Peter Bogdanovich is one of those directors I feel I know personally, mostly because, in addition to seeing his films, I've read so many things he's written - his pieces on directors and actors, especially Orson Welles, are really good. So I'm the perfect target market for this documentary, which explores his life and work, focusing on the making of They All Laughed.
I actually found this a better and more moving film than They All Laughed which I've never loved that much. Bogdanovich is a fantastic protagonist - actor and film enthusiast turned writer about film and then filmmaker; who had such a hot streak from Targets to Paper Moon (all entirely different films); so famous he appeared in the trailers for his movies (as Quentin Tarantino points out, he even sidelines Barbra Streisand in the What's Up Doc? trailer); a high-publicised romance with Cybill Shepherd; guest hosting The Tonight Show. Then the downfall - a series of flops, breaking up with Shepherd - before restoring critical favour with Saint Jack and finding love with Dorothy Stratten and enjoying a wonderful creative experience on They All Laughed.
Then the true nightmare begins - Stratten is killed, Bogdanovich tries to distribute the film himself and goes broke, has a comeback with Mask but stuffs it by being difficult over Bruce Springsteen's music. He recovers to marry Dorothy's sister and makes some decent films but never regains his old heights. (The film omits his second bankruptcy in the late 90s). However he remains revered as a filmmaker, his reputation continues to be strong and the film ends with him making a movie with decent stars, She's Funny That Way.
I was familiar with a lot of the material but there's a great collection of talking heads: Tarantino's take on his films is genuinely fresh; Noah Bambach and Wes Anderson are true fans; Bogdanovich's daughters talk about their dad and his life with love but some wariness; several of his exes appear, including Cybil Shepherd and Colleen Camp. We get to meet some critics such as Molly Haskell, Andrew Sarris and Todd McCarthy. There's also Ben Gazzara who sounds like he's had a stroke.
Bogdanovich leant his papers which mean we see his old annotated scripts and, movingly, a card Stratten wrote for him. Bogdanovich was a bit of a goose but is a very talented filmmaker and it's a shame his post 1985 credits aren't stronger. Excellent doco.
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