The Way It's Never Been Done Before: My Friendship with Marlon Brando

Traces the life and career of Marlon Brando, remembered by his long-time friend and producer-director George Englund.

Englund, producer and director of Brando's film The Ugly American, was friends with the superstar for 48 years. While he explains how he and Brando bonded over their relationships with their fathers—Brando hated his, Englund didn't have one—readers don't get a complete picture of the actor. After decades of camaraderie, Englund, now 78, finally recognizes Brando's slide from artistic icon to biased old man. Alas, a chronologically confusing narrative, perfunctory condemnation of Brando's parents and agonizing enumeration of trivial details rules out any multilayered insight. Englund prefers to detail Brando's hobby of humiliating women. He also enjoys casting himself as the actor's co-conspirator, whether Brando is farting in elevators or hijacking rickshaws in Hong Kong. When not reveling in immature hijinks, Englund chats about films (though his experience of directing Brando gets scant attention). He rarely ponders his friend's acting style, but excels at observing the Brando family's dynamics, intelligently discussing the pathology of despair and destruction that arose after Brando's son, Christian, shot his sister Cheyenne's boyfriend, and Cheyenne committed suicide. Unfortunately, this perceptive detour is short-lived; Englund soon returns to mind-numbing transcripts of financial negotiations involving Brando's autobiography (which was never realized). This disappointing book puts the spotlight on Englund's ego, not on Brando's place in film history. Photos.
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Producer-director Englund provides a relatively comprehensive summary of the late actor's life and work in this manly look at a manly actor that fairly drips testosterone and endeavors to probe beneath the surface, behind the scenes, and deep into the mind and passions of its subject. In this it succeeds fairly well, although the breathless urgency of Englund's celebration of all things Brando may wear on some readers. Others will just appreciate the strengths that make it a useful acquisition for collections concerned with movie stars. Brando was a powerful performer before he became a joke for talk-show monologues, and his old friend Englund (they met at a Hollywood party in 1956) is uniquely qualified to interpret the artistic side of his pal. For that purpose, the text's high manliness quotient helps insofar as it truthfully suggests Brando's approach to his best-known and most-appreciated roles. Okay, maybe it doesn't apply to his approach to Sky Masterson, but really, what could? Valuable for its contribution to film history, Englund's book is a sincere appreciation of Brando the artist and larger-than-life personality. Mike Tribby
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