060
The two of us caucused in
Palm Springs for a full week...

263
00:17:42,060 --> 00:17:44,813
trying to strategize how
an actor and a journalist...

264
00:17:44,813 --> 00:17:47,774
could turn a white elephant
into a contender.

265
00:17:47,774 --> 00:17:51,111
Patience was not a quality neither
Bluhdorn nor Davis claimed to have,

266
00:17:51,111 --> 00:17:53,655
and the clock
was already ticking.

267
00:17:53,655 --> 00:17:57,200
With the little experience
we had, we knew one thing:

268
00:17:57,242 --> 00:17:59,494
That property is the star.

269
00:17:59,494 --> 00:18:01,538
"Let's go back to basics, Peter."

270
00:18:01,538 --> 00:18:03,748
You can have stars up the ass,

271
00:18:03,748 --> 00:18:07,127
but if it's not on the page,
it's not gonna be on the screen.

272
00:18:07,127 --> 00:18:10,547
It's no mistake Paramount's
been in ninth place for five years.

273
00:18:10,547 --> 00:18:13,717
"It's time to pick up new dice.
Now let's try and do it."

274
00:18:17,637 --> 00:18:22,142
♪ La, la, la, la
la, la, la, la, la ♪

275
00:18:22,142 --> 00:18:25,395
Between Peter and myself, we went
through maybe dozens and dozens of scripts,

276
00:18:25,395 --> 00:18:27,230
maybe hundreds.

277
00:18:27,272 --> 00:18:29,899
Nothing clicked.
It always felt tired.

278
00:18:29,899 --> 00:18:32,485
There was nothing...
Nothing fresh about it.

279
00:18:32,485 --> 00:18:34,237
And we were looking
for the unexpected...

280
00:18:34,237 --> 00:18:38,658
Something that sounded new
and what we were gonna be about.

281
00:18:40,619 --> 00:18:43,204
Then one day, Bill Castle,
the veteran producer,

282
00:18:43,204 --> 00:18:46,458
walked into my office with a
manuscript he had just optioned...

283
00:18:46,458 --> 00:18:49,002
tucked under his arm.

284
00:18:49,002 --> 00:18:52,922
It was Rosemary's Baby.
And I loved it.

285
00:18:52,922 --> 00:18:56,509
Castle insisted on directing it.

286
00:18:56,509 --> 00:18:58,762
I only had one director
in mind for it.

287
00:18:58,762 --> 00:19:02,432
I saw brilliance
in his little films.

288
00:19:02,432 --> 00:19:05,769
It was the little Polack
himself, Roman Polanski.

289
00:19:05,769 --> 00:19:08,271
Not a little Polack. The
biggest Polack I've ever met,

290
00:19:08,313 --> 00:19:11,024
and one of the biggest men
I've ever met.

291
00:19:11,024 --> 00:19:13,652
The films I saw of his
were Knife in the Water,

292
00:19:13,652 --> 00:19:17,072
Repulsion, Cul-de-sac,
all offbeat thrillers.

293
00:19:17,072 --> 00:19:22,118
Roman was a big cinema star over in Europe,
as well as director,

294
00:19:22,118 --> 00:19:24,954
and he'd just finished
his first Hollywood film.

295
00:19:24,954 --> 00:19:29,959
Get this title...
The Fearless Vampire Killers,

296
00:19:29,959 --> 00:19:32,462
or Pardon Me,
But Your Teeth Are In My Neck.

297
00:19:32,462 --> 00:19:35,882
Though no one really wanted him in America,
he couldn't care less.

298
00:19:35,882 --> 00:19:39,803
He was a big star in Europe. Where
do I get him? And how do I get to him?

299
00:19:39,803 --> 00:19:44,516
Ah, he's an avid skier. I lured
him all the way to America,

300
00:19:44,516 --> 00:19:47,519
thinking he was gonna direct
Downhill Racer.

301
00:19:47,519 --> 00:19:51,481
Polanski walks in.
This is some character.

302
00:19:51,481 --> 00:19:55,402
Within five minutes, this Polack's
acting out crazy stories right before me.

303
00:19:55,402 --> 00:19:59,364
I don't know, they're somewhere between
Shakespeare and the theater of the absurd.

304
00:19:59,364 --> 00:20:01,825
Maybe that's why
we clicked so well.

305
00:20:01,825 --> 00:20:05,495
We both come out of the same
school of drama... the drama of life.

306
00:20:05,495 --> 00:20:07,580
I didn't wanna bullshit him.

307
00:20:07,580 --> 00:20:10,458
"Roman, will you read this?"

308
00:20:10,458 --> 00:20:13,837
I shoved the galleys of Rosemary's
Baby across the desk at him.

309
00:20:15,130 --> 00:20:18,883
"Is this about skiing?"
"Read it, Polack.

310
00:20:18,883 --> 00:20:23,847
If you don't like it, your next ski trip is on me,
anywhere you wanna go in the world."

311
00:20:23,847 --> 00:20:28,643
A gamble? Sure.
It paid off. Roman loved it.

312
00:20:28,643 --> 00:20:32,522
But then the fights began.
You know, fighting is healthy.

313
00:20:32,522 --> 00:20:36,568
If everyone has too much reverence for each other,
or for the material,

314
00:20:36,568 --> 00:20:39,028
believe me, and check it out
and think about it,

315
00:20:39,028 --> 00:20:42,449
invariably, it turns out
underwhelming.

316
00:20:42,449 --> 00:20:46,786
By the end of the first week's shooting in
New York, Roman was a week behind schedule.

317
00:20:46,786 --> 00:20:48,955
Everyone from Bluhdorn,
and certainly to Bill Castle,

318
00:20:48,955 --> 00:20:51,833
wanted me to throw him
off the picture.

319
00:20:53,460 --> 00:20:56,171
Roman's dailies were weird.

320
00:20:56,171 --> 00:20:58,715
They touched off
an ominous sense of fright,

321
00:20:58,715 --> 00:21:01,134
one I'd never seen
on film before.

322
00:21:02,969 --> 00:21:05,847
At the same time, Bill Castle
was pressing the right buttons,

323
00:21:05,847 --> 00:21:08,683
getting the New York brass
unnerved on the Polish discovery...

324
00:21:08,683 --> 00:21:10,643
My Polish discovery.

325
00:21:10,643 --> 00:21:15,523
We're 10 days into shooting,
and Roman was already five days behind schedule.

326
00:21:15,523 --> 00:21:17,942
"Fire the Polack,"
were the words from New York.

327
00:21:17,942 --> 00:21:22,614
"Fire him? Fuck you.
He goes, I go."

328
00:21:22,614 --> 00:21:26,785
For a moment, I thought I'd have
to pay my own plane fare back.

329
00:21:26,785 --> 00:21:31,414
I grabbed Roman aside.
"Listen to me carefully, Roman.

330
00:21:31,414 --> 00:21:35,502
My ass ain't on the line. My ass is out the door,
and so are you.

331
00:21:35,502 --> 00:21:39,172
Now pick up the fuckin' pace,
or we'll both end up in Warsaw."

332
00:21:39,172 --> 00:21:43,009
Bluhdorn and company weren't the
only ones screaming about Roman.

333
00:21:43,009 --> 00:21:46,262
Another power entered the scene.

334
00:21:46,262 --> 00:21:49,891
My secretary comes in
with an urgent message.

335
00:21:49,891 --> 00:21:53,728
"Frank Sinatra's on the horn.
He wants to speak with you."

336
00:21:53,728 --> 00:21:57,440
I picked the phone up. "I'm pullin'
Mia from your fuckin' picture, Evans,

337
00:21:57,482 --> 00:22:00,068
if she ain't finished
by November 14.

338
00:22:00,068 --> 00:22:03,112
She's starting in my picture
on the 17th. Got it straight?"

339
00:22:03,112 --> 00:22:05,198
His picture happened
to have been The Detective,

340
00:22:05,198 --> 00:22:07,617
the project that had launched
my producing career.

341
00:22:07,617 --> 00:22:09,619
And now it was about to sink it.

342
00:22:09,619 --> 00:22:13,289
"Frank, you don't understand something.
We're not gonna be finished till mid-February."

343
00:22:13,289 --> 00:22:17,168
"Ah, then she's quittin'.
Don't fuck around with me.

344
00:22:17,168 --> 00:22:21,130
We go back too far. She's my old lady,
and she'll do as I tell her."

345
00:22:21,130 --> 00:22:24,133
Before I could say anything,
he hangs the phone up.

346
00:22:24,133 --> 00:22:26,719
Well, Frank didn't bark.

347
00:22:26,719 --> 00:22:30,348
He bit.
Bit Mia pretty good.

348
00:22:30,348 --> 00:22:33,476
"You stay in Rosemary's Baby,
you go back to Mia Farrow.

349
00:22:33,518 --> 00:22:36,145
Forget the name Sinatra."

350
00:22:36,145 --> 00:22:40,191
Suddenly,
this little girl hysterically runs into my office.

351
00:22:40,191 --> 00:22:44,153
"I love him,
Bob! I love him so! I don't wanna lose Frank!

352
00:22:44,153 --> 00:22:47,156
I'm gonna have to leave
the movie."

353
00:22:47,156 --> 00:22:50,994
"Mia, if you walk out in the middle of this film,
you'll never work again."

354
00:22:50,994 --> 00:22:54,163
"I don't care! I don't care!
I just love Frank."

355
00:22:54,163 --> 00:22:57,667
Well, if ever my experience
with dames came in handy...

356
00:22:57,667 --> 00:23:01,713
I mean, actress dames...
This was the moment.

357
00:23:01,713 --> 00:23:05,967
I knew what makes the head
of an actress tick,

358
00:23:05,967 --> 00:23:08,428
and I finally found its purpose.

359
00:23:08,428 --> 00:23:11,139
"Come on with me, Mia.
I wanna show you something."

360
00:23:11,139 --> 00:23:13,266
We both walked into
the executive screening room,

361
00:23:13,266 --> 00:23:17,061
and I showed her a full hour of
Rosemary's Baby cut together.

362
00:23:17,061 --> 00:23:20,440
Dr. Hill?
Dr. Hill, there's a plot.

363
00:23:20,440 --> 00:23:23,151
I know that sounds crazy,
and you're probably thinking,

364
00:23:23,151 --> 00:23:25,445
"My God, this poor girl
has really flipped."

365
00:23:25,445 --> 00:23:27,780
But I... I haven't flipped,
Dr. Hill.

366
00:23:27,780 --> 00:23:30,700
I swear by all the saints,
I haven't.

367
00:23:30,700 --> 00:23:33,912
"Mia, you're brilliant.

368
00:23:33,912 --> 00:23:38,207
I never thought you had
it in you. It'll shock 'em all.

369
00:23:38,207 --> 00:23:42,462
I want you to know something. You're
a shoo-in to win the Academy Award."

370
00:23:42,462 --> 00:23:46,841
Suddenly, her tears were gone.
Her face lights up.

371
00:23:46,841 --> 00:23:49,260
"Do you really think so?"

372
00:23:49,260 --> 00:23:51,888
"The one thing I'm not
is prone to exaggerate, Mia.

373
00:23:51,888 --> 00:23:54,891
You're a shoo-in.
I mean, a shoo-in, kid."

374
00:23:54,891 --> 00:23:58,019
"Sinatra who?"
Suddenly, a smile.

375
00:23:58,019 --> 00:24:01,064
She didn't walk off the film.

376
00:24:01,064 --> 00:24:03,566
But Frank did serve her divorce
papers right on the set,

377
00:24:03,608 --> 00:24:05,234
delivered by Mickey Rudin,
his attorney.

378
00:24:05,234 --> 00:24:07,654
Wow, it's strange.
Women recover real quick.

379
00:24:07,654 --> 00:24:10,406
It may
have taken her a full week.

380
00:24:10,406 --> 00:24:13,743
And then, suddenly, the only thing
she wanted was that Rosemary's Baby...

381
00:24:13,743 --> 00:24:15,995
would out-gross The Detective.

382
00:24:15,995 --> 00:24:18,456
You want to know
about actresses?

383
00:24:18,456 --> 00:24:21,417
Mia's one satisfaction
would be...

384
00:24:21,417 --> 00:24:25,129
that the pictures would open on the same day,
and I arranged that.

385
00:24:25,129 --> 00:24:28,299
The Detective opened
to real good box office.

386
00:24:28,299 --> 00:24:31,052
Ah, but Rosemary's Baby
was the smash hit of the summer.

387
00:24:32,136 --> 00:24:34,681
Overnight, Mia was
a full-fledged star.

388
00:24:36,683 --> 00:24:38,601
She had one request
I couldn't fill:

389
00:24:38,643 --> 00:24:41,896
Take a double-page ad out in the
Daily Variety and Hollywood Reporter.

390
00:24:41,896 --> 00:24:46,234
On one side, she wanted me to put in bold
numbers the theater grosses of Rosemary's Baby.

391
00:24:46,234 --> 00:24:48,945
On the other, the theater
grosses of The Detective.

392
00:24:50,905 --> 00:24:54,909
Hell hath no fury
like a woman scorned.

393
00:25:10,299 --> 00:25:15,304
A decade before, Norma Shearer
took me for a short walk.

394
00:25:15,304 --> 00:25:19,976
Within 10 minutes of the Beverly Hills Hotel,
we entered a hidden oasis.

395
00:25:19,976 --> 00:25:23,021
It was a world away
from Beverly Hills.

396
00:25:25,314 --> 00:25:29,652
It was protected by
hundred-foot-tall eucalyptus trees.

397
00:25:29,652 --> 00:25:33,156
Greta Garbo used to hide away
there whenever she came into town.

398
00:25:34,741 --> 00:25:37,827
I'd never forgotten the day
I was there.

399
00:25:37,827 --> 00:25:40,663
God, it must have been
a hundred times I thought,

400
00:25:40,705 --> 00:25:44,333
"One day, I could own that house. God,
I'd love to live there."

401
00:25:47,336 --> 00:25:51,174
The grounds, the trees, the acreage,
the towering eucalyptus,

402
00:25:51,174 --> 00:25:55,928
thousands of roses,
everything is quiet and secret behind walls.

403
00:26:00,892 --> 00:26:03,394
Was it for sale? No.

404
00:26:03,394 --> 00:26:06,022
But in L.A.,
there's nothing that isn't.

405
00:26:07,315 --> 00:26:10,193
For 290,000 buckaroos,

406
00:26:10,193 --> 00:26:12,445
the place of my dreams
was now mine.

407
00:26:15,782 --> 00:26:17,408
♪♪

408
00:26:19,786 --> 00:26:22,497
♪ Hey, Sunday sun ♪

409
00:26:24,665 --> 00:26:30,838
♪ Let's go walking and
we'll talk about some things ♪

410
00:26:32,548 --> 00:26:34,383
♪ Kick my shoes off ♪

411
00:26:34,383 --> 00:26:38,805
♪ And we'll dream
about some dreams ♪

412
00:26:40,348 --> 00:26:47,188
♪ Got to get away
when the world gets on me

413
00:26:47,188 --> 00:26:50,358
♪ Kids in the park ♪

414
00:26:52,235 --> 00:27:00,076
♪ Don't take long before
I'm laughin' along with them ♪

415
00:27:00,076 --> 00:27:07,708
♪ Almost makes me think
those times can come again ♪

416
00:27:07,708 --> 00:27:13,589
♪ Gets me feeling good
and yet sad at the same time ♪

417
00:27:13,589 --> 00:27:17,260
♪ Sunday sun ♪♪
♪ Glory, glory, hallelujah ♪

418
00:27:17,260 --> 00:27:19,929
In the mid-to-late '60s,

419
00:27:19,929 --> 00:27:22,473
movie attendance
was spiraling south.

