A charming chap after all

Sad to report, but this book is a gem. Why sad? Because Michael Winner, a sensitive, witty and extremely gifted artist, has made such a cock-up of his personal PR that to praise him in public is like applauding the Holocaust. There are nasty silences. Faces go white. Plates drop. The man is not well liked. But he deserves to be. This is one of the books of the year.

It’s easy to forget that in the late Sixties Winner was the most enterprising young director in Britain, popular with audiences, loved by stars and saluted by critics on both sides of the Atlantic. This book is the story of his 30-year career as a producer and director. His style is lucid, chatty, aphoristic and acutely observant. Working with Burt Lancaster, he notes the star’s ‘wonderfully lilting, melodious but highly dangerous voice’, which captures it perfectly. Lancaster had a volatile temper, and on a mountainous filmset during the making of Lawman he attacked Winner over some trifle.