BLOWING THE BLOODY DOORS OFF and other lessons in life by Michael Caine

The man himself

Michael Caine dragged himself up from almost cliched humble beginnings to become an oscar winning, restaurant owning national treasure, not to mention Batman's butler. His decades in the business have had highs and lows and a longevity that means what he has to say about the movie business (and by extension all business) ought to be worth listening to as he presents the lessons that he has learned in his life and times.

Those lessons turn out to be 'show up on time', 'know your lines', 'grab your opportunities', 'be kind' and 'be lucky' (plus a few others that I don't recall). Considering that I summed those up in a single line and don't even recall the others after a few hours suggest that they weren't really that much to hang a book on all by themselves. Certainly, quite a few of them got repeated several times.

That said, Mr Caine knows how to tell a story and be thoroughly entertaining whilst doing so. He also knows that a film star's autobiography (even a sort of autobiography like this) works best when it is filled with anecdotes about other film stars and Michael Caine seems to have met them all. He kicks of with a story about John Wayne and never looks back.

Michael Caine seems like an all-round good bloke, both from the stories that he tells and the tone in which he tells them. He seems to have maintained a sense of himself and his past despite the heights to which he has risen. He would certainly be someone to have in your list of fantasy dinner party guests. The time that you spend with him in this book may not profoundly change your life, or even tell you much that you don't already know about how to live it, but it will be time well spent as the book is as engaging and entertaining as the man seems to be and that should be enough for everyone.