Cary Grant: A Celebration of a Leading Man

Cary Grant: A Celebration of a Leading Man (1988)

*** (out of 4)

This documentary runs less than a hour and tries to cover the life and career of screen legend Cary Grant. Through film clips and interviews, we trace Grant's life from his early days of going by the name Archie Leach to various personal issues including his mother pretty much going crazy and giving him away, which turned the boy to the stage. We learn about his quick rise to fame in Hollywood and how he pretty much never lost that popularity. There's certainly nothing too ground-breaking about this documentary but there are a few major reasons to watch it, which I'll get to in a second. Basically this documentary just goes through various parts of Grant's filmmography and gives quick details about the movie and if anything special was going on in the star's life during this time. All of this is stuff most people will probably already know but what makes this film so special is the fact that it features numerous familiar names who actually worked with Grant and knew him. These type of interviews are really priceless and we get comments from the likes of: Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Leslie Caron, Richard Brooks, Ralph Bellamy, Stanley Donen, Eva Marie Saint, Stanley Kramer and Deborah Kerr. Just seeing all of these famous faces and hearing their stories first hand certainly makes this film worth watching.