420
00:27:22,473 --> 00:27:26,060
Outside the gates of Paramount,
a cultural revolution was taking place.

421
00:27:26,060 --> 00:27:30,189
The so-called brass at the studios
didn't know who to cater their movies to...

422
00:27:30,189 --> 00:27:32,692
The old guard,
who we thought wanted to see...

423
00:27:32,692 --> 00:27:36,154
their favorite aging movie stars
in lavish productions,

424
00:27:36,154 --> 00:27:39,282
or the youth, who no one
seemed to understand.

425
00:27:39,282 --> 00:27:43,119
In the same year alone,
Paramount released Medium Cool,

426
00:27:43,119 --> 00:27:47,206
a film catering to
the so-called "youth" market,

427
00:27:47,206 --> 00:27:50,918
and Paint Your Wagon,
a film that catered to... no one.

428
00:27:50,918 --> 00:27:55,173
♪ And it's carryin' lips
that are wine ♪

429
00:27:55,173 --> 00:27:58,217
♪ And it's comin' with arms
that are pillows ♪

430
00:27:58,217 --> 00:28:01,888
We were losing money every year
on big, extravagant productions.

431
00:28:01,888 --> 00:28:03,598
The board of directors
were getting nervous.

432
00:28:03,598 --> 00:28:06,642
We needed a picture
that could unite audiences.

433
00:28:06,642 --> 00:28:09,896
Like all good films, it needed
to start with a script.

434
00:28:09,896 --> 00:28:12,982
Well, we found it.

435
00:28:12,982 --> 00:28:15,818
Or should I say,
Miss MacGraw found it.

436
00:28:15,860 --> 00:28:20,740
A simple little film about a boy
and a girl falling in love.

437
00:28:20,740 --> 00:28:23,326
It was Love Story.

438
00:28:23,326 --> 00:28:27,371
I set up a lunch date with
Love Story's mentor and star,

439
00:28:27,371 --> 00:28:29,498
Miss MacGraw.

440
00:28:29,498 --> 00:28:32,168
Damn it, by the time
dessert was served,

441
00:28:32,168 --> 00:28:34,420
I would have made
the phone book with her.

442
00:28:34,420 --> 00:28:37,882
Do you think she got to me?
I can tell you this.

443
00:28:37,882 --> 00:28:40,468
I sure as hell
didn't get to her.

444
00:28:40,468 --> 00:28:44,013
She kept on digging into me.
Oh, and she was loving it.

445
00:28:44,013 --> 00:28:48,809
She keeps on interjecting,
all during the lunch how much in love she was.

446
00:28:48,809 --> 00:28:52,021
Then she gives me
her last zinger.

447
00:28:52,021 --> 00:28:54,273
"Peter and I are getting married
in the fall.

448
00:28:54,273 --> 00:28:56,651
We plan to spend October
in Venice. Ever been there?"

449
00:28:56,651 --> 00:28:58,277
"Nope."

450
00:28:58,277 --> 00:29:02,406
"Then wait. Only go there
when you're madly in love."

451
00:29:02,406 --> 00:29:05,326
That was it for me.
I grabbed her arm.

452
00:29:05,326 --> 00:29:09,288
"Never plan, kid.
Planning's for the poor."

453
00:29:09,288 --> 00:29:14,043
"If anything goes wrong between you and
blondie between now and post time, take my number.

454
00:29:14,043 --> 00:29:16,254
I'm seven digits away."

455
00:29:17,421 --> 00:29:20,424
Hate to admit it,
but she never called.

456
00:29:22,218 --> 00:29:27,306
In the spring of 1969, holding Love
Story sure as hell wasn't holding aces.

457
00:29:27,306 --> 00:29:30,559
I couldn't even find
a fucking director to do it.

458
00:29:30,559 --> 00:29:32,895
You know what my batting
average was? A thousand.

459
00:29:32,937 --> 00:29:35,231
Everyone turned it down.

460
00:29:35,231 --> 00:29:38,859
Suddenly,
a minor miracle. I get a director. Arthur Hiller.

461
00:29:38,859 --> 00:29:42,571
He's willing to direct
my angel with a very dirty face.

462
00:29:42,571 --> 00:29:46,409
Well, when you get a first bite,
there's no way you're gonna let it go.

463
00:29:48,244 --> 00:29:53,249
It was a Wednesday night. Suddenly,
Miss Snotnose remembers my seven digits.

464
00:29:53,249 --> 00:29:55,334
This was one angry broad.

465
00:29:55,334 --> 00:29:58,087
I say angry
with a capital "A."

466
00:29:58,087 --> 00:30:00,006
"The audacity you have,
Mr. Evans,

467
00:30:00,006 --> 00:30:03,426
to sign a director I've never even
heard of without consulting me.

468
00:30:03,426 --> 00:30:06,595
It's my property. I'm doing
the picture for slave wages.

469
00:30:06,595 --> 00:30:09,056
I'm living up
to my option agreement.

470
00:30:09,056 --> 00:30:11,475
"Have you forgotten the word
'courtesy?"'

471
00:30:11,475 --> 00:30:14,687
I thought
I was hyperventilating.

472
00:30:14,687 --> 00:30:19,150
"Ali, listen to me. Why don't
you come out to L.A. tomorrow?

473
00:30:19,150 --> 00:30:23,279
Take a look at Hiller's film. If you
don't like it, we'll get someone else.

474
00:30:23,279 --> 00:30:26,449
Trust me.
I think you'll enjoy it."

475
00:30:34,040 --> 00:30:38,586
The next night at 5:00, I pick up Snotnose
MacGraw in the lobby of the Beverly Hills Hotel.

476
00:30:38,586 --> 00:30:43,507
Did it bug me? You bet,
needing this starlet's nod of approval.

477
00:30:43,507 --> 00:30:45,551
I was hoping
she wouldn't like Hiller...

478
00:30:45,551 --> 00:30:48,346
so I could tell her
she was a one-way ticket east.

479
00:30:48,346 --> 00:30:51,057
Her flick's over and out.
Canceled.

480
00:30:51,057 --> 00:30:53,309
At least I'd get my nuts off.

481
00:30:54,935 --> 00:30:57,396
I'm saying to myself, "Uh-uh.

482
00:30:57,396 --> 00:31:00,232
Miss Charming ain't
gonna get to me tonight."

483
00:31:02,526 --> 00:31:07,656
I walked her through my front doors, out and
around my pool, towards my projection room.

484
00:31:07,656 --> 00:31:11,494
Well, what I was thinking didn't
quite work out the way I thought.

485
00:31:11,494 --> 00:31:15,498
She looks up to me,
with her crooked tooth and all, and says,

486
00:31:15,498 --> 00:31:18,834
"I feel like I'm walking through
my own private park in Paris."

487
00:31:18,834 --> 00:31:22,088
Prepared for her bullshit charm,
it hardly made a ripple.

488
00:31:22,088 --> 00:31:25,925
Arthur Hiller's audition was
ready to roll. It never did.

489
00:31:25,925 --> 00:31:28,260
The screen never came down.

490
00:31:28,260 --> 00:31:31,931
Yeah, but Miss Flower Child
Snotnose...

491
00:31:31,931 --> 00:31:34,225
soon got wet... very wet...

492
00:31:34,225 --> 00:31:37,561
Jumping into the egg-shaped pool
totally clothed,

493
00:31:37,561 --> 00:31:39,647
from her shoes to her headband.

494
00:31:39,647 --> 00:31:42,149
Me?
I'm laughin' on the inside.

495
00:31:42,149 --> 00:31:44,235
I'm thinking, "For a bohemian",

496
00:31:44,235 --> 00:31:47,863
she sure as hell became
comfortable very quickly...

497
00:31:47,863 --> 00:31:51,158
behind them so-called
Beverly Hills gates...

498
00:31:51,158 --> 00:31:53,369
with 2,000 rose bushes,

499
00:31:53,369 --> 00:31:56,038
"surrounded by gardenias,
daisies, you name it."

500
00:31:56,038 --> 00:31:58,290
She called herself
a flower child,

501
00:31:58,290 --> 00:32:01,293
and now the flowers were hers.

502
00:32:04,547 --> 00:32:09,427
October 24, 1969,
a Friday morning,

503
00:32:09,427 --> 00:32:13,222
Miss Snotnose is on her way
to becoming Mrs. Evans.

504
00:32:13,222 --> 00:32:16,100
Both of us climb
into our Mercedes two-seater...

505
00:32:16,100 --> 00:32:19,228
and head for the town hall
in Riverside.

506
00:32:23,107 --> 00:32:27,486
Afterward,
we uncorked one magnum of Dom after the other.

507
00:32:27,486 --> 00:32:30,739
Where?
On the courthouse lawn.

508
00:32:30,739 --> 00:32:33,159
And did we get loaded.

509
00:32:35,369 --> 00:32:38,998
We had a long two-day honeymoon
in Palm Springs.

510
00:32:38,998 --> 00:32:41,459
I held Ali tight in my arms.

511
00:32:41,459 --> 00:32:43,919
"I love you, Evans. I love you.

512
00:32:43,919 --> 00:32:46,714
Forever, Evans. Forever."

513
00:32:46,714 --> 00:32:49,258
I whispered back,
"Forever, darling."

514
00:32:50,551 --> 00:32:53,387
"And promise me,
never leave me."

515
00:32:53,387 --> 00:32:58,017
"I promise you, baby, I won't.
Not even for two weeks.

516
00:32:58,017 --> 00:33:00,102
Not for one, kid."

517
00:33:00,102 --> 00:33:02,104
"I'm a hot lady, Evans."

518
00:33:02,146 --> 00:33:04,482
I hugged her and I kissed her.

519
00:33:04,482 --> 00:33:08,110
"Never change, baby.
Never change."

520
00:33:08,110 --> 00:33:11,864
"And never let anything get between us,
Evans. Promise?"

521
00:33:11,864 --> 00:33:13,782
"Promise."

522
00:33:37,640 --> 00:33:39,308
I forgot my key.

523
00:33:42,102 --> 00:33:44,772
Jenny, I... I'm sorry.

524
00:33:45,814 --> 00:33:48,317
Don't.

525
00:33:48,317 --> 00:33:50,611
Love means never having
to say you're sorry.

526
00:33:58,827 --> 00:34:02,414
"Cut!" says Hiller.
"That's it. We've got it.

527
00:34:02,414 --> 00:34:05,834
You did a good job, Ali.
You had me in tears."

528
00:34:05,834 --> 00:34:10,130
She runs over to me,
smothers me with kisses.

529
00:34:10,130 --> 00:34:14,468
"Evans, did you really like it?
The tears, they were for you."

530
00:34:14,468 --> 00:34:18,305
My eyes start to swell.
I actually started crying.

531
00:34:18,305 --> 00:34:23,060
Crying about happiness and feeling
that I'm the luckiest guy in the whole world.

532
00:34:23,060 --> 00:34:25,312
Camelot was ours.

533
00:34:25,312 --> 00:34:28,107
Well, at least I thought it was.

534
00:34:30,276 --> 00:34:32,653
"Evans, there's a big problem."

535
00:34:32,653 --> 00:34:36,031
The board of directors,
they want me out of Paramount.

536
00:34:36,031 --> 00:34:39,827
They can't afford it anymore. It's
turning a cash flow into a cash drought.

537
00:34:39,827 --> 00:34:43,622
They've had it. They want me out,
too, out of show business.

538
00:34:43,622 --> 00:34:47,167
"Get back to what I do best.
Making money, not movies."

539
00:34:47,167 --> 00:34:51,797
Charlie was not prone to making practical jokes,
and this was no joke.

540
00:34:51,797 --> 00:34:54,967
"Fuck 'em, Charlie.
Stall 'em if you can.

541
00:34:54,967 --> 00:34:58,220
With your eyes closed,
you can buy another quarter. I know you can.

542
00:34:58,220 --> 00:35:01,223
Give us one more shot at the table. You can do it,
Charlie."

543
00:35:01,265 --> 00:35:03,642
"Evans, the board's
already decided.

544
00:35:03,642 --> 00:35:05,811
They called an emergency
meeting a week from tomorrow.

545
00:35:05,811 --> 00:35:08,856
The studio will be closed
by the end of next week."

546
00:35:08,856 --> 00:35:11,400
Damn it. This couldn't
be happening to me.

547
00:35:11,400 --> 00:35:14,111
And we were just on a roll.

548
00:35:14,111 --> 00:35:16,030
Then it hit me.

549
00:35:16,030 --> 00:35:18,574
"Give me a half hour,
Charlie, with the board.

550
00:35:18,574 --> 00:35:20,909
Just one half hour,
that's all I need."

551
00:35:20,909 --> 00:35:23,912
"Evans, the one person
they don't wanna see is you.

552
00:35:23,912 --> 00:35:25,831
Are you crazy, Evans?"

553
00:35:25,831 --> 00:35:28,292
"Yeah.
But crazy good, Charlie.

554
00:35:28,292 --> 00:35:31,545
Love Story.

555
00:35:31,545 --> 00:35:34,298
And I'm gonna build
a hand around it."

556
00:35:34,298 --> 00:35:39,011
"All right, Evans. You got a half
hour. That's all, just a half hour.

557
00:35:39,011 --> 00:35:41,597
Be in New York next Monday
at the board meeting.

558
00:35:41,597 --> 00:35:44,725
And buy a one-way ticket,
and don't be late."

559
00:35:44,725 --> 00:35:47,561
Peter Bart asked Mike Nichols
for an afternoon of his time...

560
00:35:47,561 --> 00:35:49,938
to film a presentation reel
for his boss to deliver...

561
00:35:49,938 --> 00:35:53,901
to the board of directors
of Gulf and Western.

562
00:35:53,901 --> 00:35:58,155
Mike directed me in, I'm sure,
the best performance of my life.

563
00:35:58,155 --> 00:36:02,326
"Where were you, Mike, when I needed
you 10 years ago when I was an actor?"

564
00:36:04,953 --> 00:36:08,415
That Sunday at 6:00 p.m.,
I caught the red-eye into New York.

565
00:36:08,415 --> 00:36:11,752
No luggage, but a can
of film under my arm.

566
00:36:11,752 --> 00:36:14,338
This was our
one and only chance.

567
00:36:14,338 --> 00:36:17,966
If the film didn't play,
the board of directors would shut down the studio,

568
00:36:17,966 --> 00:36:19,843
effective immediately.

569
00:36:20,969 --> 00:36:23,430
As I walked into
the Gulf and Western building,

570
00:36:23,430 --> 00:36:26,767
Bluhdorn handed me
my walking papers.

571
00:36:26,767 --> 00:36:29,603
"Well, Evans,
at least we tried."

572
00:36:29,603 --> 00:36:31,647
I pushed them away.

573
00:36:31,647 --> 00:36:33,982
"Hold these for another 20 minutes,
will you, Charlie?"

