A WILD, THEN THOUGHTFUL GUY
Steve Martin tells his story in double feature of great, very different documentaries
If Steve Martin had retired from show business at the age of 35, he still would have left behind an incredible legacy. Martin had become arguably the most successful stand-up comedian ever to that point, selling out arenas, hosting “Saturday Night Live” on numerous occasions, releasing multiple bestselling comedy albums, even reaching the Billboard charts with the novelty tune “King Tut.”
If Steve Martin had done only movies in his career, he would have left an indelible mark on the industry as an actor and writer, with hits such as “The Jerk,” “All of Me,” “Three Amigos!,” “Roxanne,” “Planes, Trains and Automobiles,” “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels,” “Parenthood,” “L.A. Story,” “Father of the Bride,” et al.
Even if we forget all that, Martin still has an astonishing body of work, from the plays and books to his musical career to the popular stage shows with Martin Short to the resounding success of “Only Murders in the Building.”
What a life. What a career. It’s only fitting that a documentary about Martin would actually be two separate and quite different films released simultaneously. Saddled with the unwieldy title of “STEVE! (martin) a documentary in 2 pieces,” this Apple TV+ work from the greatly talented storyteller Morgan Neville (who has painted memorable portraits of Fred Rogers in “Won’t You Be My Neighbor” and Anthony Bourdain in “Roadrunner”) is one of the most impressively and creatively shot filmed biographies in recent memory.
When I say these are separate films, that’s no overstatement. In the first part, Martin provides the voice-over narration for a tour through his childhood and the early stages of his show business career. Other interviewees are heard off-camera, and the doc relies heavily on a treasure trove of archival clips. It’s almost as if Martin is co-directing the movie.
For the second film, Neville switches gears — working with a different editor, a different composer, a whole different crew — and takes a completely different tone, with Martin and his colleagues, family and friends oncamera. It’s a rare and fascinating glimpse into a Steve Martin who is not “on” at all, who is remarkably candid (you can see how much that pains him at times) as he reflects on his upbringing in a home where
demonstrable love was something he never knew, of the bouts of melancholy and loneliness he felt in his middle years, and of the happiness he’s found later in life with his wife, Anne Stringfield, and their 11-yearold daughter. (The only restriction Martin placed on the film was that it would not include his child — not even a picture.)
The first film provides a glimpse into Martin’s mindset, which was formed in part by his studies of philosophy at Long Beach State and advanced logic at UCLA. He reads from long-ago journals, with entries such as, “What if I created tension, but never released it?” and, the idea of playing “a comedian who thinks he’s funny and isn’t.” Martin’s career took a jolting leap skyward after he killed on “The Tonight Show” and after he hosted “Saturday Night Live.” Suddenly he went from playing houses of 300 to headlining venues
with crowds in the thousands.
It got to the point where Martin reached rock-star status, with fans copying his look and chanting his catch phrases. “I thought I was still doing comedy, but really, I was a party host,” says Martin, who in 1980 finished a tour as the most popular comedian ever — and never did his act again.
In the second film, we’re with Steve Martin in his mid-70s, and Neville does a brilliant job of making us feel as if we’re an invisible observer granted rare access into this remarkable man’s world. Here’s Steve in the kitchen, rhapsodizing over the poached eggs on toast he’s making. Here’s Steve pulling leather-bound screenplays from the shelves and sharing anecdotes about John Candy and “Planes, Trains and Automobiles.” Here’s Steve finetuning routines with his pal Martin Short as they work on regaining their impeccable rhythms after a COVID-induced break. Here’s Steve reflecting on the fact he’s had 27 kids in the movies, and how “movie fatherhood paved the way for actual fatherhood. … I started doing movies with children, and I liked them.”
We see Martin in conversation with Jerry Seinfeld, and we get separate, on-camera interviews with the likes of Diane Keaton, Lorne Michaels, Eric Idle — and Steve’s wife, Anne, who was a fact-checker at the New Yorker when they met, over the phone. Martin seems almost surprised, but also eternally grateful, that he found such happiness so late in life. We’re thrilled for him. He certainly deserves it after giving all of us so much joy for all these years.