Don't Say No Until I Finish Talking (2013)
*** 1/2 (out of 4)
Nicely done documentary taking a look at the career of studio head and movie producer Richard D. Zanuck. The documentary has the great fortune of being able to get Zanuck to talk about his career before his death in 2012. We start off taking a look at his early life, which included certain trouble with his legendary father. We also get to learn about his fighting problems, him having to fire Judy Garland and other stories that made him the person he would become. After we learn about his personal life we head towards the various films he produced and get stories about the making of PLANET OF THE APES, THE EIGER SANCTION, THE FRENCH CONNECTION, JAWS, COCOON, BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID and various others. Not only do we get Zanuck talking about his career but we also hear from his children, his wife and various people that he has worked with including Steven Spielberg, Willian Friedkin, Johnny Depp, Tim Burton, Clint Eastwood, Ron Howard, Helena Bonham Carter, Michelle Pfeiffer and various others. DON'T SAY NO UNTIL I FINISH TALKING is a well-made documentary from director Laurent Bouzereau who many will know from the various DVD extras that he has made. He does a very good job here and I really liked how he structured the documentary with Zanuck's early life talked about during the first third and then we get to all the movies. I really liked the stories that were selected to be talked about and there's no question that Zanuck does a very good job at telling his own story. Fans of his movies will certainly enjoy this documentary and there's no question that it makes you want to go out and watch the films again.