574
00:36:36,902 --> 00:36:41,073
I walked into the boardroom,
a 100-to-1 shot.

575
00:36:41,073 --> 00:36:45,202
Before me sat 16 of America's
finest non-smilers.

576
00:36:45,202 --> 00:36:47,913
"Gentlemen, I apologize
for not being better dressed,

577
00:36:47,913 --> 00:36:50,791
but when you've got
a one-way ticket and no hotel,

578
00:36:50,791 --> 00:36:54,128
it ain't that easy to keep up
with the style of the room."

579
00:36:54,128 --> 00:36:56,588
Not a laugh.
Not a crack.

580
00:36:56,588 --> 00:36:58,799
Not even a white
of a tooth in sight.

581
00:37:00,801 --> 00:37:02,553
Quickly, I stepped out
of the room...

582
00:37:02,553 --> 00:37:05,764
and handed the projectionist
Paramount's future.

583
00:37:08,016 --> 00:37:11,353
Good afternoon.
My name is Robert Evans,

584
00:37:11,353 --> 00:37:14,022
and I'm senior vice president
of Paramount Pictures.

585
00:37:14,022 --> 00:37:18,944
By the way, uh, this is...
This is not my office.

586
00:37:18,944 --> 00:37:21,613
We tried to shoot
this scene in my office.

587
00:37:21,613 --> 00:37:23,699
We brought the cameras up,
but there was one problem:

588
00:37:23,699 --> 00:37:26,285
My office is too small
to get the cameras in.

589
00:37:26,285 --> 00:37:30,205
I came down to the studio to
borrow a set from The Young Lawyers,

590
00:37:30,205 --> 00:37:32,040
and that's where we are now.

591
00:37:32,040 --> 00:37:36,545
As a matter of fact,
I don't even have offices at the studio anymore.

592
00:37:36,545 --> 00:37:39,715
Last year,
we packed up our gear,

593
00:37:39,715 --> 00:37:42,217
cut down our staff,
tightened our belts,

594
00:37:42,217 --> 00:37:45,220
and moved into small quarters at
little offices in Beverly Hills.

595
00:37:45,220 --> 00:37:47,389
They're good enough for us,
believe me, they are.

596
00:37:47,389 --> 00:37:51,894
These, uh, past few years
have been rough for Hollywood.

597
00:37:51,894 --> 00:37:54,438
We've made a lot of mistakes.

598
00:37:54,438 --> 00:37:58,734
Some people have learned from them,
and some people haven't. We have.

599
00:37:58,734 --> 00:38:01,904
The money we spend is not
gonna be to extravagances.

600
00:38:01,904 --> 00:38:04,239
The money we spend is gonna be
on the screen.

601
00:38:04,239 --> 00:38:08,410
And speaking of the screen, I think, well,
maybe that's the reason we're here today.

602
00:38:08,410 --> 00:38:12,664
I'd like to have the opportunity of
showing you some of our product for 1971.

603
00:38:15,167 --> 00:38:18,504
And right now,
we're approaching Christmas,

604
00:38:18,504 --> 00:38:21,590
and Paramount's Christmas gift
to the world is Love Story.

605
00:38:23,383 --> 00:38:26,595
I think Love Story is gonna
start a new trend in movies.

606
00:38:26,595 --> 00:38:30,432
A trend towards the romantic,
towards love,

607
00:38:30,432 --> 00:38:33,101
towards people,

608
00:38:33,101 --> 00:38:36,313
towards telling a story
about how it feels...

609
00:38:36,313 --> 00:38:38,273
rather than where it's at.

610
00:38:38,273 --> 00:38:42,402
I think Love Story
is going to bring the people...

611
00:38:42,402 --> 00:38:44,238
back into the theater in droves.

612
00:38:47,616 --> 00:38:49,451
I could go on for an hour...

613
00:38:49,493 --> 00:38:53,413
and tell you about 20 or 30 projects
that are in various stages of development...

614
00:38:53,413 --> 00:38:55,624
and bore you with it,
so I won't.

615
00:38:55,624 --> 00:38:58,961
But I wanna bring up one project,
and that's The Godfather.

616
00:38:58,961 --> 00:39:01,129
I bring it up
for several reasons.

617
00:39:01,129 --> 00:39:04,091
One, that it's starting
production next month.

618
00:39:04,091 --> 00:39:07,803
Two, that's it's gonna be
our next Christmas's picture.

619
00:39:07,803 --> 00:39:11,139
And three,
to bring up the similarity...

620
00:39:11,139 --> 00:39:13,433
between The Godfather
and Love Story,

621
00:39:13,433 --> 00:39:17,604
which are the two biggest books
of the last decade.

622
00:39:17,604 --> 00:39:19,356
Paramount owns them both.

623
00:39:19,356 --> 00:39:22,693
But Paramount has more
than just owning them both.

624
00:39:22,693 --> 00:39:25,237
We didn't sit back
in our plush chairs...

625
00:39:25,237 --> 00:39:28,490
and write a check out for a million or a
million-and-a-half dollars for the books,

626
00:39:28,532 --> 00:39:30,784
which happens so often
in our industry.

627
00:39:30,784 --> 00:39:32,828
We developed both
of these books.

628
00:39:32,828 --> 00:39:36,498
If it weren't for Paramount,
the book Love Story would never have been written.

629
00:39:36,540 --> 00:39:39,918
If it weren't for Paramount,
The Godfather would never have been written.

630
00:39:39,918 --> 00:39:44,298
Because we were in there in the beginning,
spurring the writers on, working closely with them,

631
00:39:44,298 --> 00:39:47,009
to make these books
the best sellers that they are,

632
00:39:47,009 --> 00:39:49,970
and what we think will be the
great movies they're going to be.

633
00:39:49,970 --> 00:39:52,723
We at Paramount
don't look at ourselves...

634
00:39:52,723 --> 00:39:55,934
as passive backers of film.

635
00:39:55,934 --> 00:39:59,271
We look at ourselves as a
creative force unto ourself.

636
00:39:59,271 --> 00:40:01,023
And that is why...

637
00:40:01,023 --> 00:40:04,234
Paramount is going to be
paramount in the industry in the '70s.

638
00:40:04,234 --> 00:40:05,611
I promise you that.

639
00:40:08,280 --> 00:40:11,199
Ten minutes later,
Bluhdorn walked in.

640
00:40:11,199 --> 00:40:15,120
"Well, I'm fired, huh?"

641
00:40:15,120 --> 00:40:17,497
"You're a bigger fraud
than I thought."

642
00:40:17,497 --> 00:40:22,210
"You're some showman, Evans. You
really pulled the wool over their eyes."

643
00:40:22,210 --> 00:40:25,631
No kiss on the lips,
but a Bluhdorn hug.

644
00:40:25,631 --> 00:40:30,302
And that's more than an engagement
ring. It was the gold band itself.

645
00:40:30,302 --> 00:40:33,764
Then in typical Bluhdorn
fashion, "Go back to work.

646
00:40:33,764 --> 00:40:36,850
We need pictures.
And you need plenty of mazel."

647
00:40:47,444 --> 00:40:49,947
On December 16, 1970,

648
00:40:49,947 --> 00:40:55,243
Love Story had its world premiere at
the Loew's State Theater in New York.

649
00:40:55,243 --> 00:40:57,245
The lights went down.

650
00:40:57,245 --> 00:41:00,958
Francis Lai's haunting
piano strings started up.

651
00:41:00,958 --> 00:41:04,670
Ryan O'Neal, alone and bereft
in a snowy Central Park,

652
00:41:04,670 --> 00:41:06,463
said in a voice-over...

653
00:41:06,463 --> 00:41:10,133
What can you say about
a 25-year-old girl who died?

654
00:41:10,133 --> 00:41:12,260
Love Story didn't open.

655
00:41:12,260 --> 00:41:14,137
It exploded.

656
00:41:14,137 --> 00:41:18,475
All over the world, boys and girls would
walk out of that theater in love for the night.

657
00:41:18,475 --> 00:41:22,479
Why did it do such business? A guy
would take a different girl every night.

658
00:41:22,479 --> 00:41:27,985
I think there were more pregnancies
over Love Story than any film ever made.

659
00:41:27,985 --> 00:41:31,655
People went back to see it
three, four, five, six times.

660
00:41:31,655 --> 00:41:35,158
It was an aphrodisiac.

661
00:41:35,158 --> 00:41:39,955
It even got raves from the
critics. This I couldn't believe.

662
00:41:39,955 --> 00:41:44,376
Time magazine said it started a "new Hollywood,"
and Ali ended up on its cover.

663
00:41:50,716 --> 00:41:53,927
Me?
I felt like Casanova.

664
00:41:53,927 --> 00:41:57,055
The most extraordinary lady
in the world on my arm,

665
00:41:57,055 --> 00:41:59,975
and in her belly,
a little Evans to be.

666
00:41:59,975 --> 00:42:01,476
Hey, Ali.
What's new?

667
00:42:05,147 --> 00:42:08,316
Yep. No, you can say
that on television now.

668
00:42:08,316 --> 00:42:11,570
Go ahead. Okay. Well,
I'm gonna have a baby.

669
00:42:11,570 --> 00:42:13,822
Isn't that great?

670
00:42:14,906 --> 00:42:17,993
That's... That's beautiful.
Are you excited?

671
00:42:17,993 --> 00:42:20,370
Oh, sure.
It's fabulous.

672
00:42:20,370 --> 00:42:23,373
We're expecting to talk about your
expecting today on Dinah's Place.

673
00:42:23,373 --> 00:42:26,835
I'd have to say no two people
in the entire world...

674
00:42:26,835 --> 00:42:30,088
were happier
than Ali and myself.

675
00:42:30,088 --> 00:42:34,176
We had to pinch ourselves each day
to believe all this was happening to us.

676
00:42:34,176 --> 00:42:37,095
We had our Joshua.
We had ourselves.

677
00:42:37,095 --> 00:42:39,014
Ali and Jackie Kennedy,
at the moment,

678
00:42:39,014 --> 00:42:42,184
were considered the two
most admired women in America.

679
00:42:42,184 --> 00:42:44,644
And me? I'm sure
the luckiest motherfucker.

680
00:42:47,355 --> 00:42:50,025
♪ La, la, la, la, la, la
la, la, la, la ♪

681
00:42:50,025 --> 00:42:53,236
♪ La, la, la, la, la, la
La, la, la, la ♪

682
00:42:53,236 --> 00:42:55,697
♪ La, la, la, la, la
La, la, la, la, la ♪

683
00:42:55,739 --> 00:42:59,868
For the first time since I became head of
the studio, I finally had some job security.

684
00:42:59,868 --> 00:43:02,079
Now it's garbage.

685
00:43:03,622 --> 00:43:07,000
We had put together a string of hits,
including Rosemary's Baby,

686
00:43:07,000 --> 00:43:08,710
Harold and Maude,
The Odd Couple,

687
00:43:08,752 --> 00:43:12,297
True Grit and Love Story.

688
00:43:12,297 --> 00:43:16,760
In 1970, we finally reached
the mountaintop.

689
00:43:16,760 --> 00:43:19,304
That air smelled
mighty good up there.

690
00:43:19,304 --> 00:43:22,557
Of all the major studios,
Paramount was now in first place.

691
00:43:22,557 --> 00:43:26,603
It's hard to believe that just four years earlier,
we were in ninth.

692
00:43:26,603 --> 00:43:30,232
It was the beginning of what would
become the golden era of the New Hollywood.

693
00:43:32,275 --> 00:43:36,905
Over the next four years,
we would collect a 144 Oscar nominations,

694
00:43:36,905 --> 00:43:40,325
stay number-one, and go through a streak of hits,
that, to this day, is unprecedented.

695
00:43:40,325 --> 00:43:45,080
♪ Oh, baby
Baby, it's a wild world ♪

696
00:43:45,080 --> 00:43:48,375
♪ I'll always remember you ♪

697
00:43:48,375 --> 00:43:51,878
If I had to pick
our crowning jewel,

698
00:43:51,878 --> 00:43:54,840
I'd say it was a 30-page
treatment to a novel called Mafia,

699
00:43:54,840 --> 00:43:57,175
written by Mario Puzo.

700
00:43:57,175 --> 00:43:59,094
In turning the treatment
into a novel,

701
00:43:59,094 --> 00:44:02,139
Mario asked me if he could
change the name to Godfather.

702
00:44:02,139 --> 00:44:06,476
"Sure, why not?" I never
thought he would finish it anyway.

703
00:44:06,476 --> 00:44:10,272
Well, he finished it. It became
the biggest book of the decade.

704
00:44:10,272 --> 00:44:12,691
And there I was,
holding the Hope diamond.

705
00:44:12,691 --> 00:44:15,068
Euphoria?
Uh-uh, wrong.

706
00:44:15,068 --> 00:44:17,654
Paramount didn't wanna
make the film.

707
00:44:17,654 --> 00:44:22,492
"Sicilian mobster films don't play." That's
what these distribution guys had to say.

708
00:44:22,492 --> 00:44:25,829
"And when you bat zero,
don't make another sucker bet."

709
00:44:25,829 --> 00:44:31,334
I called up Peter Bart at the studio
late that night. "What the fuck do we do?"

710
00:44:31,334 --> 00:44:36,256
Peter shook his head, laughed,
"Evans, we got a problem."

711
00:44:36,256 --> 00:44:40,177
"No, we don't. We've gotta find a solution,
Peter."

712
00:44:40,177 --> 00:44:43,471
It must have been after 2:00
in the morning, and we found it.

713
00:44:43,471 --> 00:44:47,058
Outside of red ink, every one of the
films shared another thing in common:

714
00:44:47,058 --> 00:44:49,561
They were written,
directed and produced,

715
00:44:49,561 --> 00:44:53,356
and usually starred Jews,
not Sicilians.

716
00:44:54,858 --> 00:44:58,445
"There's a thin line, Peter,
between a Jew and a Sicilian.

717
00:44:58,445 --> 00:45:02,407
We're gonna make a picture
that's gonna be Sicilian to the core.

718
00:45:02,407 --> 00:45:05,327
You're gonna smell
the spaghetti."

719
00:45:05,327 --> 00:45:10,290
There was one problem. It's hard to believe,
but in 1969...

720
00:45:10,290 --> 00:45:13,752
there wasn't a single
Italian-American director,

721
00:45:13,752 --> 00:45:16,129
that's with any credibility.

722
00:45:16,129 --> 00:45:19,007
Bart looks at me and he says,
"What about Coppola?"

723
00:45:19,007 --> 00:45:22,052
"Are you nuts?
One thing for sure is, he is."

724
00:45:22,052 --> 00:45:26,014
Bart snaps right back at me,
"Brilliant, though."

725
00:45:26,014 --> 00:45:29,517
"Yeah, yeah,
yeah. That's your esoteric bullshit coming out."

726
00:45:29,517 --> 00:45:32,812
Let's face it,
Bart. This genius has made three pictures.

727
00:45:32,812 --> 00:45:37,734
You're a Big Boy Now... some artsy-fartsy
kind of picture, that did no business.

728
00:45:37,734 --> 00:45:42,530
Finian's Rainbow, which was a top
Broadway musical... He made it into a disaster.

729
00:45:42,530 --> 00:45:46,201
And now he's got The Rain People out there,
which everyone's rained on.

