Norman Mailer: The American

For many years, Norman Mailer—one of the most controversial U.S. writers in the post–World War II era—polarized American culture with his strident comments and public behavior. Joseph Mantegna's documentary brings this larger-than-life figure down to earth—often with a thud—combining vintage footage and photos with interviews of assorted friends, colleagues, wives, and children to create a balanced portrait of a complex and often exasperating personality. Unable to immediately duplicate the commercial and critical success of his 1948 debut novel, The Naked and the Dead, Mailer managed to stay relevant by successfully cultivating a highly publicized persona as a hard-living, opinionated, cultural force. At his peak, the two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner created startling prose that challenged the sociopolitical status quo. However, his obsessions with cancer, racial politics, boxing, and Marilyn Monroe—not to mention his weird flirtation with underground filmmaking (Mantegna includes an extended clip from Mailer's 1970 film, Maidstone)—baffled many, while his pugnacious pretensions were cruelly exposed in humiliating public duels against intellectual heavyweights like Gore Vidal and William F. Buckley Jr. To his good fortune, Mailer had plenty of apologists, including several of his six spouses—most notably Adele Morales Mailer, who details how she survived a penknife stabbing inflicted by her husband during a wild party in 1960. A well-produced, extremely entertaining portrait, this is highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (P. Hall)