Magician: The Astonishing Life and Work of Orson Welles

This is a fine documentary. I liked it. Guess you can't please everybody.

I wanted to tell a story here. A friend of mine was a cab driver in LA from 84 through 90 or so and swears this story is true.

As a present for my friend's birthday, another driver let him pick up a regular, weekly round trip: Orson Welles to and from some Italian restaurant in LA. Welles gets in the cab, and my friend tried to engage him in conversation. "I'm a big fan, Mr. Welles," etc. And... nothing. Stony silence. "Cause you know, Third Man is one of the best movies ever..." etc. Nothing. Not word one. Now, my friend tries to to get him to say something. "Boy, they really cheated you on Magnificent Ambersons." Silence. My friend finally gets down to saying, "Cause, you know, Citizen Kane really wasn't that good."

Welles also said nothing on the way home.