Movie review - "The Carey Treatment" (1972) **

 Blake Edwards whined that MGM cut this movie around and I'm sure Jim Aubrey and co did even though it co stars Aubrey's daughter but it's still long even at 100 minutes taking all this time to get going.

The strength of the novel was its fast pace and technical detail, both which aren't conveyed. The faults of the novel - its tropes - do survive. Like the book there's not enough compulsion for James Coburn to investigate - I think they should've made Jennifer O'Neill (who's pretty but whose part is pointless) be the doctor who got arrested and Coburn investigates it to free her because he loves her.

There's some effective bits and it's not a bad story. Coburn is a swinger and groovy but though he spouts the dialogue isn't entirely convincing as a dogged pathologist. Actually O'Nell would've been better in his role because as a woman she might have a reason to defend an abortionist. You know, Raquel Welch would've suited this.

Thereis a scene where Michael Blodgett gives James Coburn a massage that is very homoerotic. Blodgett is an effective villain and there are neat turns from people like John Hillerman.

But it doesn't have Edwards' patented style and gloss. Variety was right it feels like a TV movie. I think the only point to making these sort of films by the 70s was if you made it glossy and had stars in them.

Book review - "Dervish Dust: The Life and Words of James Coburn" by Robyn Coburn (2022)

 Robyn Coburn is an Aussie, married to James Coburn, son of the actor, so this book has an excellent inside track - close to its source but not too close. Certain it''s open about Coburn (I'll use the star's surname more) being a crap father, absent and not interested, and a grumpy old opinionated man. But a fine actor, superb speaking voice, some excellent performances. The book benefits from his letters, thoughts and interviews - as a member of the family the writer has superb access.

Coburn had a fascinating life and career. Tall, deep voiced, silver haired. He got professional work quite quickly. Benefited from being able to study under the GI Bill (he was drafted in the early 1950s but was in Europe not the Korean War). He always seemed to be able to support himself via advertisements - when starting out and later on. When he began getting TV work the jobs came thick and fast - he was ideal as villains in Westerns and played a lot of them. His film career was respectable quickly too - Ride Lonesome then The Magnificent Seven. He had a great run as a second lead. The Flint films turned him into a star but his actual period as a top level name above the star wasn't long. But 1980 there were no more film leading roles, and TV didn't give him that much longer either. But he always had his voice and cameos.

A genuine hippy. Managed to link to popular culture in odd ways - a mate of Bruce Lee's, in the Band on the Run photo, a rejected Cosmo nude centerfold (the one before Burt Reynolds), a big car importer, in some films edited badly by Jim Aubrey. 

He had a great 60s and pretty good 70s. Things went south in late 70s and took a while to bounce back. Won an Oscar with Affliction but that didn't so much for his career. Managed to appear in some iconic films though. Made a LOT of flops.

Movie review - "Slither" (1973) **

 Seventies Hollywood - MGM in decline, Dan Melnick greenlit, James T Aubrey disliked it, new stars (James Caan, Sally Kellerman), quirky road movie that covers genres (search for a bag of cash, a musical number, comedy), new scribe (WD Richter), new director (Howard Zieff).

Caan is very engaging as a sort of drifter. Peter Boyle feels a little try hard. Kellerman is fun as a nutty hitchhiker who attracts and scares Caan, Louise Lasser is good though feels wasted (it hints at a sort of romantic history between her and Caan that isn't explored; nothing much about her character is explored).

The movie varies in tone and is full of colourful types - a little like an Elmore Leonard novel, with its mixture of comedy and violence. Beautifully shot by Laszlo Kovacs. It wasn't for me but it showed how Caan can charm.

Movie review - "Brewster McCloud" (1970) ****

 Robert Altman goes nuts off the back of the success of MASH and produces a legendary flop. I can totally see why the public didn't like it but I found it a lot of fun. It's insane - you've got Rene Aberjonis giving lecutres about birds, Sally Kellerman following Bud Cort around, a lot of Houton people spouting racist/homophobic slurs, bird shit constantly falling out of the sky, Michael Murphy as a cop sending up Steve McQueen (but called Shaft), the cop investigating a murder, Stacy Keach in old age make up, Burt Cort wanting to fly.

It's consistently inventive and weird with an emotionally powerful climax. And becuase only racists are killed the death toll isn't disturbing. Kellerman, Duvall and Cort all have X factor.

Movie review - "The Boy Friend" (1971) ***1/2

MGM had the rights to the musical but couldn't think of what to do with it - and wound up giving Ken Russell a go. The result is actually more traditional than you might think - Russell clearly has genuine affection for the piece, and the era, and old stage shows.

