Smash His Camera

The entertaining but thin documentary Smash His Camera tracks the career of the notorious, oft-sued paparazzo Ron Galella, an industry pioneer who became a 1980s tabloid talk-show staple and quasi-celebrity in his own right. Best known for getting taken to court by Jacqueline Onassis and punched in the face by Marlon Brando, the 77-year-old Galella is still sneaking into private functions and stalking celebs like Robert Redford and Angelina Jolie. Galella is a rancid character, but director Leon Gast does attempt a somewhat humanizing portrait of the pushy photog, while friends and unnamed “experts” debate his artistic merit and constitutional righteousness. Smash His Camera had an opportunity to explore the nature of our star-obsessed culture and the camera-wielding vultures that feed it, but you can’t shake the feeling that this is just one more vehicle for Galella’s self-promotion.