Barbra Streisand was WAY to old to play a teenage girl
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joelovesbabs — 16 years ago(October 20, 2009 08:32 PM)
And that is fine, the age of Yentl is never discussed in the movie. And neither Matthew or Alan looked like teens, they looked like Hollywood's notion of what a teen looks like.
"NOTHING'S IMPOSSIBLE"
BARBRA STREISAND AS YENTL -
mel2000 — 11 years ago(June 02, 2014 02:03 AM)
And neither Matthew or Alan looked like teens, they looked like Hollywood's notion of what a teen looks like.
As a former HS teacher, I can state without a doubt that there are high-schoolers who look older than Broderick and Ruck did at the time of Ferris Bueller. -
joelovesbabs — 16 years ago(October 20, 2009 08:34 PM)
Regardless, that is never mentioned in the movie, so it is not a problem for me to accept Barbra in the role, the only actress who could have played her with that voice and the enigmatism and star-wattage the character needed.
"NOTHING'S IMPOSSIBLE"
BARBRA STREISAND AS YENTL -
crazyeightyeight — 17 years ago(March 07, 2009 11:31 AM)
They do comment on her age at the beginning of the movie. When Yentl goes to the market and she's buying fishthe exchange goes kind of like this:
"Yentl, what's this I hear? You finally got engaged?"
"I don't know."
"What do you mean you don't know? Well, did you?"
"What, hear about it or do it?"
And then the other woman says, "If she can joke about finding a husband at HER age"
I think she's still a little too old, and obviously not particularly convincing as a man, but I think it kind of works because they made a big deal of her not having a beard, which made her look like a young man, whatever else she looked lik.
"Listen very carefully. I shall say this only once." -
kedem524 — 17 years ago(March 16, 2009 06:39 PM)
All right, it seems like in the movie they did try to make her older than a teenager. But she was a teenager in the book it was based on and I feel that the concept of the movie- about a free spirited female who pretends to be a male so she can study books intended only for males- is more fitting for a teenager, or at the oldest a woman in her early twenties. But not the 28(?) year old they made her in the movie and definitely not the 40 year old age of the woman who played her.
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jennifer-maki — 17 years ago(March 30, 2009 05:38 PM)
The character of Yentl was actually in her late 20'sas Barbara pointed out in the DVD at that age it was more of a travesty that she wasn't married yet. I am not a huge Barbara fan, but in this particular movie I don't know if anyone else would have made it as special as it was.
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vindicatedplum — 16 years ago(April 02, 2010 03:42 AM)
There was nothing in the movie that made me think the character of Yentl was a teenager. There were plenty of lines and circumstances to suggest she was much older than the other unmarried women in her town. Her father's age was another indication that Yentl was well past the normal age a woman would of been married.
Babe has her own individual beauty that is ageless. If you have seen her lately, she doesn't look her age yet. I don't know if Babs has been under the knife, if she has they have done a very good job of retaining that special unique look that belongs only to Barbra Streisand. We all should be so lucky to have a look that no one else in the world possesses. Rather so many strive to have the very same face.
(_/) So, Just what do you think
(=..=) talking to a tyrant will
{"}{"} Accomplish? -
blackhawkswincup2010 — 12 years ago(November 30, 2013 08:50 AM)
The age thing doesn't bother me as much as Barbra simply never sold me on being a male. Not sure whether it was her lack of acting ability, or that she simply looks too feminine to carry it off, but the point is, I never bought it. Now Dustin Hoffman in Tootsie, I totally bought that he was a woman, and thought of Dorothy Michaels as her own woman and her own character.
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bedrock1960 — 11 years ago(August 09, 2014 07:43 AM)
I watched it last night after a few years and I found Ms. Streisand to be completely credible as a 28 year old. Leave us not forget the conditions in which the character lived, the labor she did, the exposure to the elements - no time for hair extensions, massages, painted nails and the pampering that are available for today's woman. Naturally, she would look more mature than the average 28 year old woman of the 21st century.
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bpollen — 11 years ago(December 22, 2014 01:32 PM)
It's a good thing you're not in the movie business. Your suggestions would've guaranteed the movie would end up in the trash can.
The only star in the movie was Streisand. Without her in it, the movie would've bombed, unless they replaced her with a box office draw actress (who is Jewish) with amazing vocal skills.
Streisand was an adult (I didn't realize she was 40 at the time), but really, unlike most people, she didn't have a single wrinkle or bag or sag. Just like a young person.
Kristy McNichol? Melissa Gilbert? I hope those are joke suggestions because they would have been horrible in it. And neither is Jewish.
There really was no other choice than Streisand for the role.