730
00:45:46,201 --> 00:45:48,912
"There's gotta be someone else.
Come on."

731
00:45:48,912 --> 00:45:50,455
There wasn't.

732
00:45:50,455 --> 00:45:53,041
But then there was another
problem. Coppola didn't wanna do it.

733
00:45:54,209 --> 00:45:57,295
This guy couldn't get
a cartoon made in town.

734
00:45:57,295 --> 00:45:59,506
Yet he didn't wanna make
The Godfather.

735
00:45:59,506 --> 00:46:02,342
I gotta give the guy credit.
His convictions were strong.

736
00:46:02,342 --> 00:46:07,097
He didn't want to immortalize the
families that blackened his Italian heritage.

737
00:46:07,097 --> 00:46:10,100
After three long days
of discussion with this guy,

738
00:46:10,100 --> 00:46:12,477
Peter was on the horn.

739
00:46:12,477 --> 00:46:15,563
"Coppola will make the picture,
on one condition:

740
00:46:15,563 --> 00:46:18,608
That it's not a film about
organized gangsters."

741
00:46:18,608 --> 00:46:22,570
"It's not about organized
gangsters? It ain't a musical, Peter.

742
00:46:22,570 --> 00:46:26,950
I told you the guy's nuts. "He has an idea,
Evans. It's not bad.

743
00:46:26,950 --> 00:46:31,204
He wants to make it as a family chronicle,
a metaphor for capitalism in America."

744
00:46:31,204 --> 00:46:35,667
"Fuck him and the horse he rode in
on! He is nuts! Now get him outta here!"

745
00:46:35,667 --> 00:46:39,212
"Bob, I will if you want me to,
but take 10 steps first.

746
00:46:39,212 --> 00:46:41,381
Let's not forget,
he's Italian."

747
00:46:41,381 --> 00:46:44,259
I had less than 48 hours
to make the decision.

748
00:46:44,259 --> 00:46:47,595
Sell it, or shake hands
with the devil.

749
00:46:47,595 --> 00:46:50,598
Coppola was announced as
The Godfather's maestro.

750
00:46:53,560 --> 00:46:56,021
The shooting of The Godfather
should take several months,

751
00:46:56,021 --> 00:46:57,981
and the picture's scheduled
for release...

752
00:46:57,981 --> 00:47:01,609
sometime around Christmas 1971.

753
00:47:01,609 --> 00:47:04,821
So if, in the next few months,
you see some old cars dashing...

754
00:47:04,821 --> 00:47:06,823
around or about New York,

755
00:47:06,823 --> 00:47:10,702
or see a gentleman taking another gentleman
somewhere at the point of a loaded gun,

756
00:47:10,702 --> 00:47:13,747
don't raise a hue and cry,

757
00:47:13,747 --> 00:47:16,166
because it's only
the filming of The Godfather.

758
00:47:16,166 --> 00:47:19,294
But then, New Yorkers don't
raise a hue and cry...

759
00:47:19,294 --> 00:47:21,796
about that
sort of thing anyway, do they?

760
00:47:21,796 --> 00:47:24,632
This is Gene Huebert,
Fifth Avenue and 31st Street.

761
00:47:26,259 --> 00:47:29,929
It was the unveiling of
Francis's cut of The Godfather.

762
00:47:29,929 --> 00:47:31,514
In the theater sat Francis...

763
00:47:31,514 --> 00:47:34,684
with his quadrille of assistants
and editors and ass-kissers.

764
00:47:34,684 --> 00:47:37,354
Plus,
the rest of his production team were all there.

765
00:47:37,354 --> 00:47:39,439
The film was to open
in four months,

766
00:47:39,439 --> 00:47:42,650
Paramount's big
Christmas gift to the world.

767
00:47:42,650 --> 00:47:45,945
The lights went down.
The picture started.

768
00:47:45,945 --> 00:47:50,075
Two hours and six minutes later,
the room began to fill with light.

769
00:47:51,409 --> 00:47:55,955
"Francis, I wanna speak with you,
alone." I was on fire.

770
00:47:55,955 --> 00:47:59,501
And the prince himself took
a half hour to get to my office.

771
00:48:02,837 --> 00:48:05,048
"Thanks for showing, Francis."

772
00:48:05,048 --> 00:48:08,259
"I couldn't help it. All my boys were
telling me how great the picture is.

773
00:48:08,259 --> 00:48:10,387
They tell me
not to touch a frame."

774
00:48:10,387 --> 00:48:12,806
"The picture stinks, Francis.
Got it?"

775
00:48:12,806 --> 00:48:14,849
You shot a great film.
Where the fuck is it?

776
00:48:14,849 --> 00:48:18,728
In your kitchen with your
spaghetti? It sure ain't on the screen.

777
00:48:18,728 --> 00:48:20,855
Where's the family,
the heart, the feeling?

778
00:48:20,855 --> 00:48:24,776
"Is that left in the kitchen too?" Ooh,
did Coppola glare.

779
00:48:24,776 --> 00:48:29,531
"Schmuck. Name me a studio head that
tells a director to make a picture longer?"

780
00:48:29,531 --> 00:48:32,867
"Only a nut like me would.
But you're gonna do it.

781
00:48:32,867 --> 00:48:37,372
You shot a saga, pal,
but you turned in a trailer.

782
00:48:37,372 --> 00:48:39,791
Now, go back
and give me a movie."

783
00:48:41,418 --> 00:48:43,795
The next morning
I told the New York honchos...

784
00:48:43,795 --> 00:48:46,339
that the picture could
not be ready for Christmas.

785
00:48:46,339 --> 00:48:50,009
I didn't need a phone
to hear their screams.

786
00:48:50,009 --> 00:48:52,971
Coppola, of course
he agreed with them.

787
00:48:52,971 --> 00:48:55,557
"You've got it for Christmas.
Don't worry. Evans is crazy.

788
00:48:55,557 --> 00:48:57,684
He wants to change everything.

789
00:48:57,684 --> 00:49:01,104
Hear this.
He wants me to make it longer."

790
00:49:01,104 --> 00:49:04,983
Then I get my orders,
an unalterable.

791
00:49:04,983 --> 00:49:09,946
"Evans, the picture is to be ready for Christmas,
and that is it."

792
00:49:09,946 --> 00:49:12,073
"Fine. I quit."

793
00:49:12,115 --> 00:49:15,410
The year before they would've
booted me out on my ass.

794
00:49:15,410 --> 00:49:17,662
Yeah, but Love Story
saved Paramount,

795
00:49:17,662 --> 00:49:20,915
and I was their fair-haired boy.

796
00:49:20,915 --> 00:49:22,459
When you've only got one shot,

797
00:49:22,459 --> 00:49:25,712
either you pull down
that beautiful brass ring,

798
00:49:25,712 --> 00:49:28,298
or you get them brass knuckles
in the balls.

799
00:49:28,298 --> 00:49:31,217
You've got
no second time around.

800
00:49:31,217 --> 00:49:34,387
To Francis and
the entire company's chagrin,

801
00:49:34,387 --> 00:49:37,891
Bluhdorn backed me
and backed me all the way.

802
00:49:37,891 --> 00:49:40,268
Once again the eastern
seaboard is reminded...

803
00:49:40,268 --> 00:49:43,771
that winter is never over until
Jack Frost gets a hot foot...

804
00:49:43,771 --> 00:49:46,691
that will send him
scurrying on his way.

805
00:49:46,691 --> 00:49:49,444
It was the morning
of The Godfather premiere.

806
00:49:49,444 --> 00:49:51,613
Outside,
New York was suffering...

807
00:49:51,613 --> 00:49:54,365
through the worst
March blizzard of the decade.

808
00:49:54,365 --> 00:49:57,702
I was parked at the Carlyle Hotel
making last-minute preparations...

809
00:49:57,702 --> 00:50:00,914
when Ali came in from the cold.

810
00:50:00,914 --> 00:50:03,708
Against her strong wishes,
I packed her off to Texas...

811
00:50:03,708 --> 00:50:06,211
to star with Steve McQueen
in The Getaway.

812
00:50:06,211 --> 00:50:10,215
Two months had passed, and I hadn't
once bothered to visit her on location.

813
00:50:11,382 --> 00:50:13,426
Quickly we embraced.

814
00:50:13,426 --> 00:50:18,598
Instead of kissing her, I whispered,
"Wait here. I'm expecting a call."

815
00:50:18,598 --> 00:50:22,435
Weeks ago, I had invited
Henry Kissinger to the premiere.

816
00:50:22,435 --> 00:50:24,145
My timing
couldn't have been worse.

817
00:50:24,145 --> 00:50:28,316
The North Vietnamese offensive had just begun,
and, naturally, he begged off.

818
00:50:28,316 --> 00:50:32,070
"Hello. This is Robert Evans. May
I please speak to Dr. Kissinger?"

819
00:50:32,070 --> 00:50:35,698
"No, Dr. Kissinger's with the president,
Mr. Evans. He'll have to call you back."

820
00:50:35,698 --> 00:50:38,993
"Have him call me as soon as possible,
please. This is urgent."

821
00:50:38,993 --> 00:50:41,538
Quicker than a junior agent
at the William Morris Agency,

822
00:50:41,538 --> 00:50:43,831
within 10 minutes,
Kissinger's on the phone.

823
00:50:43,831 --> 00:50:47,835
"Bob, Bob, what's the urgency?"
"The Godfather."

824
00:50:47,835 --> 00:50:50,755
"What?" "Tonight it's for me,
Henry. It's the premiere.

825
00:50:50,755 --> 00:50:54,050
Win or lose, it would be worth
it if I could just walk in with you."

826
00:50:54,050 --> 00:50:56,761
"I have a 7:30 breakfast
I can't get out of, Bob.

827
00:50:56,761 --> 00:50:58,596
I'm leaving
the country tomorrow."

828
00:50:58,596 --> 00:51:02,475
"Henry, you didn't hear me.
I said I need you tonight."

829
00:51:02,475 --> 00:51:04,686
Only later did I learn
that his leaving the country...

830
00:51:04,686 --> 00:51:07,021
was, in actuality,
a secret mission to Moscow.

831
00:51:07,021 --> 00:51:09,524
The 7:30 breakfast was
with the Joint Chief of Staffs...

832
00:51:09,524 --> 00:51:12,652
to resolve the mining
of Haiphong Harbor.

833
00:51:12,652 --> 00:51:16,239
I hung up, quickly called Bluhdorn. "Charlie,
Kissinger's coming."

834
00:51:16,239 --> 00:51:20,034
"Kissinger? Kissinger? Evans,
I love you. I love you."

835
00:51:20,034 --> 00:51:23,871
That was Charlie Bluhdorn.
Not easy, but not bad either.

836
00:51:23,871 --> 00:51:25,540
♪♪

837
00:51:37,385 --> 00:51:39,053
The doors opened.

838
00:51:39,053 --> 00:51:43,391
Enough flashbulbs went off to light
up the entire state of New Jersey.

839
00:51:43,391 --> 00:51:46,311
On one arm, Ali MacGraw,
the ravishing Mrs. Evans.

840
00:51:46,311 --> 00:51:49,522
On the other,
the most charismatic statesman in the world.

841
00:51:49,522 --> 00:51:50,940
Was this really happening to me?

842
00:51:52,191 --> 00:51:55,653
♪ Was doing a thing
called the crocodile rock ♪

843
00:51:55,653 --> 00:51:58,740
♪ While the other kids
were rockin' round the clock ♪

844
00:51:58,740 --> 00:52:01,618
♪ We were hoppin' and boppin'
to the crocodile rock ♪

845
00:52:01,618 --> 00:52:05,079
♪ Well, crocodile rockin'
is something shockin' ♪

846
00:52:05,079 --> 00:52:08,583
When your feet
just can't keep still ♪

847
00:52:08,583 --> 00:52:11,586
♪ I never knew me
a better time ♪

848
00:52:11,586 --> 00:52:14,505
♪ And I guess I never will ♪♪

849
00:52:18,092 --> 00:52:20,803
It was a blast.

850
00:52:20,803 --> 00:52:24,432
I played master of ceremonies,
introducing anyone and everyone.

851
00:52:24,432 --> 00:52:26,351
The screaming,
the fights, the threats...

852
00:52:26,351 --> 00:52:30,229
that never let up since day
one of filming were worth it.

853
00:52:30,229 --> 00:52:33,524
Even Francis Coppola, the director,
whom I had hired over Paramount's objections...

854
00:52:33,524 --> 00:52:38,029
and then personally fired four different times,
came over to hug me,

855
00:52:38,029 --> 00:52:40,948
closing the book on two years
of terrible battles.

856
00:52:43,993 --> 00:52:47,789
Ali, well,
she never looked more radiant.

857
00:52:47,789 --> 00:52:50,708
For the rest of the night,
we danced as one.

858
00:52:50,708 --> 00:52:52,502
Holding her tightly in my arms,

859
00:52:52,502 --> 00:52:55,505
I felt I was
the luckiest man in the world.

860
00:52:55,505 --> 00:52:58,633
Could be
the highest moment of my life.

861
00:52:58,633 --> 00:53:01,719
Was I dreaming it?

862
00:53:01,719 --> 00:53:05,765
Any man who thinks he can
read the mind of a woman...

863
00:53:05,765 --> 00:53:07,975
is a man who knows nothing.

864
00:53:10,478 --> 00:53:12,730
A month later, I was in Paris...

865
00:53:12,730 --> 00:53:16,025
working on the translation
of The Godfather...

866
00:53:16,025 --> 00:53:19,821
into French, Italian,
German and Spanish.

867
00:53:19,821 --> 00:53:22,990
I called up Ali on the set
of The Getaway,

868
00:53:22,990 --> 00:53:25,493
but there
was no answer in her room.

869
00:53:25,493 --> 00:53:29,789
Jumping up in a cold sweat from a bad dream,
I called El Paso again.

870
00:53:29,789 --> 00:53:31,791
No Ali.

871
00:53:31,791 --> 00:53:34,127
"Nah," I said to myself.
"It couldn't be."

872
00:53:36,295 --> 00:53:39,424
Later that afternoon,
I connected.

873
00:53:39,424 --> 00:53:42,510
"Where the hell
have you been, baby?"

874
00:53:42,510 --> 00:53:46,180
"I fell asleep
in my dressing room."

875
00:53:46,180 --> 00:53:47,974
"You're lying, Ali."

876
00:53:50,017 --> 00:53:53,271
"You're with McQueen,
aren't you?"

877
00:53:53,271 --> 00:53:54,939
"That's right."

878
00:53:54,939 --> 00:53:57,358
"Well, expect me
in El Paso tomorrow."

879
00:53:57,400 --> 00:54:01,612
"It's too late,
Evans. You missed the plane a long time ago."

880
00:54:03,239 --> 00:54:05,867
I flew out that night to Texas.

881
00:54:05,867 --> 00:54:09,954
Joshua and his nanny
were at the airport to greet me.

882
00:54:09,954 --> 00:54:12,039
But no Ali.

883
00:54:12,039 --> 00:54:16,335
I checked into a hotel
20 miles out of town.

884
00:54:16,335 --> 00:54:20,256
Holding back my tears,
I played with my son for the next hours.

885
00:54:20,256 --> 00:54:22,383
Ali arrived
at 9:00 that evening.

