I finally caved and watched this film for the first time a few weeks ago. Weak in every department. How I missed Barbara Harris every time Streisand opened her mouth. Though the stage show is pretty much just as uneven, scriptwise, as the film, the score has its delights, especially as heard on the OBCR. The film was overlong, poorly written, and Streisand's British accent had me bewildered.
I actually have a soft spot for this show, I wish someone smart--Craig Lucas???--would gut and re-work the book and give this incredible score the respect it deserves.
Interesting note about the film: It's the ONLY film where you get a shot of Barbra's "bad" side.
"Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.”
~ Muhammad Ali
"For me, THEATRE is an anticipation, an artistic rush, an emotional banquet, a jubilant appreciation, and an exit hopeful of clearer thought and better worlds."
~ an anonymous traveler with Robert Burns
1. As with many films in this period, its creators were past their prime: Alan Jay Lerner, Vincente Minnelli. 2. No one cared about traditional musicals in 1970 3. Barbra was wonderful considering what she was given. Instead of Yves Montand her costar should have been Richard Burton. 4. The scenes where she is at the orphanage are wickedly funny. Her ability with accents is just as good as overrated Meryl. And her perfs of the title song, He Isn't You, and What Did I Have are great. The latter suffers from poor staging.
And any film with Elaine Giftos is worth the price of admission. :)
I blame Barbra though re the DVD; why couldn't she and Liza find the cut scenes, put them in, and for fun, talk about them. But 'fun' is no longer in Barbra's vocabulary.
Do you know what happens when you let Veal Prince Orloff sit in an oven too long?
Yves Montand ruined the film. He had no chemistry with Striesand and his thick French accent was hard to uderstand. With a different leading man, it could have been a great film.
I agree with every word fflagg wrote!! I can't say this is one of my favorite movies, but it does have a lot going for it.
Oh and btw, half of "Yentl" shows Barbra's right side - when she's supposed to be Anshel. When she goes back to being Yentl, the camera angel changes again. Brilliant.
"Years from now, when you talk about this - And you will - Be kind. "
In my storage space I have some LP's . I have a series of 3 which feature cut songs from obscure & not so obscure musicals. On one of them is a cut song sung by Jack Nicholson in On A Clear Day. Next time I am over there I will take a look & tell one & all the title of the song - not sure if part of the original score or a new one written for the movie & not used.
While on the subject of Nicholson in a Babs movie, how about a musical retelling of The Shining with Babs doing the Shelly Duvall part? She could break into song while Jack tries to take a meat cleaver to her
Has anyone noted that the character of Daisy Gamble is supposed to be the daughter of an Episcopal minister? Why, then, does That Streisand Woman use s Jewish inflection when she speaks?
Mr Roxy, that song's name is "Who Is There Among Us". It's mostly sung by Nicholson, with Barbra humming at the beginning and at the end. Pretty cute, but not outstanding.
"Years from now, when you talk about this - And you will - Be kind. "