It's too long - it's 2 hours 18 minutes with an intermission - I think because he tried to jam in too much. I wish Russell had gotten a co writer on board instead of doing it all himself. Russell whinged about MGM cutting off 25 minutes but I'm sympathetic to the studio.

There is a lot of charm. The visuals re impressive. I think the idea of a show within a show completely works. I got confused about the Twiggy-Chris Gable romance - when did they fall in love? I didn't like Twiggy not accepting the Hollywood role at the end.

Twiggy is very likable and can sing and dance. She surely would have had a bigger career in a decade where they made more musicals. It helps that support actors like Chris Gable and Tommy Tune are the real deal and can sing and dance. The support cast is very good - Glenda Jackson has a fun came. I loved the use of old tropes (the star twisting an ankle so the understudy goes on, the long lost son, etc)... I just wish it wasn't so damn long!

Movie review - "The Go-Between" (1971) *** (warning: spoilers)

I wonder if this film influenced all those Australian period piece of the 1970s - Picnic at Hanging Rock, Break of Day... there's a genteel quality, pretty pictures and costumes, but a sense of something happening Underneath, a little bit of sex. Break of Day especially.

I'd heard about this film for years, was curious to see it. It has a strong critical reputation. Maybe because I grew up on all those period Australian movies it didn't have the same impact.

It's well made. Alan Bates suited this sort of swaggering hair role - he was one of the hairier British male stars. Julie Christie was always solid as a demure looking woman with a sex drive - she's a star; her eyes are full of sparkle. Dominic Guard is a bit stiff. Edward Fox is touching.

Entirely good movie with some great moments (busting them having sex, Bates' death) and I enjoyed the cricket game. Just wasn't blown away.

Book review - "A Case of Need" (1969) by Jeffrey Hudson (Michael Crichton)

An early medical thriller by Michael Crichton who at one stage intended to use the name "Jeffrey Hudson" to write a bunch of books in that genre, but ended up only doing the one (he would later direct Coma, and write Five Patients and the pilot for ER under his own name).

It's an excellent page turner which deals with a subject that is still raw - abortion. Brennan, a pathologist in Boston, has an abortionist friend who is accused of murder so Brennan tries to solve it. There are some interesting philosophical discussions and character descriptions - an entertaining collection of medical people.

You wish the hero had a stronger motivation than "he was my friend". It felt as though he should have been Asian too (like the accused doctor), or have some family/romantic link, or be a woman (this was turned into a film at MGM directed by Blake Edwards with James Coburn... I kept thinking it should have been a Raquel Welch vehicle say).

The female characters are weak - the slutty dead girl, the slutty step mother, the non descript wives.  But the research is wonderful as are the twists. It occasionally feels a bit 1969 - hero is constantly smoking and drinking alcohol (I think cigs killed Crichton) - but generally it's aged well.

Book review - "Leading Lady Sherry Lansing and the Making of a Hollywood Groundbreaker" by Stephen Galloway (2017)

Sherry Lansing seems too nice and normal to be a truly legendary Hollywood exec, like Leo B Mayer, Robert Evans or even Dawn Steel. But she was/is smart and tenacious and had an excellent track record as an exec - she even developed her own genre, Sherry Lansing thrillers, like Fatal Attraction.

This is a pretty good book, benefiting considerably from close access to its subject matter.  Lansing had a happy/sad childhood - her mother fled from Nazi Germany, her adored father died at a young age when Lansing was only nine, mum's new husband could be aloof (though they grew close). Se was smart and pretty and went to work as a teacher, but her passion, initially was for acting. She got some decent roles including in Rio Lobo for Howard Hawks. However her enthusiasm for the craft dimmed. She found a new career when she went to work as a script reader - this led to a job as an executive.

The acting and good looks would have come in handy navigating the tricky world of Hollywood studio politics. She had some mentors too such as Dan Melnick (I didn't know he was a coke fiend), James T Aubrey (who was a boyfriend), Stanley Jaffe. She was appointed president of 20th Century Fox in 1980 but really made her mark as a producer in the 80s and head of Paramount in the 90s.

Lots of time in the book is devoted to the struggles of films that became successful: Fatal Attraction (a real fight and I believe it because no one in it was a big draw, not Michael Douglas, Glenn Close, Adrian Lynne), Titanic, Braveheart, Forrest Gump, The Accused, Indecent Proposal.

