A Fan’s Notes

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This movie masterpiece comes in printed form.

Sep 3, 2012, Vol. 17, No. 47 • By JOHN PODHORETZ

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A movie fan Tom Mankiewicz was, more than he was anything else. Though he made a fortune doing mediocre work, none of it will be remembered. And that makes My Life as a Mankiewicz all the more touching. He did well in Hollywood in part because people liked him, enjoyed his company, and loved to listen to his stories. So he ended his career producing not a lousy TV show or an indifferent comedy but a genuinely fascinating memoir that reveals the machinations inside America’s pop-culture version of a royal court and its undying seductions—even for those who have every reason to resist them.

John Podhoretz, editor of Commentary,is The Weekly Standard’s movie critic.