Moving Pictures

by Ali MacGraw

The star of Love Story describes her New England childhood, modeling career, her marriage to film exec Robert Evans, her film successes and failures, and her passionate affair with and subsequent marriage to moody screen star Steve McQueen. Reprint. NYT. PW. K.

Genres: Biography, Autobiography, Biography Memoir, Nonfiction, Memoir

320 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1991

Reviews

[Ozma · Rating 3 out of 5]

Looking back at this memoir, I feel that I actually really enjoyed it. I learned a lot from it about what being an alcoholic is like and what being a sensitive person can come to. At the time that I was reading the book, I had a range of responses and emotions. Some of the interlude pieces seemed fluffy to me, but, then, as I learned more about MacGraw, I realized how far she had come. To write a fluffy interlude piece was a big deal for her. Her mind was finally quiet enough to be able to observe and enjoy fluff in life. I also felt annoyed at times that MacGraw was so insecure, weak, so caught up in trying to keep or get a man. All she wanted for a long time was just to have a man, almost didn't matter who. It amazes me how celebrities can sometimes be the most insecure. I don't think it would be inaccurate to say she was kind of a mess (and I don't like saying these kinds of things about people). I am a big Bob Evans fan, and I couldn't help but thinking that she made a big mistake in taking up with Steve McQueen. He didn't permit her to work in what were her hottest years, and she's ultimately broke now because of it. Good for McGraw though for being honest and both copping to that her marriage with Steve was anything but great and had its share of artifice and dishonesty and also for admitting nonetheless that, despite all the abuse she took from him and heartache, she still was (and maybe still is) desperately in love with him and had such a strong, sparking attraction. She said she cheated on Evans with Steve because she was pretty sure Evans was going to cheat on her so she wanted to do it first. Evans may or may not have cheated, but reading that it was MacGraw's insecurity that caused the affair and the demise of a good marriage to the father of her son was almost humbling to read and very sad. Her dependence on alcohol and admission that she is an alcoholic was also surprising. You think celebrities have it all, but they don't. It almost made me laugh that we look up so much to celebrities, but they are exponentially more troubled and misguided than we can imagine. I was disappointed MacGraw did not talk about her time at Wellesley more. As a fellow Wellesley alum, I was looking forward to that. I think that it is presumed/assumed that Wellesley was a good experience for the young daughter of hippie but controlling parents. She certainly had a fascinating career as a photographer's assistant before she became a famous actress. She put together amazing photo shoots and found odd props. It was funny to think of MacGraw schlepping around NYC in her 20s and then taking on acting at the ripe, old age of 30. Anyway, good but sad book. She writes about her 30 day stay at the Betty Ford Clinic with great honesty. For anyone curious about that, this is a great read.

[Kami · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eh...really didn't have much choice in reading this as a coworker all but thrust it in my face and said "Here, read this!" So I did. It was okay. The height of Ali MacGraw's career and Love Story and all that was a bit before my time so there really wasn't much interest on my part to begin with, but hearing (or reading) Ali's story told in her own words...well, she certainly didn't paint herself in the best light. Part of me admires that actually, but the other part of me just thought she was a bit of an over-privileged brat who turned to alcohol and lovers when she should have been seeking counseling. It was like, here we go again, over and over.

[Sandra I. Oliver · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ali has a sort of interesting story to tell, but she is no storyteller. Her style is stilted and confusing and her timeline skips around so often the reader is never quite sure who she married to. Did she like making movies? Did she like being married to anyone? Did she enjoy being a mother? After reading this book I can'tell tell really. I do get the idea she was not happy till she moved to New Mexico to be by herself. So, maybe that'# the real answer.

[Jim French · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating personal account, warts and all.

[Jill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Completely unexpected as a memoir. MacGraw splashed on the screen in the early seventies in the pic ‘Love Story’ with Ryan O’Neal. And then seemed to disappear in a flash with Steve McQueen, 70s heartthrob. This book is essentially that story, covering an intense 20+ year period - early family, incredible fame, marriage, motherhood. Work. Mistakes. Relationships. Descent into alcoholism. Male dependency. Rehab and recovery on the path to discovering and becoming comfortable with her true self. MacGraw is entirely unsparing of herself as the main actor contributing to the problems she encountered and pain suffered along the way. Brutally honest. Yet beautiful in that MacGraw did “the work” - I found it, in the end, an interesting recounting of that age and her place in it as an aging actress/woman (this aspect sadly is little changed) as well as a loving paen as divorcee parent to her only son, Joshua Evans.