There are a number of irritating errors: Jonathan Kaplan had directed way more than one movie before The Accused; Tom Berenger wasn't in Southern Comfort.

But this is compensated for by all the entertaining stories: Lansing reading the riot act on Mike Myers, who had adapted Passport to Pimlico for Wayne's World 2 without clearing the rights;
There's some unexpected sweetness in Lansing's relationship with her father and Aubrey and finding true love with William Friedkin; Robert Redford was easy to deal with on Indecent Proposal; the machinations of people like Frank Price and Alan Hirschfield; Dustin Hoffman being a prick to Meryl Streep on Kramer vs Kramer.

And it's got a great "arc" in that Lansing was a woman who battled incessant prejudice and sexism (overt and subtle) to get where she was. It's a good read.

Book review - "MGM: Hollywood's Greatest Backlot" by Steven Bingen (2011)

If you're are even vaguely interested in studio backlots from the Golden Years of Hollywood this is a book for you - exhaustively researched and photographed, it covers the legendary backlot at MGM with it's all American street, train station, backlot London, Esther Williams pool, etc.

I admired the research and passion and appreciate the photos but have to admit: studio backlots aren't a big thing with me. Or maybe the problem is more I read this on my phone via kindle when it should be a coffee table book ideally.

Because it's about MGM there is an aura of sadness about it which the author admits - we remember MGM more because its dead. I was surprised the backlot was used so heavily and for so long - many of the photos refer to the films crappy movies of the 60s and 70s. Really - and this is all hindsight - they should've turned pretty much the whole thing over to TV in the 60s and 70s. Maybe that's a way it could've survived.

There's a lot I didn't know including the story of the Lins, wire dealers who bought the backlot, and further examples of mismanagement from Jim Aubrey.

James T Aubrey MGM Top Ten

James T Aubrey's regime at MGM is one of the most notorious of modern day Hollywood history - he cancelled a bunch of projects from major directors, sold off the backlot and props, cut up films, helped MGM leave distribution, and greenlit a lot of schlock.

So for sheer fun here's a list of the top ten films made at MGM under his time
1) Shaft (1971) - the film that saved the studio? It certainly kicked off the blaxploitation cycle. It's actually not a very good movie.
2) Skyjacked (1972) - genuinely good, understated thriller
3) Soylent Green (1973) - another solid MGM effort from Charlton Heston
4) Kansas City Bomber (1972) - flawed but easily one of Raquel Welch's best roles
5) Pretty Maids All in a Row (1971) - pervy insane movie from Roger Vadim
6) Hit Man (1972) black remake of Get Carter
7) The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing (1973) -never actually seen this but any movie where there was a murder investigation is automatically interesting
8) Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973) - a divisive film, cut about by MGM but still worth watching
9) Westworld (1973) - made when Dan Melnick came in who almost turned the studio around
10) The Outfit (1973) - lesser known Westlake adaptation waiting for rediscovery
 
A special subsection - the top 5 made by MGM Britain
1) Villain (1971) - tough Brit violence
2) Get Carter (1971) - Michael Caine at his best
3) Sitting Target (1972) - Oliver Reed/Alex Jacobs toughness
4) The Go-Between (1972) - how did MGM get involved in this?
5) Percy (1971) - smutty British sex comedy at it's best

A lot of these movies have cults. I feel Aubrey would be remembered if he'd made/financed them through a brand new studio instead of MGM - like an MGM spin off. 

Movie review - "Skyjacked" (1972) ***

One of the highlights from the James T Aubrey regime at MGM - this is a good, solid thriller, expertly handled by John Guillermin and acted by Charlton Heston. The plot involves a plane being hijacked by a bomb threat - the hijacker wants it flown to Russia.

The cast is campy fun: Susan Dey, Nicholas Hammond, Walter Pidgeon, Jeanne Craine, Yvette Mimeux, James Brolin, Leslie Uggams. It gives Pidgeon a decent role. While Aubrey was a slash and burner this is in its own way a solid old fashioned piece of entertainment.

It is hard after Flying High to take the disaster film tropes seriously but it's all good drama - the passengers include a heavily pregnant woman, a stewardess who used to date Heston, a black singer, a nubile young starlet. Actually more could've been done with it - a love triangle between Heston, Mimieux and co pilot Mike Henry feels underutilised. Would've loved to have a character from Brolin's past etc.

Lots of bits are unintentionally funny - the romance between Hammond and Dey, flashbacks to Heston pushing Mimieux on a swing. It's very 70s. But it;s also well done and I loved the third act arriving in Russie. Heston is perfect for this thing - he was born to play a pilot.

