Portrait Of A Writer: Gore Vidal

Although the box cover boasts scenes from Myra Breckinridge (of which there is, fortunately, only one) and dramatized highlights from the novel "Creation" (of which there are none--the novel was not even published at the time of the film), this profile is almost pure Vidal from start to finish. Like his contemporaries Norman Mailer and the late Truman Capote, Vidal's reputation has been built as much on his personal life as on anything he's written. His particular strength has always been witty conversation, and in this film he does not disappoint. Ranging from biting comments on the nature of Christianity to delicious gossip concerning his relatives-in-law, the Kennedys, Vidal also manages to cover the Mafia, the combination of imagination and reflection necessary to produce a novel, and, of course, his favorite theme: politics. (He does not fail, naturally, to snub both Capote and Mailer along the way). As long as one doesn't take Vidal's opinions (especially of his own literary worth) too seriously, this is a wonderfully enjoyable gossip session. Recommended. (Available from: Home Vision, 5547 N. Ravenswood Ave., Chicago, IL 60640).