[Allen · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first 3/4s of the book was very interesting. Loved all the behind the scenes of her life and acting roles. To me she was always great in everything she did. Goodbye Columbus, Love Story, the Getaway, especially. The last 1/4th of the book was a bit tiresome as she seemed very confused about her life and where it was going. She mostly talked about her marriage to Steve McQueen. She did not talk much about her life with Robert Evans till later in the book. I had just read Evans book and she was his love of her life. They had a son together. But she was more into McQueen though he was not really her type and had lots of affairs.

It’s been 32 years since she wrote this book. Time for her to release a part 2. Hard to believe she is 83 years old now, though still beautiful.

[BeautifulNerd · Rating 1 out of 5]

I know it seems churlish to say this about an autobiography, but Ali McGraw just seemed so self involved. Even amidst the 'warts and all' sections where she does not shy away from painting herself in a bad light, I got the sense that her moments of retrospective clarity and disapproval of her past behaviour were pallatives she just put in there to show everyone how much of a deep and tortured person she is and how much she's grown, despite the fact that she spent most of her adult life using and abusing people including herself i.e. "yes I know I drank, and cheated and screwed married men but see! -I feel really bad about it now!" I hope she is as peaceful and grounded now as she claims to be every other chapter. However the tone of the book (and these repeated declarations of her newfound grace and inner calm) felt like "older and wiser essayist" may just be another acting role.

[Ronnie Cramer · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've seen and enjoyed GOODBYE, COLUMBUS and THE GETAWAY many times, so I thought I'd give this book a try. In many ways it's a standard Hollywood bio (clothes, houses, adultery, myopia, narcissism), but once in a while I was surprised by the author's insight, like when she spoke of being present at her parents' deaths and witnessing 'that the now peaceful-looking receptacles of their souls had at last set them free to soar into eternity.' At one point she tells a story about going to dinner with her husband Steve McQueen and (then former governor) Ronald Regan and his wife. Apparently the dinner was at a questionable restaurant chosen by MacGraw, and she punctuates the anecdote with "We never were invited to the White House." This struck me as gratuitous since by the time Reagan was president, MacGraw and McQueen were divorced and Steve was dead.

[Shannon Lee · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was pretty disappointing. I think I liked her better not knowing all the gory details of her infidelities, drunkenness and insecurities. But the real problem with this book is the 30% of it that is devoted to her rehab and hashing through her daily diary as she tries to "find" herself and become aware of the "higher power". I found myself skimming through large sections. This book was also written in 1991 so we have nothing about her live over the last 25 years. Not recommended.

[Roxanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is Ali Macgraws story of how she stared as a model and turned into an actress. She had some excellent parts in her career but kind of vanished from sight. She was not lucky in marriage. Steve Mcqueen was a not nice drunk. I think she has taken on a quiet life now. I did enjoy reading about her.

[Georgia Doyle · Rating 1 out of 5]

Incredibly disappointing. Got very tired of her sense of entitlement to money and the finest things in life when she hadn't worked to earn them. By the time the self proclaimed animal lover didn't care that her own pets were abused by a lover's hounds as long as she had him, I was ready to throw the book against the wall.

[DEBORAH G · Rating 4 out of 5]

Celebrity biographies and autobiographies are my jam. I usually love the all, and I did like this one. It was well written and Ali MacGraw's story is interesting. I think I like reading these type of books because I see real human beings in the celebrities. I like the details of how they live and how they handle the issues of life, good or bad.
It was a good book.

[J.L. Vasche · Rating 5 out of 5]

Despite being famous, Ali longed for a simpler life. Most of her life, she felt like she could not be herself. And she wanted to step out of what felt like an artificial world, and live in the moment and find what was good about being alive.

[Cynthia Bemis Abrams · Rating 5 out of 5]

I rarely give 5 stars for celebrity autobiographies, particularly those that barely clear 215 pages in length. This is a really thoughtful book and MacGraw provides her thought processes around celebrity, possessions and pre-nup agreements, and sobriety/addiction. Including her 30-day journal from her time at The Betty Ford Center in the mid-1980s is highly courageous. It's the one thing I will always remember MacGraw for... ahem... in addition to Love Story, Convoy and Winds of War.