James Aubrey on filmmaking

Extract from a 1986 interview with James Aubrey. He talks about his time running MGM:

The thing that separates the men from the boys, in my opinion, the one thing in terms of leadership that stands out, is not intelligence or ability. Those who operate most effectively, those I respect most, simply are not afraid. And most people are afraid, they're scared of decisions. Bill Paley could be ruthless, but he was not afraid of decisions. Everybody has a fear level, when you've gone as far as you can go, but you do have to go that far. Your modus operandi can't be, `What if it doesn't work?' I never really analyzed this, but maybe it's why I've taken the blame for many things. I was willing to take that blame... 

[The studio was in] total disarray. Until you were in a position to lift up the rug, there was no way to know how much disarray. The crown jewel of studios had become a shambles... Kirk and I decided we'd get rid of everything else, and we did. The banks had extended credit to such a degree that we had to have a meeting to indicate our willingness to make good. We sold off acreage, European movie houses, whatever we could... 

[Without my changes] There would be no MGM today. But I was silhouetted against a garish horizon... The buck had to stop somewhere, and it was with me... Nostalgia runs strong out here, so we were criticized for selling Judy Garland's red shoes. To us they had no value, and they had no intrinsic value... In all honesty, I don't think anyone-Kirk, Greg, myself-knew just what it was going to take to save MGM. We really had to claw our way back...

The major difference about movie making is that everything here is manufactured from dreams. TV did not work that way. Movie producers and directors are told that every picture is going to be a smash, and get academy nominations. The moment a movie begins shooting, the dream machinery proclaims it a hit. I find that attitude unrealistic. Some movies are not going to turn out well. Yet very few directors will stand up and say, `I did my best, but it didn't work.' So the executive becomes the heavy....

[on his resignation] I just didn't want to do it anymore There are people who don't know when to walk away, or can't walk away, and it's painful to see that. I just no longer had interest in the machinery of a big studio." Was he gun-shy? "Maybe a little, but in all honesty I've never been afraid of failure. And I've never been afraid to admit failure.
 
From "Aubrey: A Lion in Winter" by Paul Rosenfield, Los Angeles Times, 27 April 1986 p Z1

Movie review - "Kansas City Bomber" (1972) ***

A high water mark in the career of Raquel Welch: the film was written as a vehicle for her and she helped produce it, and gives one of her best performances: a single mum (Jodie Foster is one of the kids) who is determined to make it in the roller derby. Welch seems more natural than normal, chewing gum, slouching and skating her arse off. Still not brilliant or anything but beautiful

It's a gritty-ish early 70s piece - certainly no add for roller derby which is depicted as brutal, corrupt run by team owners such as Kevin McCarthy. The script depends too much on McCarthy doing Something Bad - whether encouraging Welch to brawl, trading her best friend, encouraging a rival with another skater, causing a male skater to be brutish. It's as if they couldn't bring themselves to criticise anyone else - and sometimes it's a bit silly.

But the milieu works - dingy bars and halls, cramped beds, crummy locker rooms. Its very feminist even if Raquel takes a shower or two and looks great in her costumes, with Raquel learning she can't rely on a man. (Though admittedly she's not the best mum in the world, dumping her two kids with her mum while she goes off skating.) The love scene between McCarthy and Welch is underwhelming but Helena Kallianiotes gives an interesting support performance.

The title is completely perfect even though most of the action takes place in Portland.

Book review - "Robert Altman: The Oral Biography" by Mitchell Zuckoff (2009)

Patrick McGilligan wrote a wonderful biography of Altman but this is awesome too - an oral biography seems to suit the director because he was so keen to make his film sets and life one big party. Zuckoff has the benefit of working on this shortly after Altman's death, so people's memories are fresh but they can be honest because he's dead.

Altman had an incredible life - Kansas City upbringing, party boy youth, genuinely impressive war service as a bomber in the Pacific, early Hollywood dalliance ending unsatisfactorily, making corporates and industrials in Kansas City, becoming a genuinely great TV director (including Fabian's best performance, "A Lion Walks Among Us"), blowing many opportunities with his personality but always getting a second (then third, fourth and so on) chance due to his talent, breaking into features and becoming a legend with MASH.

Few directors' careers had more ebbs and flows than Altman's but he always managed to survive - if he would drop his budget, try new genres, move to Broadway and cable. Actors love for him meant he actually bounced back in the 1990s - he seemed to thrive in the world of independent cinema. A tiring man to fall in love with but he eventually found the perfect wife. Not a great father either - but what a legacy.