886
00:54:22,425 --> 00:54:27,346
The last thing she wanted was to
spend the night with me, but she did.

887
00:54:27,346 --> 00:54:30,933
The next evening she didn't
return to my border hideout.

888
00:54:30,933 --> 00:54:33,686
I sped into town,
ran up the stairs to Ali's hotel...

889
00:54:33,686 --> 00:54:35,480
and banged on the door.

890
00:54:35,480 --> 00:54:38,858
"I need time to think, Evans. Please,
please, let me finish the picture...

891
00:54:38,858 --> 00:54:40,777
and get home,
for Josh's sake."

892
00:54:42,570 --> 00:54:45,406
On the plane back to L.A.,
I checked my watch.

893
00:54:45,448 --> 00:54:48,242
How could I have been
so fucking dumb?

894
00:54:48,242 --> 00:54:52,038
It's an hour-and-40-minute
flight. I never once took it,

895
00:54:52,038 --> 00:54:55,082
until infidelity
got me off my ass.

896
00:55:00,713 --> 00:55:04,926
Ali and McQueen had been
having an affair for months.

897
00:55:04,926 --> 00:55:07,970
Was it her fault?
Mm-mmm.

898
00:55:07,970 --> 00:55:09,806
It was mine.

899
00:55:09,806 --> 00:55:14,185
I ignored her one promise...
Never to leave her.

900
00:55:14,185 --> 00:55:17,522
Instead, I buried myself
into The Godfather.

901
00:55:19,398 --> 00:55:22,109
Ali filed for divorce.

902
00:55:22,109 --> 00:55:25,279
A few months later,
she and McQueen got hitched.

903
00:55:25,279 --> 00:55:27,740
Joshua would live with them.

904
00:55:27,740 --> 00:55:30,993
He would only know me now
as a weekend father.

905
00:55:32,578 --> 00:55:34,580
Did it haunt me?

906
00:55:34,580 --> 00:55:37,583
Well, let's just say when a woman leaves you,
it ain't easy.

907
00:55:37,583 --> 00:55:39,752
It never is.

908
00:55:39,752 --> 00:55:43,881
But when that woman leaves you
for the biggest movie star in the world,

909
00:55:43,881 --> 00:55:47,969
well, let's just say
it makes you feel small.

910
00:55:53,015 --> 00:55:57,353
Finally, I turned all my attention
back to my other great love...

911
00:55:57,353 --> 00:56:00,022
The mountain.

912
00:56:00,022 --> 00:56:03,359
Maybe it was my mood,
but the more I thought about it,

913
00:56:03,359 --> 00:56:06,028
the angrier I became.

914
00:56:06,028 --> 00:56:08,990
For the last years,
I had worked night and day for Paramount.

915
00:56:08,990 --> 00:56:12,994
Bluhdorn's golden boy now
wanted some gold of his own.

916
00:56:12,994 --> 00:56:17,164
While I was living rich,
everyone around me was getting rich.

917
00:56:17,164 --> 00:56:19,667
He's right.

918
00:56:19,667 --> 00:56:22,128
Give 'em an inch,
and they step all over you.

919
00:56:22,128 --> 00:56:25,882
My contract's up, but I've
been throwing sevens too long.

920
00:56:25,882 --> 00:56:29,176
And here I am.
I'm still behind the eight ball.

921
00:56:29,176 --> 00:56:33,890
I called on my consigliere and closest friend,
Sidney Korshak,

922
00:56:33,890 --> 00:56:36,142
one of the most feared lawyers
in the country.

923
00:56:36,142 --> 00:56:39,520
"I'll take care of it
and quick," said Korshak.

924
00:56:39,562 --> 00:56:44,483
"You're gonna get gross. I don't care
if it's just one percent on every film."

925
00:56:44,483 --> 00:56:48,863
Korshak may have been known as the myth,
but he was no myth to Charlie.

926
00:56:48,863 --> 00:56:52,033
His proposal was turned down
flatter than Twiggy's chest.

927
00:56:52,033 --> 00:56:55,036
Bluhdorn wasn't smart.
He was brilliant.

928
00:56:55,036 --> 00:56:59,999
He knew my weak link... ego...
And he sure pressed it,

929
00:56:59,999 --> 00:57:02,877
knowing it
far overshadowed my greed.

930
00:57:02,877 --> 00:57:06,380
"Sidney, I want everybody
to get rich, but don't rape me.

931
00:57:06,380 --> 00:57:08,132
Don't rape me."

932
00:57:08,132 --> 00:57:11,636
The real love of Charlie's life was
not family or sex or even business.

933
00:57:11,636 --> 00:57:13,512
It was negotiating.

934
00:57:13,512 --> 00:57:16,557
Charlie would negotiate for anything,
from an airline to a potato.

935
00:57:16,599 --> 00:57:18,392
"I want Bob to make history."

936
00:57:18,392 --> 00:57:21,228
I'm gonna let him make a
picture of his own for five years...

937
00:57:21,228 --> 00:57:24,106
under his own banner
and still run Paramount.

938
00:57:24,106 --> 00:57:28,903
The last person to have that was Darryl
Zanuck 30 years ago. I want him to get rich.

939
00:57:28,903 --> 00:57:31,238
"I'm so proud
of him, Sidney."

940
00:57:31,238 --> 00:57:33,741
Proud.

941
00:57:33,741 --> 00:57:36,285
I would stay on at Paramount
as head of the studio,

942
00:57:36,285 --> 00:57:39,580
and I would get to produce
a picture a year for five years.

943
00:57:39,580 --> 00:57:41,082
But no raise.

944
00:57:54,428 --> 00:57:56,472
- You produced Chinatown.
- Right.

945
00:57:56,472 --> 00:57:59,392
But when we talk about that movie,
we call it Roman Polanski's Chinatown.

946
00:57:59,392 --> 00:58:01,310
Does that make you...
That's a possessive credit...

947
00:58:01,310 --> 00:58:03,771
from a Director's Guild point of view,
which is very unfair.

948
00:58:03,771 --> 00:58:06,524
It's not Roman Polan... It is
Roman Polanski's Chinatown.

949
00:58:06,524 --> 00:58:08,234
It's also Bob Towne's Chinatown.

950
00:58:08,234 --> 00:58:11,028
But more so... and I don't say
this from an egotistical way...

951
00:58:11,028 --> 00:58:12,780
It's Bob Evans's Chinatown.

952
00:58:12,780 --> 00:58:14,865
I was on the picture
for five years, four years,

953
00:58:14,865 --> 00:58:17,368
and Roman was on it
for nine months.

954
00:58:17,368 --> 00:58:19,870
But it says,
"Roman Polanski's Chinatown."

955
00:58:21,747 --> 00:58:26,961
My first independent production had its
origins over a steak dinner with Bob Towne.

956
00:58:26,961 --> 00:58:30,172
Towne unraveled an original
story he was writing.

957
00:58:30,172 --> 00:58:32,967
"It's about how Los Angeles
became a boomtown, Evans."

958
00:58:32,967 --> 00:58:36,470
Incest and water.
It's set in the '30s.

959
00:58:36,470 --> 00:58:40,141
Second-rate shamus gets 86'd
by a mysterious socialite.

960
00:58:41,142 --> 00:58:43,227
"I'm writing it for Nicholson."

961
00:58:43,227 --> 00:58:47,982
I had met Nicholson a few years back,
and we'd become great pals.

962
00:58:47,982 --> 00:58:51,444
"Sounds perfect for Irish.
What's it called?"

963
00:58:51,444 --> 00:58:53,320
"Chinatown."

964
00:58:53,320 --> 00:58:58,159
"Chinatown"? You mean it
takes place in Chinatown?

965
00:58:58,159 --> 00:59:00,327
"No, no, no.

966
00:59:00,327 --> 00:59:04,040
Chinatown is a state of mind."
"Oh, I got it."

967
00:59:06,083 --> 00:59:09,420
I had no idea what the fuck
he was talking about.

968
00:59:10,880 --> 00:59:15,217
Six months later,
Towne delivered his first draft of the script.

969
00:59:15,217 --> 00:59:18,971
Just like the title,
it was pure Chinese.

970
00:59:19,930 --> 00:59:23,100
Was I alone
in my confusion? Uh-uh.

971
00:59:23,100 --> 00:59:25,019
Nobody...

972
00:59:25,019 --> 00:59:27,354
I mean nobody... understood it.

973
00:59:29,523 --> 00:59:34,320
One day I was summoned to a
meeting with Charles Bluhdorn.

974
00:59:34,320 --> 00:59:39,075
"Evans, don't make this
your first picture.

975
00:59:39,075 --> 00:59:42,328
No one at the studio
understands a word of it.

976
00:59:42,328 --> 00:59:45,081
The only place it'll play
is in your projection room."

977
00:59:46,373 --> 00:59:50,461
I'm thinking,
thinking, thinking.

978
00:59:50,461 --> 00:59:52,880
I knew I had Nicholson locked.

979
00:59:52,880 --> 00:59:54,381
And even though
I didn't understand the script,

980
00:59:54,381 --> 00:59:57,301
I knew Towne
was a brilliant writer.

981
00:59:57,301 --> 01:00:00,888
"Sorry, Charlie.
Chinatown's my next picture.

982
01:00:00,888 --> 01:00:02,515
I'm gonna make it."

983
01:00:09,647 --> 01:00:13,901
Well, tonight we're honoring
for Best Motion Picture, Drama.

984
01:00:13,901 --> 01:00:17,363
Chinatown, The Conversation,

985
01:00:17,363 --> 01:00:21,283
Earthquake,
The Godfather Part II,

986
01:00:21,283 --> 01:00:23,661
A Woman Under the lnfluence.

987
01:00:23,661 --> 01:00:26,455
And the winner is...

988
01:00:26,455 --> 01:00:29,083
The winner is...

989
01:00:29,083 --> 01:00:31,961
Chinatown.

990
01:00:34,547 --> 01:00:36,632
Robert Evans
of Paramount Pictures...

991
01:00:36,632 --> 01:00:39,802
will accept the Golden
Globe award for Chinatown.

992
01:00:41,262 --> 01:00:46,058
Chinatown. It wins every
award you could ever think of.

993
01:00:46,058 --> 01:00:48,185
Till this day,
I believe it's considered...

994
01:00:48,185 --> 01:00:50,980
the quintessential
private-eye film of its time.

995
01:00:50,980 --> 01:00:53,941
It's a hell of a way to meet
Catherine Deneuve. I'll tell you that.

996
01:00:53,941 --> 01:00:56,694
It certainly is. Uh...

997
01:00:56,694 --> 01:01:00,948
This is the second award,
and I'm only a small part of it,

998
01:01:00,948 --> 01:01:02,908
that I've won in my life.

999
01:01:02,908 --> 01:01:07,413
Uh, the first one was for the Most
Promising Newcomer of the Year.

1000
01:01:07,413 --> 01:01:10,791
It was the Photoplay award
in 1957.

1001
01:01:10,791 --> 01:01:13,460
And were they wrong.

1002
01:01:13,460 --> 01:01:15,546
The attention the picture got
caused an uproar...

1003
01:01:15,546 --> 01:01:19,466
with every creative bit
of talent in the studio.

1004
01:01:19,466 --> 01:01:21,427
"Hey, how can Evans
run the studio,

1005
01:01:21,427 --> 01:01:24,263
be involved with our pictures
and make his own?"

1006
01:01:24,263 --> 01:01:26,390
They were all fucking jealous.

1007
01:01:26,390 --> 01:01:29,476
If the picture would've flopped,
it wouldn't have made a difference.

1008
01:01:29,476 --> 01:01:31,312
Confrontation time.

1009
01:01:31,312 --> 01:01:34,857
Continue running the studio,

1010
01:01:34,857 --> 01:01:37,151
with a much
increased deal by the way,

1011
01:01:37,151 --> 01:01:40,154
or go out with my own banner
and make films.

1012
01:01:40,154 --> 01:01:42,323
It was a tough choice.

1013
01:01:42,323 --> 01:01:47,244
But I was just tired of working 18 hours a day,
eight days a week...

1014
01:01:47,244 --> 01:01:51,081
to make everyone else rich
but myself.

1015
01:01:51,081 --> 01:01:54,835
With that in mind,
I said, "Good-bye, studio.

1016
01:01:54,835 --> 01:01:57,671
Hello, producer,"

1017
01:01:57,671 --> 01:01:59,548
and went out on my own.

1018
01:03:02,695 --> 01:03:07,157
Though I was in my '40s, the entire
drug era had passed me by without notice.

1019
01:03:07,157 --> 01:03:09,702
It wasn't my scene.
I rarely ever drank.

1020
01:03:11,245 --> 01:03:14,581
For two years,
I had been suffering from a severe pain,

1021
01:03:14,581 --> 01:03:17,418
the result
of a sciatic nerve problem.

1022
01:03:17,418 --> 01:03:20,212
Lying beside me one night
was a Hollywood princess.

1023
01:03:20,212 --> 01:03:23,424
"Is it me?" she asked.
"The pain can't be that bad."

1024
01:03:24,508 --> 01:03:27,136
Wearing only her necklace,
she handed it to me.

1025
01:03:27,136 --> 01:03:29,430
Unscrewing the top,
she whispered,

1026
01:03:29,430 --> 01:03:33,183
"Take a sniff,
a sniff of life."

1027
01:03:34,768 --> 01:03:37,271
It was my first experience...

1028
01:03:37,271 --> 01:03:39,315
into the world of white.

1029
01:03:40,357 --> 01:03:43,444
The seducer had been seduced.

1030
01:03:59,752 --> 01:04:04,298
I was working 18 hours a day,
seven days a week with no plans to slow down.

1031
01:04:04,298 --> 01:04:06,759
With six pictures in development
and two in production,

1032
01:04:06,759 --> 01:04:09,720
I felt invincible.

1033
01:04:09,720 --> 01:04:11,930
The first flick to hit
was Marathon Man,

1034
01:04:11,930 --> 01:04:13,599
and it went straight
through the roof.

1035
01:04:13,599 --> 01:04:17,394
I salute you. To your
health. Hear! Hear!

1036
01:04:19,480 --> 01:04:24,401
I followed it up with Black Sunday,
then Urban Cowboy.

1037
01:04:24,401 --> 01:04:26,070
Popeye was on its way.

1038
01:04:26,070 --> 01:04:28,739
At the age of 50,
I was on my way...

1039
01:04:28,739 --> 01:04:33,035
to become the youngest
recipient of the Thalberg Award.

1040
01:04:33,035 --> 01:04:36,497
Good-bye, '70s. Hello, '80s.
Here I come.

1041
01:04:36,497 --> 01:04:39,666
It would be fair to say that
you live a lot of people's dream.

1042
01:04:39,666 --> 01:04:43,754
You're seen in magazines
dating models and movie stars.

1043
01:04:43,754 --> 01:04:46,673
Is it as good as it looks?

1044
01:04:46,673 --> 01:04:50,761
I must probably lead as much of
a lonely life as any man you know.

1045
01:04:50,761 --> 01:04:53,180
I have no free time for myself.

1046
01:04:53,180 --> 01:04:55,557
I have no way of really
knowing myself as a person.

1047
01:04:55,557 --> 01:04:57,434
I don't like myself as a person.

1048
01:04:57,434 --> 01:04:59,478
Bob, I keep reading
in publications...

