When I read a book of this sort, I never read the introduction. In my opinion, if the stories are good enough, they should need no explanation. In this case, the introduction was rather long, and I happily skipped it and dove straight into the stories.
And I soon found I was enjoying them. Partly because the guy has led a really interesting and varied work life. But also because, slid in mostly through what he did and what he reveals to us about what he was thinking at the time, I began to like him.
I finished the book in one day. And then I read the Afterword, and then I went back and read the Introduction. And I enjoyed both of them. They are good stories, well told, with a sympathetic and believable main character.
The Rudy Ridolfo we meet in these stories had his problems, which he doesn’t harp on. We piece together the fact that he had an abusive father and a divorce, but he barely mentions either, because that’s not what he promised. But it helps us understand a lot of the things he has done and the jobs he has taken. And why he left so many of them, often rather quickly.
It also mitigates our disapproval of the licentious life he lived. He’s not exactly an anti-hero, but he’s no angel, either. Thematically speaking, he holds fast to a pretty reasonable set of ethics in an environment where ethics rarely matter.
And if you find a lot of the events outrageous and unbelievable, take it from someone who has spent his share of time on set; there isn’t one story in the whole book that isn’t completely possible. I’ve spent a lot of time around people like that, and, allowing for a bit of poetic license, they ring true.
These stories are mostly in chronological order, and if I had my druthers, the author would have made more effort to keep them organized. When we’re trying hard to follow a helter-skelter life like this one, every jolt of, “Where are we now?” pulls us out of our contact with the character and reminds us that he’s also an author.
A warning: don’t expect a whole lot of stories about the movies. Most of these are the jobs Indy workers take to keep the rent paid while they set up the next production. The jobs in his true calling didn’t make it in here with the failures.
An entertaining look into an interesting life, spiced with peeks at the Indy film industry.
Four stars.
