New Convert
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Divine_Goddess — 19 years ago(June 11, 2006 05:59 AM)
If you wanna see barbra at her best in my humblest opinion.. please watch The Way We Were that's the first streisand movie i ever saw she is so amazing she literally overshadows the dashing robert redford.
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Tova — 19 years ago(June 15, 2006 02:23 PM)
I absolutely agree about The Way We Were. I'm not a fan of Barbra really, but when I think back on that film, I could be persuaded to be one. Yes, she even upstaged Robert Redford at his most handsome, WASP all American best.
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bretttwin — 19 years ago(July 02, 2006 07:25 AM)
I agree that Barbra's Katie Morosky is very good in "The Way We Were". But, to some degree, it must have been an easy character for Barbra to find: the head-strong, ugly-duckling Jewess swimming upstream. In my opinion, to see Striesand's finest acting you must watch what is perhaps her least-seen movie: "Up The Sandbox". She plays a subdued, WASPy-ish, pregnant housewife who struggles (via flights to fancy) to find her place in the scheme of the 70s Feminist movement. In the "reality" scenes she is a quiet, loving mother and wife, with nuances of confusion and repressed anger at her plight. In the "fantasy" scenes, she plays them as we might see ourselves in our own fantasies, be it telling off Fidel Castro with overwrought indignation or shoving the face of an over-bearing mother into her own anniversay cake (presented hysterically as if the viewer is seeing it through the family's 8mm camera). Kudos to director Kershner for successfully corralling the persona and showing us the actress. "Up The Sandbox" makes me wonder what else Barbra could have, but didn't do, at that point in her movie career.
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drrob65 — 19 years ago(July 04, 2006 09:50 AM)
YENTL is a masterpiece (Steven Spielberg himself told Barbra that it was on a par with CITIZEN KANE) and enjoyable on so many levels. I think it is especially enjoyable to gay men like myself because the story can be viewed
as a parallel to the experience of gay people having to hide who they really are and then "coming out" in the end to be able to really be happy. The
music and lyrics are the the best of her career, and her singing is to die
for. In a way, it's sad, though, because after this supreme achievement,
nothing else she ever does will ever come near it -
Sidadressage — 19 years ago(August 06, 2006 03:21 PM)
I agree with you. But just like one of my other favorits [It really has nothing to do with qualityOf course] Mahogany, it seems that the studio has a really hard time actually putting this film onto the relatively new format of DVD. I just don't know why, it feels like a new format will come out before they release this one [or the other ones that I want] on to DVD. What a shame!
JPC -
pogostiks — 19 years ago(October 21, 2006 04:06 PM)
The gay aspects to this film are obvious I remember the first time I saw it back in '83 and I was knocked out by the parallels to gay lifehiding the truth about yourself, trying to find the courage to come out, falling for a guy you cannot have Watching it again over 20 years later, I find it rather interesting that in the coming-out scene Barbra says something to the effect that only a man and a woman can marry. It dawned on me that my identifying with the movie as a gay parallel would probably not work so much any more. Today, young people seem to come out earlier and earlier, and with fewer and fewer problems. And of course, if you live in Canada or Spain or Belgium or the Netherlands, it IS possible for two people of the same sex to marry. So not only is the story a period piece for Eastern Europe, but it is almost like a period piece for gay liberation.
The film is, despite some people's opinions, a veritable chef d'oeuvre. It works on so many levels at once, and almost never a false note emotionally or psychologically (and, of course, not musically). One of the things I particularly liked was the re-creation of the Jewish ghetto in the midst of Christian citiesbehind high gates that are barred at night. It was never discussed, but was shown for what it was, simply but obviously. The film also reminded me of one of the best traditions to come out of Judaism - the fact that anything and everything is to be questioned in the yeshivas (the schools for studying Torah and Talmud).. I think this is what gives the Jewish people such strength, the fact that they constantly seek answers to everything. And it is not only normal to question, it is almost a duty. In fact, I think the very first song in the film is "Where Is It Written?", all about questioning. Such a difference from the Catholic church where you were supposed to accept without question. When Galileo said that the sun was the centre of the universe rather than the earth he was told to recant or be excommunicated. Jewish scientists discovered the same thing more or less at the same time. Instead of being told to shut up, they were told to continue to show us the miracles of God.
Anyway, a really good film, and if you want to really enjoy it you should buy the music and listen carefully to the words (as during the film one is often only half listening). They are very well crafted and the lyrics are deep and beautiful. -
bijou2929 — 14 years ago(December 31, 2011 08:40 PM)
I know you wrote this a kazillion yrs ago, but i'm watching the movie right now and came on here looking for the whole avigdor's brother killed himself b/c he was gay angleb/c it just seems so obvious to me now.
i love your post as i watched this movie first when i was 17 and i was so closeted and i cried at so many parts. I think barbra could relate to the ugly duckling jewish girl in her life and also the woman's lib thing and also she must've had many gay friends in hollywood to want to do this movie.
i also love the whole chat they have with the 'rib' or the 'sigh' when arguing adam and eve, right before mandy disrobes and swims.
it's a great movie and impresses me whenever i see it. -
Fleurus — 11 years ago(January 16, 2015 01:08 AM)
What you wrote back then (2006) is just beautiful, Pogo.
From the parallel with the gays, back in the 80' to the Jewish culture and traditions, to the feminist part of the movie Everything you said was spot on. -
lroy77 — 14 years ago(July 07, 2011 07:16 PM)
I do not understand why you don't like Hello Dolly. Admittedly, yes Carol Channing probably should've done the movie but that's another forum.
If I was in the business, my rule would be whoever originated the role on Broadway gets first crack at the same role in movie version bar none. That's it. -
fireflyfanlaura — 12 years ago(September 10, 2013 12:01 AM)
If I was in the business, my rule would be whoever originated the role on Broadway gets first crack at the same role in movie version bar none. That's it.
My mother saw Julie Andrews in the original Broadway production of "My Fair Lady" and often talked about how unfair it was that Audrey Hepburn was brought in to take her role in the film (taking nothing away from Hepburn's performance). -
veritable32 — 19 years ago(September 06, 2006 01:26 AM)
'Yentl' is the most underrated musical of all time - and perhaps the most underrated movie of all time. I agree with Steven Spielberg when he compares it to 'Citizen Kane'. What other debuts come with this sort of command of the medium? Who finds this sort of quiet poetry in a story of such large proportion? It's a wonderous and sad epic with song and heart-felt beauty. Wildly ambitious and fully capable of meeting that ambition, 'Yentl' is what the best cinema has to offer: a David Lean canvas with nuance and splendor - with a noble sense of culture , tradition and love for family. This is a picture that needs to be rediscovered, cherished and viewed again and again.
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