This is a terrific book.

Movie review - "Wild Rovers" (1971) **

Blake Edwards liked to whinge that MGM ruined his masterpiece, and certainly this happened a lot at Metro under the auspices of James T Aubrey. But the main complaint is that they took out 40 minutes of what was already clocks in at over two hours and feels very slow. Would the 40 minutes have helped? I don't think so. I think I saw the uncut version - it felt painful and went on forever.

This is a dull tale about two cow pokes (William Holden and Ryan O'Neal) who decide to rob a bank. They amble about a lot - an awful lot.

I like both Holden and O'Neal in other movies but neither are that memorable here and they seem like really weird friends. Karl Malden provides some much needed energy but he's not in the movie much. It is lyrically shot - so much so that I kept falling asleep. And even though the story is simple enough I struggled at times to follow it. Maybe I was bored.

Movie review - "All Pretty Maids in a Row" (1970) **1/2

Odd combination of black comedy, murder mystery and TNA as cheerleaders start turning up murdered at an American high school. It was Roger Vadim's first Hollywood movie, made at MGM when it was under James Aubrey, who was apparently a womaniser himself so presumably enjoyed having the famous lady killer director under contract.

Vadim doesn't have any of his famous lady friends in the cast, although Angie Dickinson is very sexy in a cougar way (as she often was in the 70s - very happy to strip in a good cause was Angie) as a school teacher. Her part actually isn't strictly needed story wise - it's more a subplot: footy coach and teacher Rock Hudson (very good) encourages her to seduce one of his students, a nerdish kid who assists him with the team. The bulk of the storyline though involves the murder investigation by Tely Savalas (superb as a cop), and wondering whether Hudson - who sleeps with lots of students  - is involved.

Occasionally the direction is "over pervy" (as Vadim could be) and its disappointing none of the girls that Hudson sleeps with is given much of a character - they are all into him and that's it. (Also his wife Barbara Leigh and fellow teacher Dickinson also find him irresistible without much variation).

But the film's sheer wildness and oddness does make it compelling, and Vadim has a nice eye for composition. There's a fun support cast including Roddy McDowall, James Doohan and Keenan Wynn.

Movie review - "Sitting Target" (1972) **1/2 (warning: spoilers)

Early 70s British gangster film which fits very much into the genre of Get Carter, Villain and so on: a heavy set glowering star, misogynistic attitude towards women, sudden outbursts of violence, lots of homo-eroticism, not highly regarded critically on release but with a growing cult.

This one stars Oliver Reed in what Josh Olsen on Trailers from Hell described as one of the best on screen depictions of Donald Westlake's Parker, even though it was not based on a Westlake novel but someone else. However the screenwriter was Alex Jacobs, he of cult reputation and major influence on Walter Hill, who adapted the Westlake Parker film Point Blank.

Reed is in prison when wife Jill St John tells him she's pregnant to someone else. Reed tries to strangle her, then is sent to solitary; he breaks out with Ian McShane and Freddie Jones, gets a gun and sets about causing mayhem.

I wasn't super familiar with director Douglas Hickox but he does a good job - it's handled freshly, well at least differently. "Fresh" seems an odd word for a movie with so much grime - dingy prison cells, back alleys, etc. The action scenes are very well done - the prison break out, a chase amongst laundry hanging up, assassination attempts.

The story isn't great and too often feels repetitive without development - Reed tries to kill St John, is stopped, tries again, is stopped, does something bad to someone else, then someone else. He's also ridiculously indestructible at the end. I always feel these films get over praised in later years because they are neglected for so long - and because they're so unlike movies made today.

There's a good cast - this isn't the sort of movie Jill St John usually made but she's fine. Reed is in glowering good form and MacShane was effective back then. Edward Woodward pops up as a police officer and Frank Finlay is in it too.

Movie review - "Westworld" (1973) ***1/2

Michael Crichton's feature debut as film director has aged remarkably well due in part to the cleverness of its concept - indeed, it ranks with one of the all time great sci fi concepts, and is so good Crichton reused it in Jurassic Park and Timeline. There is also the casting of Yul Brynner, who makes a terrifying villain.