1049
01:04:59,478 --> 01:05:02,147
I keep seeing pictures
of you with gorgeous women.

1050
01:05:02,147 --> 01:05:04,400
Are they important
in your life? Women?

1051
01:05:04,400 --> 01:05:06,360
Yes, women are
very important in my life.

1052
01:05:06,360 --> 01:05:08,028
How... How important?

1053
01:05:08,070 --> 01:05:13,534
I haven't had the opportunity of
really taking advantage of life at all.

1054
01:05:13,534 --> 01:05:15,702
You say you see pictures
of me with beautiful women.

1055
01:05:15,702 --> 01:05:18,747
I don't go out that much. And I don't
go with that many different women.

1056
01:05:18,747 --> 01:05:22,042
My life is not to be envied. I envy
many other people, not myself.

1057
01:05:22,084 --> 01:05:24,837
I sometimes can go 10 days,
a week without going out with anybody.

1058
01:05:24,837 --> 01:05:26,588
I'm a real loner. Don't
you get terrible headaches?

1059
01:05:26,588 --> 01:05:28,715
No, no.

1060
01:05:28,715 --> 01:05:30,676
Are you
an obsessive record-keeper?

1061
01:05:30,676 --> 01:05:33,262
'Cause it said you had albums of
pictures and things. And you have...

1062
01:05:33,262 --> 01:05:34,847
I'm not as...

1063
01:05:34,847 --> 01:05:38,809
I wish I had...
Was more obsessive about that.

1064
01:05:38,809 --> 01:05:41,895
Is that Jack Nicholson? If he knew
that picture was being shown, he'd kill me.

1065
01:05:41,895 --> 01:05:45,983
I-I took it... it was taken
in the privacy of a room.

1066
01:05:45,983 --> 01:05:48,235
I have to inject here a moment,
because Bobby Evans...

1067
01:05:48,235 --> 01:05:50,446
I... We dated and we had
a great time together.

1068
01:05:50,446 --> 01:05:52,239
I also dated him.
What a sweetheart.

1069
01:05:52,239 --> 01:05:55,492
Is there anybody on the panel
who didn't date Bobby Evans?

1070
01:05:55,492 --> 01:05:58,579
I didn't date him. He
was very busy in the '50s.

1071
01:06:01,123 --> 01:06:03,542
On May 2, 1980,

1072
01:06:03,542 --> 01:06:06,753
I got a call from an
associate of mine in New York.

1073
01:06:06,753 --> 01:06:10,090
A woman we knew was offering
to sell us pharmaceutical cocaine...

1074
01:06:10,090 --> 01:06:12,217
at bargain-basement prices.

1075
01:06:12,217 --> 01:06:14,428
Pharmaceutical cocaine
was mythical,

1076
01:06:14,428 --> 01:06:17,598
manufactured by only one
company in America... Merck.

1077
01:06:17,598 --> 01:06:19,933
So mythical was its allure...

1078
01:06:19,933 --> 01:06:23,520
that it became the D.E.A.'s most
effective bait to entrap schmuck buyers.

1079
01:06:25,772 --> 01:06:29,151
Twenty-four hours later,
my associate was on the horn.

1080
01:06:29,151 --> 01:06:32,196
"What do I tell her?
She's called twice."

1081
01:06:32,196 --> 01:06:34,573
Me being the gambler,
and maybe the fool,

1082
01:06:34,573 --> 01:06:37,451
said, "Hell, let's buy it."

1083
01:06:37,451 --> 01:06:40,662
The deal was
to go down on Friday.

1084
01:06:40,662 --> 01:06:44,583
I waited by the phone all day.
No call.

1085
01:06:46,793 --> 01:06:51,465
At 7:45 that evening, I was going out
the door when my houseman hailed me.

1086
01:06:51,465 --> 01:06:53,592
It was my associate.

1087
01:06:53,592 --> 01:06:56,011
"Bob, Mike and I
have been arrested.

1088
01:06:56,011 --> 01:06:58,388
We've been set up by the D.E.A."

1089
01:06:58,388 --> 01:07:00,140
"Arrested?
What are you talking about?"

1090
01:07:00,182 --> 01:07:03,810
"Don't worry. Nothing is gonna
go wrong. It'll all be taken care of.

1091
01:07:03,810 --> 01:07:07,648
You have nothing to worry about.
Your name was not mentioned."

1092
01:07:13,403 --> 01:07:16,823
It was the biggest mistake
of my life.

1093
01:07:16,823 --> 01:07:20,285
How could I have been
so fucking dumb?

1094
01:07:28,085 --> 01:07:30,837
Was Bluhdorn angry?

1095
01:07:30,837 --> 01:07:32,756
Foaming at the mouth.

1096
01:07:34,383 --> 01:07:36,426
"I'll never
forgive you, Evans."

1097
01:07:39,096 --> 01:07:40,973
He never did.

1098
01:07:40,973 --> 01:07:45,018
Gone now was
the sacred embrace of Bluhdorn,

1099
01:07:45,018 --> 01:07:47,437
never to return again.

1100
01:07:48,772 --> 01:07:51,066
Paramount, the company
I saved from the graveyard,

1101
01:07:51,066 --> 01:07:54,820
gave a terse statement to the
press concerning my new infamy.

1102
01:07:54,820 --> 01:07:57,698
"Evans is not
an employee of Paramount...

1103
01:07:57,698 --> 01:08:00,242
and has not been an employee
of Paramount for years.

1104
01:08:00,242 --> 01:08:03,537
He is an independent contractor
producing pictures for us."

1105
01:08:04,371 --> 01:08:07,040
May 2, 1980.

1106
01:08:07,040 --> 01:08:09,001
What a difference a day makes.

1107
01:08:12,212 --> 01:08:14,715
Judge Broderick's dictate...

1108
01:08:14,715 --> 01:08:17,843
was to produce
a 30-second anti-drug spot.

1109
01:08:19,428 --> 01:08:21,597
Well, I did
a little more than that.

1110
01:08:21,597 --> 01:08:24,224
I produced a series
of weeklong specials for NBC...

1111
01:08:24,266 --> 01:08:25,934
entitled Get High on Yourself.

1112
01:08:25,934 --> 01:08:28,437
It was a happening.

1113
01:08:28,437 --> 01:08:32,482
All my friends showed,
and it became known as the Woodstock of the '80s.

1114
01:08:32,482 --> 01:08:34,443
♪ You can be somebody ♪

1115
01:08:34,443 --> 01:08:36,403
♪ With your
own point of view ♪

1116
01:08:36,403 --> 01:08:38,697
♪ Just by acting yourself ♪

1117
01:08:38,697 --> 01:08:41,074
♪ In whatever you do ♪

1118
01:08:41,074 --> 01:08:43,410
♪ You can be somebody ♪

1119
01:08:43,410 --> 01:08:45,537
♪ 'Cause the choice
is up to you ♪

1120
01:08:45,537 --> 01:08:48,498
♪ By making up
your own mind ♪

1121
01:08:48,498 --> 01:08:50,542
♪ Doing things your own way ♪

1122
01:08:50,542 --> 01:08:54,087
♪ Setting up your own style ♪

1123
01:08:54,087 --> 01:08:56,256
♪ Being yourself ♪

1124
01:08:56,256 --> 01:08:58,425
♪ Being yourself ♪

1125
01:08:58,425 --> 01:08:59,926
♪ Being yourself ♪

1126
01:08:59,926 --> 01:09:03,889
I've never been as high
on myself as I am now.

1127
01:09:03,889 --> 01:09:06,933
It must have been
a month and a half ago.

1128
01:09:06,933 --> 01:09:10,395
I had a hundred people here,
and my kid was here, and I ran the commercials.

1129
01:09:10,395 --> 01:09:12,773
And, when it was over,
he came over to me...

1130
01:09:12,773 --> 01:09:15,067
and said,
"I'm so proud of you, Daddy."

1131
01:09:15,067 --> 01:09:18,904
The first time he's ever said
it. "I'm so proud of you, Daddy.

1132
01:09:18,904 --> 01:09:21,698
Can I sleep
in your bed tonight?"

1133
01:09:21,698 --> 01:09:25,202
Aw.
If I get nothing more out of it... nothing...

1134
01:09:25,202 --> 01:09:29,414
I've been really paid my remuneration
for whatever I've done. That's worth years.

1135
01:09:29,414 --> 01:09:33,627
Bob, aside from Get High on Yourself,
what can we look for from Bob Evans?

1136
01:09:33,627 --> 01:09:35,212
What are your future projects?

1137
01:09:35,212 --> 01:09:37,923
I have The Cotton Club,
which I was supposed to start in October.

1138
01:09:37,923 --> 01:09:40,342
I'm pushing it back to June.
It's a project I love.

1139
01:09:40,342 --> 01:09:42,803
Ain't as important as Get High on Yourself,
though.

1140
01:09:42,803 --> 01:09:45,263
♪ Being yourself ♪♪
Yeah!

1141
01:10:00,237 --> 01:10:04,282
Paramount had no interest in my next picture,
The Cotton Club.

1142
01:10:04,282 --> 01:10:06,827
So in May of '82, I flew
to the Cannes Film Festival...

1143
01:10:06,827 --> 01:10:09,830
to secure independent financing.

1144
01:10:09,830 --> 01:10:14,668
Sylvester Stallone, at the time the biggest
star in the world, had agreed to play the lead,

1145
01:10:14,668 --> 01:10:17,129
and I was there to announce it.

1146
01:10:17,129 --> 01:10:20,507
I was supposed to meet 400 distributors
on a Monday morning at 9:00 a.m...

1147
01:10:20,507 --> 01:10:22,676
at breakfast
at the Hotel Du Cap.

1148
01:10:22,676 --> 01:10:25,220
I get a call at 2:00 in the
morning, that Monday morning...

1149
01:10:25,220 --> 01:10:28,432
from... "Hello, Bob.
This is Sly."

1150
01:10:28,432 --> 01:10:30,976
And I say, "Yeah, Sly?"

1151
01:10:30,976 --> 01:10:35,689
"You know, Bob,
I don't think I wanna do the picture."

1152
01:10:35,689 --> 01:10:38,692
"I don't quite understand.
I mean, we have a contract."

1153
01:10:38,692 --> 01:10:42,487
"You don't understand, Bob.
I don't like the script."

1154
01:10:42,487 --> 01:10:45,073
"You worked on it.

1155
01:10:45,073 --> 01:10:48,577
What is it,
Sly?" "I'm not getting paid enough money for it."

1156
01:10:48,577 --> 01:10:50,912
To make
a very long story short...

1157
01:10:50,912 --> 01:10:55,167
and a very long conversation
rather bitter... short...

1158
01:10:55,167 --> 01:10:57,043
He backed away.

1159
01:10:57,043 --> 01:11:01,798
Now,
here I have 400 of the top buyers in the world,

1160
01:11:01,798 --> 01:11:04,426
and I have no star,
and I have a half a script.

1161
01:11:04,426 --> 01:11:08,889
I said, "Ladies and gentlemen,
I'm gonna show you a poster.

1162
01:11:08,889 --> 01:11:11,349
But when I show you this poster,
I wanna tell you...

1163
01:11:11,349 --> 01:11:14,269
that the film will not be
any better than the poster.

1164
01:11:14,269 --> 01:11:18,398
So if you don't like the poster,
please don't buy the film."

1165
01:11:18,440 --> 01:11:22,068
And I showed... I went... I
took... unraveled the poster,

1166
01:11:22,068 --> 01:11:25,405
which I had worked on for
eight months with two artists,

1167
01:11:25,447 --> 01:11:28,700
and I said,
"This is the poster."

1168
01:11:28,700 --> 01:11:32,454
And I passed it around,
and they all looked at it.

1169
01:11:32,454 --> 01:11:34,748
And it says the whole story.

1170
01:11:34,748 --> 01:11:37,584
"Its Violence
Startled the World."

1171
01:11:37,584 --> 01:11:39,920
No. "Its Violence
Startled the Nation,

1172
01:11:39,920 --> 01:11:42,839
and its Music
Startled the World."

1173
01:11:42,839 --> 01:11:47,010
They all looked at the poster. I said,
"That's the picture, ladies and gentlemen."

1174
01:11:47,010 --> 01:11:50,764
So one fella from Switzerland says,
"Who's gonna star in the film?"

1175
01:11:50,764 --> 01:11:53,141
I said, "What's your name?"
He said, "Mr. Schmidt."

1176
01:11:53,141 --> 01:11:55,894
I said, "Mr. Schmidt, I won't
let you have the picture."

1177
01:11:57,312 --> 01:11:59,189
♪♪

1178
01:12:31,513 --> 01:12:35,934
On August 28, 1983,
principal photography commenced.

1179
01:12:37,394 --> 01:12:39,479
Francis offered
to direct the film.

1180
01:12:39,479 --> 01:12:42,148
How could I refuse?

1181
01:12:42,148 --> 01:12:45,902
Francis directing it,
Mario writing it, me producing it.

1182
01:12:45,902 --> 01:12:48,029
What a shot of touching magic.

1183
01:12:48,029 --> 01:12:52,659
Hey, we didn't do too bad
on The Godfather, did we?

1184
01:12:52,659 --> 01:12:56,496
Was I wrong.

1185
01:12:56,538 --> 01:12:58,874
The production was a disaster.

1186
01:12:58,874 --> 01:13:01,585
Over-budget, over-schedule.

1187
01:13:01,585 --> 01:13:05,338
And me? I was barred from
the set by the prince himself.

1188
01:13:05,338 --> 01:13:07,966
It was the hottest movie
drama in Los Angeles today,

1189
01:13:07,966 --> 01:13:10,468
and it took place in a
downtown federal courtroom.

1190
01:13:10,468 --> 01:13:14,848
The legal battle was over who would
control production of the film Cotton Club.

1191
01:13:14,848 --> 01:13:16,850
♪♪

1192
01:13:16,850 --> 01:13:20,770
...been the subject of intense
interest and backstairs gossip.

1193
01:13:22,898 --> 01:13:24,733
The Cotton Club,
a multimillion-dollar...

1194
01:13:24,733 --> 01:13:27,027
production of Robert Evans
and Francis Ford Coppola...

1195
01:13:27,027 --> 01:13:28,862
has become the subject
of a vicious...

1196
01:13:28,862 --> 01:13:32,657
You were saying that Evans would
second-guess you if he was back in command.

1197
01:13:32,657 --> 01:13:36,661
Evans... that's his middle name.
That's what he does, all these years.

1198
01:13:36,661 --> 01:13:39,581
Do you think the picture will be a
success despite all of these problems?

1199
01:13:39,581 --> 01:13:42,375
Francis's work on it is brilliant,
and I hope we'll be working together.

1200
01:13:42,375 --> 01:13:44,961
We fought before many times,
only it wasn't in court.

1201
01:13:44,961 --> 01:13:48,506
I just hope we have the same luck
as we had on The Godfather together.

1202
01:13:48,506 --> 01:13:51,301
Despite what's expected
to be a lengthy court battle,

1203
01:13:51,301 --> 01:13:54,179
the film is expected to open in
theaters sometime in December.

1204
01:13:55,472 --> 01:13:58,558
The Cotton Club
opened later that month.

1205
01:13:58,600 --> 01:14:03,355
While some of the critics praised the film,
others just didn't get it.

