"他頂多是差強人意的角色"嗎? Robert Evan 的「好萊塢50年」

讀「好萊塢50年」The Kid Stays in the Picture by Robert Evan，台北：絲路出版社，1996
這本書相當精彩。
(The Kid Stays in the PicturebyRobert Evans(1994, put to film in 2002)
A revised edition of the book, published in 1995, adds several chapters of new material, including material on his projects after his return to Paramount Pictures台灣96年所出版的，應該是舊版。)

近讀第37章，它是關於Francis Ford Coppola導The Cotton Club(1984)之製作方式- 過程之記錄和兩人鬥法緣由，是第一手資料：章末更有所謂『成功學vs失敗學』之精彩說法：失敗不容易學，不過成功一定要細加分析。
接下來的牽涉到美國憲法第五條保障「沉默」之權等等，學問大。

這本書提到他愛虛榮，曾為當製作人而投資自己看不懂的舞台劇，終於慘敗。以後他記取教訓，寧願放棄自己看不懂的納布可夫的新小說。它為對手花數百萬元所購。不過，果真一直無法真拍片。
他又講諸如其精明的老闆對於Funny Girl 之判斷，屬於決策錯誤。

Evans began to fall on hard times in the early 1980s, when during the production of Popeye, he was convicted for attempting to buy cocaine. Things got even worse for him when he began filming The Cotton Club. Evans was slated to direct, but due to production complications Francis Ford Coppola was called in. During the filming; the budget soared and Coppola and Evans fought endlessly. Evans hit a real low when he was implicated in the murder of Roy Radin. Radin, an investor in The Cotton Club, was murdered by Bill Mentzerand Alex Marti, the two convicts accused Evans of involvement. Evans pled the Fifth Amendment and was sent home. Evans wrote in his 1994 autobiography The Kid Stays in the Picture that he was a "tangential character, at best"【這一時找不到對應翻譯---或許為 "他頂多是差強人意的角色"】in regard to the case.