The Terminator supposedly ripped off an episode of Outer Limits but surely James Cameron also saw this film before he wrote it - the same relentless killer, played by an established star, the same POV shots of said killer, the same theme of technology overcoming humans. Cameron is a far better director than Crichton, though, whose handling is competent at best - he has his excellent screenplay, plus some fine actors (Richard Benjamin as the less brave hero, James Brolin as the tougher seeming guy who cops it early), so it doesn't matter for the most part. It's more when things go haywire that you feel a really good director could have milked the tension - the finale mostly consists of people walking down corridors with loud sound effects of people walking, and Benjamin thinking he's killed Brynner then walking away something like three times.

Also in places the action felt superfluous - like the barroom brawl. It's a shame these sequences weren't cut to free up the tight budget so the money could be spent elsewhere. Still, a fine film and one of the few decent movies made by MGM in the 1970s.

Movie review - "Soylent Green" (1973) *** (warning: spoilers)

Some good old fashioned late 60s early 70s Chuck Heston sci fi dystopia, set in a world all too relevant today - overpopulated, riddled with crime and global warming, in hock to corporate interests. There are some quaint very 70s touches, such as the clothes, furniture, TV programs - and depiction of women (in the future, women still don't have decent roles in sci fi films, apparently). Still, this is a consistently interesting film, which is unremittingly bleak.

Heston's character is a genuine anti-hero - a good enough cop, that doesn't stop him from looting the apartment of a rich man whose death he's investigating for food and other stuffs; he also seems to coerce the man's mistress (charmingly described as "furniture" and played by a very pretty Leigh Taylor Young) into bed, punches out a black mistress, investigates the case to protect his job as much as a desire for justice. He is a bad ass, too, disposing of several henchmen at the Soylent Green factory and in a shoot out later on. He takes his shirt off a lot, has a steamy shower with Taylor Young, and flashes those teeth and indignation. It's quite a complex role, a heavily flawed man, and Heston does it well.

He is out acted, however, by little Edward G Robinson in his last film - easy authority and dignity. To be fair, Robinson gets the best sequence - signing himself up to the ethenasia program to go out with some nice music and visuals; we see Eddie G's little body draped in a sheet looking so small and I don't mind admitting I choked up a bit.

This was clearly not a big budget film but the budget is used wisely (a few showy riot set pieces). The ending is annoyingly vague - I mean, I know it was the 70s but why not show us whether Heston lived or died, or was believed or not... or whether Brock Peters ended up reporting his discovery, and whether anyone cared, or what happened to the Governor (Whit Bissell). It felt so abrupt.

The final twist is very well known these days - from memory it's in the trailer. It might have been a better movie had Heston found out earlier and then we played out the ramifications of that. Anyway that's Monday morning quarterbacking.

Book review - "The Man Who Seduced Hollywood: The Lives and Loves of Greg Bautzer" (2013) by James Goldstone

Greg Bautzer is one of those people forever popping up in books about classic era Hollywood, either having affairs with movie stars, hanging out with big wigs or being involved in high level industry machinations. He deserved a book and James Goldstone did him proud. There's plenty of sex and saliciousness but Goldstone is a lawyer and a diligent skilled writer, so the legal/business side of Bautzer's career is well covered.

Bautzer was one of those improbably successful people who are the ultimate cool kid in high school: good looking, smart, loyal, great dancer, an expert womaniser (his technique: listen, pay attention, send them red roses and take them on a trip beforehand... plus be handsome and all that), a brilliant lawyer especially in the courtroom, a skilled negotiator, and brave (sticking up Bugsy Siegel). All of his exes spoke of him with fondness, his friends adored him - he was Howard Hughes' lawyer during the crazy years, worked for Kirk Kekorian, helped in the establishment of modern Los Angeles, represented Ingrid Bergman during her divorce and custody cases (rare defeats for the lawyer but not really his fault), was crucial in getting Robert Evans appointed to run Paramount and James T Aubrey to run MGM...

It's almost a relief in a way to come across his flaws: an alcoholic who got violent after a few too many, war service that was fairly bludgy (never got in harm's way). Still, he held on to his health reasonably enough and died of a heart attack without losing his position in Hollywood or his faculties.

Bautzer was conscious of his sex appeal and used the starlets he dated to raise his profile and help get him work (he would leak to Hedda and Louella constantly and his stud reputation impressed nerds like Kekorian). But he certainly seemed to take pleasure in his conquests, which makes for a very impressive reading: Lana Turner (took her virginity), Joan Crawford (rough, violent sex), Dorothy Lamour, Jeanne Crain (didn't know she was such a saucy minx), Ginger Rogers, Dana Wynter (who he married), Jane Wyman (?), Paulette Goddard, many others. He packed an awful lot in, especially with all those nagging clients. Terrific book.