[George Beilin · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Perctionists Nightmare

A clear example of what happens to ultra-perfectionists further complicated by being an adult child of alcoholics fixated on unattainable daddy figures with associated guilt by oedipal retaliating maternal figures. MacGraw tries to portray the 'perfect' book. Sadly, it's so easy to see her dilemma. So externally gorgeous with nothing else deep.

[Mick Meyers · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was looking forward to reading this book,but it only glossed over the actress's film work in the first half of the book.the second half covered her recovery from addiction,which is no bad thing and could help those in the same situation.not badly written,just not my particular kind of niche.

[Lori · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mainly I read this because I was interested in Steve McQueen. It was interesting to read about his read on life. I did like that her son liked the Pittsburgh Steelers.

[Mary Anne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing

I really wanted to like the book. I just felt sorry for the people around her. I agree with the others who gave this book a low rating

[Kathryn Berla · Rating 3 out of 5]

The early part was more interesting. Later in the book it drags. Especially 6 weeks of her actual daily journal entries. Editor needed for that.

[Claudia · Rating 3 out of 5]

The second half……..ugh.

[Robin Stritenberger · Rating 5 out of 5]

couldn't put it down

[Sharon Ziemer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book mostly because Ali is a recent friend of mine. I loved learning about her life in a candid account and enjoyed it very much!

[Donna Stewart · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have always admired Ms McGraw’s beauty and style choices. I appreciate her honesty in sharing her human frailties, and frankness of her addictions.

[Greg Evans · Rating 5 out of 5]

Refreshingly candid. MacGraw readily admits that during her early 70s reign as Hollywood's flower child hot-hot-hot 'it' girl she knew very little about acting, and often felt way out of her league at the numerous big-deal glam-filled parties she attended with Robert Evans. If you’re in AA or 12-step, reading this book is like an extended, interesting qualification.

[Chrissy Frost · Rating 4 out of 5]

Those of us 'of a certain age' will never forget the film 'Love Story' and the days when the whole world fell in love with Ali McGraw. She had hippy-boho chic, a cheeky crooked front tooth and glorious long brown hair. She went on to star in several hugely successful films and marry Robert Evans, the Hollywood producer and later Steve McQueen. Back in the day, you could not pick up a magazine without finding Ali on the cover or somewhere inside. She was a mega-star. So what happened to Ali? My grown up children claim they've never heard of her! How did her star fall so far so fast? This engaging autobiography tells her story very well. There is more to Ali than you might imagine - and she writes with frank insight into her journey to stardom and her mistakes along the way - and after her fame faded. This book was written when she was 50 and Ali is now 78, so I am rather late to the party reading this! But I can recommend it as an enjoyable account of a rather extraordinary life.

[Marcos · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tales of a spolied pretty girl

I really tried to empathize and like the author. I even though that she would come to her senses after rehab, but alas! Once a spoiled girl, always a spoiled old girl.
She has been given the world on a silver platter and lived in an Ivory Tower. She was once on top because she was pretty, and the whole book is a painful description of her anxiety because she was not on top anymore.
Since she is so self-absorbed and vain, there is little description of the many interesting people and places she knew. What a waste.

[Annie Howe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ali Beautiful!

This book touched me! Not only is it wonderful to see someone move through their crazy life and come out the other side, but Ali does it with class. She looks at herself, inside and out, with a lovingly critical eye, and when all is said and done, Ali MacGraw is just like any one of us, a flawed human being struggling to live.

[SKS Scelzi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have always liked Ali MacGraw & do not know what the bad reviews are all about. I felt she walked us through her Journey with the good times & some bad. What one of us have not had some good with the bad?
I enjoyed it very much & if I had not I would not be taking the time to review this book. I wish you happiness and joy Ali.

[Joey Sharpe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Part Memoir, Part Self Help Book

Ms. McGraw's autobiography reveals a little - a little about her career, a little about her private life, a little about her alcoholism, and nothing much about those same subjects. Well-written but with a distance the reader will feel.

[Carla Cornish · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was alright. Not a favorite of mine.