1206
01:14:03,355 --> 01:14:05,774
Neither did the audiences.

1207
01:14:05,774 --> 01:14:08,360
The picture quickly faded away,

1208
01:14:09,736 --> 01:14:13,490
thus ending
the first half of the '80s...

1209
01:14:13,490 --> 01:14:15,617
The good half.

1210
01:14:15,617 --> 01:14:18,828
I had no idea what lay ahead.

1211
01:14:22,540 --> 01:14:24,918
Two days ago,
a badly decomposed body...

1212
01:14:24,918 --> 01:14:28,213
was found in this dry riverbed
in Copco Canyon near Gorman...

1213
01:14:28,213 --> 01:14:30,298
in northern Los Angeles county.

1214
01:14:30,298 --> 01:14:34,594
An autopsy indicated the victim
died of a single gunshot wound.

1215
01:14:34,594 --> 01:14:39,057
A beekeeper, Glen Fisher,
made a grisly discovery.

1216
01:14:39,057 --> 01:14:42,394
I crossed through a dry wash,
went around a bush,

1217
01:14:42,394 --> 01:14:45,689
and around the bush,
there was a hand sticking up,

1218
01:14:45,689 --> 01:14:47,399
and there was
a body laying there.

1219
01:14:47,399 --> 01:14:50,360
The body found in the Gorman
area this past Friday...

1220
01:14:50,360 --> 01:14:54,114
has positively been
identified as Mr. Roy Radin.

1221
01:15:04,290 --> 01:15:06,209
It was midnight
when the phone rang.

1222
01:15:06,209 --> 01:15:09,212
A bit pissed,
I picked up the phone. "Yeah?"

1223
01:15:09,212 --> 01:15:11,715
It was my attorney,
Robert Shapiro.

1224
01:15:11,715 --> 01:15:13,967
"Roy Radin is dead."

1225
01:15:13,967 --> 01:15:17,137
I laid there in shock,
totally stunned.

1226
01:15:19,889 --> 01:15:21,933
I met Roy Radin
a few months earlier...

1227
01:15:21,933 --> 01:15:25,270
through a mutual acquaintance
named Laney Jacobs.

1228
01:15:25,270 --> 01:15:28,481
Radin and I met and discussed
forming a production company.

1229
01:15:28,481 --> 01:15:32,152
The Cotton Club might have been
one of the films under the banner.

1230
01:15:32,152 --> 01:15:34,696
We shook hands, but nothing
ever really came of it.

1231
01:15:36,239 --> 01:15:41,202
"What does that have to do with
me?" "Nothing and everything."

1232
01:15:41,202 --> 01:15:43,663
Shapiro told me that the
police would be calling,

1233
01:15:43,663 --> 01:15:45,832
and they'd want to talk to me.

1234
01:15:45,832 --> 01:15:48,918
Both of us would sit down with
them while I told them everything...

1235
01:15:48,918 --> 01:15:51,129
that I had remembered
about Roy Radin.

1236
01:15:51,129 --> 01:15:53,965
Laney Jacobs introduced
Evans to Roy Radin.

1237
01:15:53,965 --> 01:15:55,925
For the next six years,

1238
01:15:55,925 --> 01:15:58,678
the name Robert Evans
is making headlines again.

1239
01:15:58,678 --> 01:16:01,181
No, I wasn't buying Warner Bros.

1240
01:16:01,181 --> 01:16:04,100
This time I was buying infamy.

1241
01:16:04,100 --> 01:16:05,977
The Cotton Club
murder case began...

1242
01:16:05,977 --> 01:16:07,937
Roy Radin was a threat...

1243
01:16:11,775 --> 01:16:14,778
Doors closed on me quietly.

1244
01:16:14,778 --> 01:16:17,572
Calls made were not returned.

1245
01:16:17,572 --> 01:16:21,868
Though I was still ensconced in
the primo offices at Paramount,

1246
01:16:21,868 --> 01:16:24,204
I may as well
have been a shadow.

1247
01:16:30,794 --> 01:16:33,254
Finally, in the spring of '89,

1248
01:16:33,254 --> 01:16:37,258
after six long years
of innuendos on my character,

1249
01:16:37,258 --> 01:16:40,220
the Roy Radin case
went to trial.

1250
01:16:42,472 --> 01:16:45,892
Laney Jacobs, the woman
who introduced me to Radin,

1251
01:16:45,892 --> 01:16:48,061
was tried for his murder.

1252
01:16:48,061 --> 01:16:51,147
The prosecutor outlined
a case of money and drugs.

1253
01:16:51,147 --> 01:16:54,192
The evidence is gonna show
in this trial...

1254
01:16:54,192 --> 01:16:57,278
that this woman here,
Laney Greenberger, had two problems...

1255
01:16:57,278 --> 01:16:59,739
with a man
by the name of Roy Radin.

1256
01:16:59,781 --> 01:17:01,616
He told the jury...

1257
01:17:01,616 --> 01:17:04,285
that Laney had asked Radin
for a finder's fee...

1258
01:17:04,285 --> 01:17:06,621
for introducing him to myself.

1259
01:17:06,621 --> 01:17:09,916
When Radin refused to pay it,
Laney became irate.

1260
01:17:09,916 --> 01:17:13,837
And then two weeks before his murder,
Laney, who was a part-time coke dealer...

1261
01:17:13,837 --> 01:17:17,507
suspected Radin of stealing a
large amount of cocaine from her.

1262
01:17:19,217 --> 01:17:21,553
At this point,
Laney decided to kill him.

1263
01:17:21,553 --> 01:17:27,267
After getting into her
chauffeur-driven limousine with her,

1264
01:17:27,267 --> 01:17:29,978
Mr. Radin was never
seen alive again.

1265
01:17:31,771 --> 01:17:36,234
Jacobs and her accomplices were
convicted for the murder of Roy Radin.

1266
01:17:37,861 --> 01:17:42,490
Me? Well, I wasn't
even a suspect.

1267
01:17:42,490 --> 01:17:47,120
I was a tangential character
in the proceedings, at best.

1268
01:17:48,830 --> 01:17:53,334
However,
the name Evans gets ink.

1269
01:17:57,297 --> 01:18:01,551
If you live by the sword,
know damn well you can die by it.

1270
01:18:01,551 --> 01:18:06,389
And many a decade, the sword
treated me real well.

1271
01:18:06,389 --> 01:18:08,308
Maybe too well.

1272
01:18:11,311 --> 01:18:14,480
Popeye and Urban Cowboy
hit the screens in 1980.

1273
01:18:14,480 --> 01:18:16,482
Now, seven years later,

1274
01:18:16,482 --> 01:18:19,444
the only product Evans was delivering
to the mountain of Paramount...

1275
01:18:19,444 --> 01:18:21,321
was embarrassment.

1276
01:18:23,156 --> 01:18:26,242
Ending whatever I had left
of a legacy to be,

1277
01:18:26,242 --> 01:18:29,120
I was paid a rare visit
by Richard Zimbert,

1278
01:18:29,120 --> 01:18:32,123
the head honcho
of business affairs.

1279
01:18:32,123 --> 01:18:36,127
He walked into my office,
not a happy camper.

1280
01:18:36,127 --> 01:18:38,338
"We go back too long, Evans.

1281
01:18:38,338 --> 01:18:42,508
And this is not me talking.
It's orders. I can't help it.

1282
01:18:42,508 --> 01:18:44,552
Do you want the truth?"

1283
01:18:44,552 --> 01:18:48,890
Our eyes met.
I knew what he was going to say.

1284
01:18:48,890 --> 01:18:52,560
"No, but I got
to hear it, Dick. Shoot."

1285
01:18:52,560 --> 01:18:55,313
"Bob, there's not
one person at Paramount...

1286
01:18:55,313 --> 01:18:57,982
that wants
to do business with you."

1287
01:18:57,982 --> 01:19:02,528
"Dick, the only surprise is that
it's taken you this long to tell me.

1288
01:19:02,528 --> 01:19:05,365
I suppose
when it's over, it's over."

1289
01:19:05,365 --> 01:19:07,951
It was hard for him
to say the next words.

1290
01:19:07,951 --> 01:19:11,621
"Your office, Bob.
We need a date."

1291
01:19:11,621 --> 01:19:14,040
"Is 90 days okay, Dick?"

1292
01:19:14,040 --> 01:19:17,126
"Yeah. Sure.
If want more, take more."

1293
01:19:17,126 --> 01:19:21,005
"No. Ninety days will be fine."

1294
01:19:21,005 --> 01:19:24,050
Once, king of the mountain.

1295
01:19:24,050 --> 01:19:26,928
Now I was not even
allowed to climb it.

1296
01:19:44,445 --> 01:19:48,908
My 20-year home
had been pulled from under me.

1297
01:19:48,908 --> 01:19:51,244
From behind the gates
of Paramount,

1298
01:19:51,244 --> 01:19:54,414
I was now
behind the gates of Woodland.

1299
01:20:00,086 --> 01:20:05,133
For an entire decade, my kid stood
watching his father's life fall to shambles.

1300
01:20:07,719 --> 01:20:11,306
Once I was a king,
his mother told him. Hmph.

1301
01:20:16,686 --> 01:20:21,107
My character, persona,
and professional abilities were now lost.

1302
01:20:21,107 --> 01:20:24,527
Each month, below the belt,
punches were hitting me harder and harder...

1303
01:20:24,527 --> 01:20:26,779
from all directions.

1304
01:20:26,779 --> 01:20:29,574
The effects of public disgrace,
the effects of drugs...

1305
01:20:29,574 --> 01:20:33,286
and the effects of continued failure,
never before experienced,

1306
01:20:33,286 --> 01:20:36,331
all but shriveled me
into obscurity.

1307
01:20:38,416 --> 01:20:41,336
So deep was my depression...

1308
01:20:41,336 --> 01:20:45,506
that I wanted to get into a
car and drive south one way.

1309
01:20:45,506 --> 01:20:49,761
Finally,
I'd rid myself of the last bastion of my dignity.

1310
01:20:49,761 --> 01:20:54,098
I sold my Woodland home to
a wealthy French industrialist.

1311
01:20:56,017 --> 01:21:00,855
The effect was that I all
but lost the will to function.

1312
01:21:00,855 --> 01:21:05,485
Nightmares were telling me
I would never leave there alive.

1313
01:21:08,029 --> 01:21:11,491
Then lightning struck.
Bad lightning.

1314
01:21:15,036 --> 01:21:17,497
I had nowhere to turn.

1315
01:21:19,040 --> 01:21:22,377
Fearing the worst, suicide,

1316
01:21:22,377 --> 01:21:25,046
I looked for protection.

1317
01:21:25,046 --> 01:21:31,469
I committed myself to the Scripps
Memorial Hospital, a loony bin.

1318
01:21:31,469 --> 01:21:34,514
I was put behind bars and
stripped of all my belongings.

1319
01:21:34,514 --> 01:21:38,851
The claustrophobia alone shot my
blood pressure up over the 200 mark.

1320
01:21:38,851 --> 01:21:41,521
Sure as hell not wanting
a D.O.A. on their hands,

1321
01:21:41,521 --> 01:21:44,857
the nurses kept shoving sedatives down my throat,
trying to calm me.

1322
01:21:46,234 --> 01:21:49,862
Horrible mistake,
with no way out.

1323
01:21:49,862 --> 01:21:51,781
Is it safe?

1324
01:21:51,781 --> 01:21:56,411
I had to take control of the never-ending
bad dream that my life had become.

1325
01:21:56,411 --> 01:21:59,163
Never having been
psychiatrically orientated,

1326
01:21:59,163 --> 01:22:03,501
I knew that action, not therapy,
was my only shot at survival.

1327
01:22:05,837 --> 01:22:10,174
Take your time.
Tell me.

1328
01:22:10,174 --> 01:22:13,177
That night I snuck out
of my cell-like room...

1329
01:22:13,177 --> 01:22:16,305
and found my way
to a phone booth in the ward.

1330
01:22:16,305 --> 01:22:19,725
I called my limo driver,
John Paul, collect.

1331
01:22:19,725 --> 01:22:24,439
"John Paul,
meet me tomorrow at noon on the dot and wait.

1332
01:22:24,439 --> 01:22:28,276
It may be an hour,
a day, a week. I don't care.

1333
01:22:28,276 --> 01:22:30,695
Keep your motor running.
Got it?"

1334
01:22:32,905 --> 01:22:36,075
The next morning when all
the attendants were busy,

1335
01:22:36,075 --> 01:22:40,872
I made my dash,
and I made the elevator as it closed behind me.

1336
01:22:40,872 --> 01:22:43,749
"I made it. I made it,"
I thought to myself.

1337
01:22:43,749 --> 01:22:47,044
As soon as I hit the bottom floor,
the door opened.

1338
01:22:47,044 --> 01:22:48,838
There were two goons
waiting for me.

1339
01:22:51,924 --> 01:22:54,427
You're a very nosy fella,
kitty cat, huh?

1340
01:22:54,427 --> 01:22:56,512
You know what happens
to nosy fellas?

1341
01:22:56,512 --> 01:23:00,099
Huh? No?
Wanna guess?

1342
01:23:00,141 --> 01:23:04,187
Huh? No? Okay.
They lose their noses.

1343
01:23:05,271 --> 01:23:08,441
I made my dash.

1344
01:23:08,441 --> 01:23:12,069
The two goons were right behind. A
hundred yards away, my car was waiting.

1345
01:23:12,069 --> 01:23:15,156
I had to make the hundred yards
before they got me.

1346
01:23:15,156 --> 01:23:19,243
I was older than the two of them put together,
but they lacked one thing: heart.

1347
01:23:20,453 --> 01:23:22,914
I breathlessly
made it into the car,

1348
01:23:22,914 --> 01:23:26,918
and slammed the door as I
grabbed for a tiny bottle of J&B.

1349
01:23:28,377 --> 01:23:31,255
"Back to Woodland,"
I said to John Paul.

1350
01:23:36,219 --> 01:23:38,387
My limo was pulling
into the gates...

1351
01:23:38,387 --> 01:23:41,516
of my once-owned
Woodland sanctuary.

1352
01:23:45,144 --> 01:23:48,773
What had been my Garden of Eden
for close to a quarter of a century...

1353
01:23:48,773 --> 01:23:50,816
was mine no more.

1354
01:23:50,816 --> 01:23:54,904
Even more painful was that I
was now a tenant in my own home,

1355
01:23:54,904 --> 01:23:59,825
paying $25,000 a month
for the privilege of living there.

1356
01:23:59,825 --> 01:24:02,036
Could I afford it?

1357
01:24:02,036 --> 01:24:04,956
Not by a long shot.

1358
01:24:04,956 --> 01:24:08,167
I knew that getting my home,
my roots of 25 years, back...

1359
01:24:08,167 --> 01:24:10,503
was vital to my survival.

1360
01:24:10,503 --> 01:24:12,630
There was a big problem.

1361
01:24:12,630 --> 01:24:17,176
The new owner,
a wealthy French industrialist named Tony Murray,

1362
01:24:17,176 --> 01:24:19,554
had no intention
of selling it back.

1363
01:24:20,805 --> 01:24:24,183
Without asking, Jack Nicholson
did a Henry Kissinger.

1364
01:24:24,183 --> 01:24:28,771
He flew to Monte Carlo and begged
Tony to sell me back my home.

