A Star Is Born '76
I finally sat down (with a pizza and Pepsi of course) to watch Barbra Streisand's 1976 re-make of the film A Star Is Born. As I wrote previously the film was released on DVD for the first time about a week ago. Being the Barbra fan that I am I had it on pre-order and have been waiting for a night when I could watch it undisturbed. This is especially important since I had never actually seen it before or any of the other versions of this film for that matter.
The plot is basically the same as all the other versions except that instead of the setting being Hollywood and the two main characters being actors the setting is the music industry and the characters are singer songwriters. Kris Kristofferson plays the self-destructive rock star John Norman Howard whose life, career, and substance abuse problems are rapidly spirally out of control. Barbra Streisand plays the fiery and feircely independant Esther Hoffman, a talented but undiscovered singer songwriter trying to make it into the big time. When John Norman discovers Esther in an Arizona nightclub he is instantly smitten and taken by her purity and talent. They have an unlikely romance and through his connections he opens doors for Esther previously closed and barred. As Esther becomes a super star John Norman falls into further decline which results in the film ending on a rather tragic but bittersweet note.
The acting in the film is solid but not without flaws. Kris Kristofferson is not a good actor and his portrayal of John Norman comes off more Neanderthal and angry, making one not feel very sympathetic towards the character and his self-destructive behavior. Barbra is sometimes too strong in her portrayal of Esther and from time to time slips out of her role and into herself. However, true to form she delivers a good performance, the strongest of which are the emotionally wrought scenes. As an on screen couple Barbra and Kris look good together but the chemistry doesn't feel believable. The two were real life friends at the time and so that platonic connection comes across more than the intended romantic one. As for the supporting characters all of them are very strong and do an excellent job of playing their roles without distracting the viewer from the main focuses of the film.
From a cinematic standpoint the way the scenes are filmed is good. Lots of broad sweeping shots and good close-ups that hold the tension and emotions of the scenes. Most of the filming was done in Arizona, which is where the film was primarily set, which gives the visual aspects of the film a very real quality. Only a handful of scenes, such as the awards banquet, feel low budget and slapped together. Streisand directed some of the scenes herself (many of which she later edited out) and these are immediately dectectable as they have a different feel from those directed by Frank Pierson, the film's director.
The audio for the film is good, with little over dubbing, but many of the outdoor crowd scenes are a little too noisy and at times it's hard to hear what the characters are saying. As for the other scenes the sound is very crisp and loud and natural. This is especially true of the scene where Esther and John Norman are recording the song "Evergreen" in the studio. Streisand insisted they sing it live on camera, which Kristofferson was nervous about doing, as she hates lip-syncing. I'm glad she was able to convince Kris to sing on camera as the energy and result for the scene is perfect and very natural and warm. The two really get into the energy of the scene making it a true gem.
The score for the film is good but not the most brilliant work to come from either Streisand or Kristofferson. John Norman is supposed to be a rock star and while he has the image his songs are weak and feel more like rock and roll as filtered through a Barbra Streisand perspective. Kris is a terrible singer and has atrociously gruff vocals, so any song he performs pretty much isn't going to sound good anyway. The exception to this however is his duet with Streisand on the song "Lost Inside of You".
Kris's real strength as a music artist is as a songwriter. he is exceptionally talented in this department and has written a ton of #1 songs recorded by other artists. Unfortunately he didn't write any of his own songs, which explains the disjointedness between them and his character, especially since his character is suppossed to be a singer songwriter.
Streisand on the other hand delivers stunningly perfect vocal performances. Every song is tailor made for her and reflective of the musical style she was known for at the time with the addition of some light rock and roll flavor. Not surprisingly the reason this is so is because she developed the concepts for all of the film's songs and hand selected songwriters, including the brilliant Rupert Holmes, to write them. Barbra even contributed in co-writing the melodies for "Evergreen" and "Lost Inside of You". While her concepts are brilliant and are relevant to the scenes they are used in, ultimately the ones for the character of John Norman do not fit and sound very corny and dated even by 70's standards.
As for presentation the songs are mostly presented in abridged segments from their soundtrack counterparts in the form of live concert performances, so they blend seamlessly with the film's content and don't jump out at the viewer demanding attention. The only scene in which the music doesn't fit as well is the scene in which John Norman is drunk and driving his car through the desert. The Alternate Film Version of the song "Lost Inside of You" (Which is a Streisand solo as apposed to the duet version with Kris used on the soundtrack) wails loudly from the forefront of the audio track, drawing the viewer's attention from away from the important emotional and visual elements of the scene. Both versions of "Lost Inside of You" are hauntingly beautiful and fit the emotional elements of the scene. However the duet version would have been a better choice than the solo since the scene involves John Norman's solitary mental struggle to reconcile his love for Esther with the knowledge that his substance abuse is destroying both of them down. Dropping the volume on the song so that it was more in the background and not in the forefront of the audio track would have also helped immensely.
By the way, for those interested the duet version is available on the A Star Is Born Soundtrack and Streisand's Duets album whereas the Alternate Film Version is available on Streisand's Just For The Record... Boxset. There is also a second solo version with a different vocal take and arrangement on Barbra's compilation album Memories (Love Songs in the UK).
The DVD release of the film sports high quality sound and the picture quality is amazingly crisp and vibrant. It was definitely worth waiting for (the DVD release was delayed by almost 2 years because Barbra wasn't happy with the first digital transfer they did of the film). Included on the DVD are many extras including the wardrobe tests, deleted scenes, film trailers for the 1936, 1954, and 1796 versions of the film, and full audio commentary by Barbra Streisand of the entire film.
The deleted scenes (many of which Barbra directed) come with optional audio commentary by her. Streisand is surprisingly critical and objective in pointing out the flaws of the scenes while also adding nice anecdotes about each one. The main reason given for deleting most of the scenes was because they didn't add to the plot, which in some cases I disagree with. Some scenes such as her playing "Evergreen" on the guitar (using her long nails to pluck the strings!) and her cooking bread gave an added depth to her character. There is also an alternate ending of the film, which uses more cutaways and different angles which Streisand herself admits is the ending they should have used instead of the fixed angle one seen in the film. The DVD also offers a full audio commentary by Barbra of the entire film, which at some point I will sit down and watch as I am curious to see what her feelings are about the work as a whole.
Over all I enjoyed the film and will definitely watch it again. It's not the best film in Streisand's repertoire but it is still a good film and worth a viewing or two. Definitely a good choice for date night provided you both enjoy romantic, over-the-top, cheesey 70's dramas.
