Nelson Algren: The End Is Nothing, The Road Is All

Filmmakers Mark Blottner, Ilko Davidov, and Denis Mueller's documentary profile of Nelson Algren, author of The Man with the Golden Arm (winner of the National Book Award for fiction in 1950) and A Walk On the Wild Side, offers a fairly thorough account of Algren's many sides as an artist, visionary, lover, and political leftist whose literary beat was society's castoffs and “down-and-outers.” A number of interviewees, including biographers and friends (several seen in archival footage, including the late Studs Terkel and Kurt Vonnegut), talk about pivotal moments in Algren's life, including his experience during the Great Depression as a Works Progress Administration writer (which wasn't particularly fruitful), and his arrest in Texas, circa 1933, for trying to steal a typewriter from a classroom. The latter incident proved formative for Algren, landing him in jail for five months and giving him a heightened sensibility about America's fringe characters and social underclass. Algren's sometimes-tense relationship with the Polish-American community in Chicago—where he lived and drew from for characters and settings—is complicated, ultimately at one time resulting in the banning of at least one book from Chicago public libraries. Algren's relationships with women—including his inability to sustain a marriage—is an interesting narrative thread (Algren had a preference for dismissible one-night stands). Even more revealing is his affair with feminist writer Simone de Beauvoir, whom he clearly loved, although their relationship did not end well. Algren's political views are also examined: while never a member of the Communist party, he was associated with related groups—which resulted in a fat FBI file. Algren himself also appears in old interviews from different stages in his life. Extras include the short film “Algren's Last Night,” bonus footage, and a slideshow. Highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (T. Keogh)