A Life in Movies

February 25, 2019
While film producer Winkler isn’t a household name, he amply proves his place in Hollywood history in this uneven but illuminating memoir. Drawing on work diaries, Winkler gives insight into the creation of Raging Bull, The Right Stuff, the Rocky series, and Martin Scorsese’s forthcoming The Irishman, among many others. He goes into more detail about some films than others, but at best gives a unique insider’s perspective on his profession. He recalls that on Rocky, he and longtime producing partner Robert Chartoff had to take responsibility for any budget overages before United Artists would allow the film’s then-unknown screenwriter, Sylvester Stallone, to star. On Guilty by Suspicion, a drama about the Hollywood blacklist that Winkler directed himself, he recounts exhaustively searching for a lead actor, before resolving not to make the film without Robert De Niro: “No one would be as perfect as Bob. That was it.” Taken separately, the book’s anecdotes can feel thin; in particular, the reader is left wanting to know more about Winkler’s relationships with recurring collaborators like Chartoff, De Niro, and Scorsese. However, taken as a whole, Winkler’s recollections add up to a lively chronicle that will entertain film buffs and enlighten film students.