Oh, my gosh! There's so much to be said about this memoir. Words won't accurately describe what is written in the pages of this book. I'm offering a qualified 4-star review for what this book is saying, because with the exception of a few annoying moments of self-pity and by extension his inability to see where his actions affected his (and other's) situation, this is an incredibly honest, engaging and wholly revealing statement about ambition, celebrity, the excesses [read: vanity] of celebrity, the fall from grace and personal redemption.
As I mentioned the book has some editorial issues that an experienced editor should have recognized long before the advanced reading copies were distributed, and I have the final edit. One of the two really distracting issues is Mr. Bridges' maudlin and excessive pre-occupation with the LAPD. It seemed at times that Mr. Bridges felt that the entire LAPD was assigned to bringing him down. As an editor, since this memoir is an "As Told To" and not true autobiography as such, I would have stopped him in his telling and let him know that we "got it" as far as his relationship with the police department.
Secondly, I don't think he "got it" as far as what it takes to really be successful in life. It's not about where were the people in Hollywood to help me/ support me/ offer me the next big role in an important film--it is as Cornel West stated in an interview with Tavis Smiley--"Living is connected to Giving!" I didn't hear Mr. Bridges say about himself or about his family that he/ they gave of themselves. They gave of their time. They gave of their wealth. They gave from their knowledge base. That's where the true source of one's success lies and it is in the doing of those things that will ensure that you'll have the career and the life that you want.
* Pre-review thoughts
** Brief overview
*** What can we take from his life story? /Conclusion
** Todd Bridges, the elder brother on "Diff'rent Strokes" television show has written a fascinating piece of biography that is nothing short of a page-turner. His diction and recollection of growing up with a proud, ambition (and in the end, heroic) mother, sister and brother against what most would say is the father-from-hell to the heights of television stardom is nothing short of inspiring.
After a brief introduction to the dénouement of his personal life when the cops are standing over him with a gun pressed to the back of his head and he's about to reach in a hidden compartment for his gun, we're quickly treated to life starting out in San Francisco in a home where the father would come home from work reeking from the stench of alcohol and cigarettes. Soon after, he (as a young boy) wonders why doesn't his daddy come home happy to see his family or kisses his wife hello when his mother decides to follow a long held dream of becoming an actress. Todd and his sibling's fortunes were about to change.
His mother goes to school and learns her craft. She in turn teaches those very lessons to her children. Todd, however, is the only one to excel in the field. In the meantime, the family relocates to Los Angeles and the family settles into the mechanisms of Hollywood. Commercials, photo shoots, guest appearances of television quickly become statements of his ever-growing resume. His success was not without sorrow as a "mentor" entered his life and would introduce him a lifestyle or a condition of the human soul that he wasn't prepared to deal with. His explicit account is nothing short of shocking.
As his professional career excelled, his personal life continued to spiral downward. All things came to ahead when "Diff'rent Strokes" was cancelled: his family life also imploded and his entrance into the world of illicit drug use, prostitution and jail defined his life for the better part of the next 10 years.
And what a decade of it would be.
*** What can we take from his life story?
For many of us--because this modern American drama is blunt and explicit story of Shakespearean proportions-- It is one of ambition and tragedy. It is one of perseverance and misguided values. And, one of corroding familial relationships to a restoration of the human soul.
There are many unanswered questions, this notwithstanding. But, what Mr. Bridges does give is a deeper look into the inner workings of 1980's Hollywood, the way deals are made, and the short shelf-life of the unprepared. The gritty and heart-wrenching and unforgiving world of crack, meth, pimps and prostitutes and the parallel way in which the market and the economy speaks to that community.
In the end, I'd like to see Todd return to the top of his profession. He's seen enough of the bottom and has been given a second-chance. This time, however, he knows what to look for and won't be so disconnected from real life that he'll be able to bring "real" life experiences, like what real, working people do in order to make ends meet, the hassles of home life and the life in the surrounding neighborhoods, disenfranchised and successful. This, in the end, will really make him the thespian he so desires.
Get more detail about Killing Willis: From Diff'rent Strokes to the Mean Streets to the Life I Always Wanted.
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