1365
01:24:28,771 --> 01:24:31,440
Tony was shocked that Jack
would fly halfway around the world...

1366
01:24:31,440 --> 01:24:33,651
to plead on my behalf...

1367
01:24:33,651 --> 01:24:36,529
for what he considered
just a piece of real estate.

1368
01:24:36,529 --> 01:24:38,864
Wherever Tony went that summer,
he'd tell the story.

1369
01:24:38,864 --> 01:24:41,867
"Imagine Jack Nicholson
on his knees to me.

1370
01:24:41,867 --> 01:24:45,204
These film people,
they're all crazy."

1371
01:24:45,246 --> 01:24:50,376
The impact of Jack's plea,
however, caused Tony to waiver.

1372
01:24:50,376 --> 01:24:54,589
He got me back my home.
Thanks, pal.

1373
01:25:03,055 --> 01:25:04,932
A year passed.

1374
01:25:04,932 --> 01:25:08,144
It was close to midnight
on a Tuesday evening.

1375
01:25:08,144 --> 01:25:11,480
The phone kept ringing and
awakening me out of a deep sleep.

1376
01:25:11,480 --> 01:25:14,066
I looked at the clock,
and it was only 11:00.

1377
01:25:14,066 --> 01:25:16,694
"Should I pick it up? Nah.

1378
01:25:16,694 --> 01:25:18,946
I know I didn't win the lottery.

1379
01:25:18,946 --> 01:25:22,658
Hey, maybe it's the broad I
slipped my number to last night.

1380
01:25:22,658 --> 01:25:26,912
Hey, it's not too late.
I'm up. I hope it's her."

1381
01:25:26,912 --> 01:25:30,499
Disguising my voice to protect
me from bad news or bad company,

1382
01:25:30,499 --> 01:25:32,209
I Englished it.

1383
01:25:32,209 --> 01:25:36,756
"Evans residence." Well,
I was wrong again. It wasn't the broad.

1384
01:25:36,756 --> 01:25:39,342
But I sure won
the fucking lottery.

1385
01:25:39,342 --> 01:25:41,802
It was Stanley Jaffe
on the phone,

1386
01:25:41,802 --> 01:25:44,472
and he was just made
head of Paramount.

1387
01:25:45,848 --> 01:25:49,101
I'd given Stanley his
first big gig back in 1967...

1388
01:25:49,101 --> 01:25:51,354
on Goodbye, Columbus.

1389
01:25:51,354 --> 01:25:53,564
"I called to tell you one thing.

1390
01:25:53,564 --> 01:25:57,652
From this day on, the life of Robert
Evans is going to be a better one.

1391
01:25:57,652 --> 01:26:01,656
You're way overdue, kid.
Now, sleep well."

1392
01:26:02,782 --> 01:26:05,576
Stanley Jaffe's loyalty to me...

1393
01:26:05,576 --> 01:26:09,455
was such that it
gave me back my dignity.

1394
01:26:09,455 --> 01:26:12,041
Back behind the gates
of Paramount I went...

1395
01:26:12,041 --> 01:26:16,087
and back to my old offices,
the best on the lot.

1396
01:26:16,087 --> 01:26:19,548
Do you believe in miracles?
Well, I do now.

1397
01:26:23,469 --> 01:26:26,555
I don't understand it,
this world of fickle flicks.

1398
01:26:26,555 --> 01:26:29,183
It's been 30 years now,
and I'm still here,

1399
01:26:29,183 --> 01:26:31,310
still standing
behind them gates.

1400
01:26:31,352 --> 01:26:33,479
Bet your house
it ain't been dull.

1401
01:26:33,479 --> 01:26:35,523
I've either done it
or gotten it.

1402
01:26:35,523 --> 01:26:38,484
You name 'em, I've met 'em.
Well, almost.

1403
01:26:38,484 --> 01:26:42,279
I've either worked with them, fought with them,
hired them, fired them, laughed with them,

1404
01:26:42,279 --> 01:26:46,283
cried with them, figuratively fucked by 'em,
literally fucked 'em.

1405
01:26:46,283 --> 01:26:48,703
It's been one hell of a ride.

1406
01:26:50,371 --> 01:26:53,791
Where is everyone?
Dead? Most.

1407
01:26:53,791 --> 01:26:58,379
Wealthy? Some.
Destitute? Yeah. Many.

1408
01:26:58,379 --> 01:27:02,174
Retired? I don't know.
I ain't seen 'em.

1409
01:27:02,174 --> 01:27:06,470
One thing I do know. I ain't dead.
I ain't wealthy. I ain't destitute.

1410
01:27:06,470 --> 01:27:09,765
And I ain't retired.
Can't afford any of 'em.

1411
01:27:09,765 --> 01:27:12,393
Got to keep standing,
stay in the picture.

1412
01:27:14,270 --> 01:27:16,731
My life today?

1413
01:27:16,731 --> 01:27:19,066
More volatile than ever.

1414
01:27:19,066 --> 01:27:22,361
This last year alone I've been shot down,
bloodied, trampled,

1415
01:27:22,403 --> 01:27:26,574
accused, threatened, disgraced,
betrayed, scandalized, maligned.

1416
01:27:26,574 --> 01:27:30,035
Tough? You bet your ass it is.

1417
01:27:30,035 --> 01:27:33,164
But I ain't complaining.
Nothing comes easy.

1418
01:27:35,249 --> 01:27:38,210
The last question is:

1419
01:27:38,210 --> 01:27:41,756
Is it truly worth it?

1420
01:27:43,716 --> 01:27:46,510
Sure. Know why?
I love what I do,

1421
01:27:46,510 --> 01:27:48,721
and very few people do.

1422
01:27:48,721 --> 01:27:51,599
When you think that most of
your work that you do in life,

1423
01:27:51,599 --> 01:27:53,559
most of people's lives
are spent on their endeavors,

1424
01:27:53,559 --> 01:27:56,896
and very few people really enjoy what they do,
and I love what I do.

1425
01:27:56,896 --> 01:28:00,775
So yeah. It's worth it.
Damn right it's worth it.

1426
01:28:46,278 --> 01:28:50,282
♪ Gone is the romance ♪

1427
01:28:50,282 --> 01:28:54,495
♪ That was so divine ♪

1428
01:28:54,495 --> 01:28:56,539
♪ 'Tis broken ♪

1429
01:28:56,539 --> 01:28:58,624
♪ And cannot ♪

1430
01:28:58,624 --> 01:29:03,420
♪ Be mended ♪

1431
01:29:03,420 --> 01:29:06,465
♪ You must go your way ♪

1432
01:29:06,465 --> 01:29:09,385
Okay. 1996.

1433
01:29:09,385 --> 01:29:12,221
Robert Evans 20 years from now.

1434
01:29:14,473 --> 01:29:18,227
Are we rolling? We're
rolling. Why didn't you tell me?

1435
01:29:18,227 --> 01:29:21,272
I don't know if we're
rolling. We're rolling.

1436
01:29:21,272 --> 01:29:24,149
Thank you very much.

1437
01:29:24,149 --> 01:29:28,237
My fellow Americans,
I'm coming to you tonight,

1438
01:29:28,237 --> 01:29:31,991
because I am contemplating
ending my life.

1439
01:29:31,991 --> 01:29:34,159
For many years,
as being head of Paramount studios...

1440
01:29:34,159 --> 01:29:36,328
and then becoming
an independent producer...

1441
01:29:36,328 --> 01:29:38,873
and, uh, uh, suffering
a terrible disaster...

1442
01:29:38,873 --> 01:29:42,334
with my first independent
ven-ven-ven, uh... venture.

1443
01:29:42,334 --> 01:29:44,169
Uh... uh... uh...

1444
01:29:45,546 --> 01:29:49,592
Marathon in Drag, something.
I can't remember. 20 years ago.

1445
01:29:49,592 --> 01:29:53,512
Anyways, what I would like to do
is ask you... all over the country...

1446
01:29:53,554 --> 01:29:56,724
If you have a script and it's a love story,
I'll do it.

1447
01:29:56,724 --> 01:29:58,559
I don't care if it's in drag.

1448
01:29:58,559 --> 01:30:00,519
It could be a monkey
fucking an elephant.

1449
01:30:00,519 --> 01:30:04,148
If it's a good script,
I'll do it. As promised. You send it to me.

1450
01:30:04,148 --> 01:30:07,276
And I just wanna say that
I would talk more to you.

1451
01:30:07,276 --> 01:30:09,862
I don't have the strength to
talk. I'm in the hospital now.

1452
01:30:09,862 --> 01:30:12,364
There's a Sony tape recorder,
and I'm lying here.

1453
01:30:12,364 --> 01:30:14,074
This is a maternity ward.

1454
01:30:14,074 --> 01:30:17,036
They claim I just had a baby.
I never knew I had a vagina.

1455
01:30:17,036 --> 01:30:20,623
There's a vagina down there.
It came as a shock to me.

1456
01:30:20,623 --> 01:30:23,542
But I just talked to
my wife Sue Mengers,

1457
01:30:23,584 --> 01:30:26,754
and she says,
didn't I know she had a cock all the time.

1458
01:30:26,754 --> 01:30:29,173
I never knew it.
I never knew it.

1459
01:30:29,173 --> 01:30:31,216
I give you my word.

1460
01:30:31,216 --> 01:30:33,594
She came in yesterday and
showed it. It was a terrific cock.

1461
01:30:33,594 --> 01:30:35,721
It was one of the
biggest I ever saw.

1462
01:30:35,721 --> 01:30:37,848
Wait a minute. Is
that phone for me?

1463
01:30:37,848 --> 01:30:40,517
I'm recording.
I can't talk.

1464
01:30:46,231 --> 01:30:49,735
Yeah, what is it?
Who? Joyce Haber?

1465
01:30:49,735 --> 01:30:52,071
Yeah, I remember.
That was 20 years ago.

1466
01:30:52,071 --> 01:30:54,281
She died.
I can't come to the funeral.

1467
01:30:54,281 --> 01:30:56,575
She hasn't written anything
of mine for 20 years.

1468
01:30:56,617 --> 01:30:58,619
I'm sorry.
I'm too busy.

1469
01:31:01,038 --> 01:31:04,375
Send her something. I don't
know. Whatever she eats. Candy.

1470
01:31:04,375 --> 01:31:06,418
Oh, she's dead now?

1471
01:31:06,418 --> 01:31:09,088
If she's dead,
what do you want me to see her for?

1472
01:31:09,088 --> 01:31:12,591
I'm sorry. No. I... I... Just
get it done immediately.

1473
01:31:12,591 --> 01:31:14,927
I got to go. Thanks.

1474
01:31:14,927 --> 01:31:17,388
I'm sorry.

1475
01:31:17,388 --> 01:31:19,682
Yeah, Sue?
How are you?

1476
01:31:19,682 --> 01:31:22,768
My wife... Mrs. Mengers,
one of the top agents in the town...

1477
01:31:22,768 --> 01:31:24,395
20 years ago.

1478
01:31:24,395 --> 01:31:26,855
Today,
the business is terrible. She's in Las Vegas.

1479
01:31:26,855 --> 01:31:30,150
She's a croupier at the Dunes.

1480
01:31:30,150 --> 01:31:32,695
At night she doubles as a dune.

1481
01:31:32,695 --> 01:31:34,822
She's a dune.
People go see her.

1482
01:31:34,822 --> 01:31:37,032
Sue Mengers is a dune.
She's a dune.

1483
01:31:37,032 --> 01:31:39,785
She's a good dune, though.
The best dune...

1484
01:31:39,785 --> 01:31:42,454
She's the best dune
I ever fucked.

1485
01:31:42,454 --> 01:31:44,748
I'm sorry, Sue.
No, I can't.

1486
01:31:44,748 --> 01:31:47,251
I have to go back in
my closet and clean it.

1487
01:31:47,251 --> 01:31:49,294
I haven't cleaned my
closet in a long time.

1488
01:31:49,294 --> 01:31:51,130
I don't know why
they put me in a closet.

1489
01:31:51,130 --> 01:31:52,798
They said I'd understand.

1490
01:31:52,798 --> 01:31:54,967
But I'm coming out
of the closet very soon.

1491
01:31:54,967 --> 01:31:58,971
Yes,
Sue. The delivery was fine. It hurt a little.

1492
01:31:58,971 --> 01:32:01,473
But it was wonderful.
They shaved me.

1493
01:32:03,767 --> 01:32:07,730
I can't talk. I got
to go see dailies.

1494
01:32:07,730 --> 01:32:10,274
I wanna see dailies
of my delivery.

1495
01:32:10,274 --> 01:32:13,402
I wanna see myself giving birth.

1496
01:32:13,402 --> 01:32:16,113
A big close-up of my
cunt. It was terrific.

1497
01:32:16,113 --> 01:32:18,073
All right, I'll see you.
Take care.

1498
01:32:18,073 --> 01:32:21,035
Anyways,
I wanna thank you very much for listening.

1499
01:32:21,035 --> 01:32:25,914
And I wanna say that I
wish all of you a healthy life,

1500
01:32:25,914 --> 01:32:27,916
because my life is over.

1501
01:32:27,916 --> 01:32:30,502
And I'm just gonna
ask one favor.

1502
01:32:30,502 --> 01:32:34,840
President Warren Beatty has
asked me to ask your vote again,

1503
01:32:34,840 --> 01:32:37,468
and I ask you to do it,
just for me.

1504
01:32:37,468 --> 01:32:40,554
Because he has some terrible
scandal on me I don't want to get out.

1505
01:32:40,554 --> 01:32:42,181
I'm afraid he's gonna tell it,

1506
01:32:42,181 --> 01:32:43,599
and it's very
embarrassing to me.

1507
01:32:43,599 --> 01:32:46,101
Please vote for Warren Beatty
for a second term as president.

1508
01:32:46,101 --> 01:32:48,062
I wish you a good evening,

1509
01:32:48,062 --> 01:32:52,357
and, uh... uh... uh...

1510
01:32:52,357 --> 01:32:55,319
♪ What'll I do ♪

1511
01:32:55,319 --> 01:32:57,154
♪ When I ♪

1512
01:32:57,154 --> 01:33:02,409
♪ Am wondering who ♪

1513
01:33:02,409 --> 01:33:06,914
♪ Is kissing you ♪

1514
01:33:06,914 --> 01:33:10,959
♪ What'll I do ♪

1515
01:33:11,877 --> 01:33:14,630
♪ What'll I do ♪

1516
01:33:14,630 --> 01:33:17,049
♪ With just ♪

1517
01:33:17,049 --> 01:33:22,096
♪ A photograph ♪

1518
01:33:22,096 --> 01:33:26,725
♪ To tell my troubles ♪

1519
01:33:26,725 --> 01:33:29,853
♪ To ♪

1520
01:33:31,563 --> 01:33:34,441
♪ When I'm alone ♪

1521
01:33:34,441 --> 01:33:38,946
♪ With only dreams ♪

1522
01:33:38,946 --> 01:33:41,907
♪ Of you ♪

1523
01:33:41,907 --> 01:33:44,535
♪ That won't ♪

1524
01:33:44,535 --> 01:33:49,123
♪ Come true ♪

1525
01:33:49,123 --> 01:33:55,504
♪ What'll I do ♪♪