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Sorry, this movie sucks

Purely Joyful Movie!

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

I finally watched the 1976 version of A Star is Born on Netflix. I was a teen when it came out and Streisand & Kristofferson were about as far from Rock and Roll as I could imagine at the time, so I had no interest in seeing it (for decades). But since it wasn't going to cost me anything, and since I have a love of the "so bad it's good" genre of film--especially when it's a big budget studio movie--I decided to give it a chance. The movie was both better and worse than I'd expected. The acting and filming of it was better than expected (as I alluded to before, I had REALLY low expectations). But the SONGS! The songs were SO MUCH WORSE than I could have ever imagined! Kristofferson is apparently supposed to be a Dylan-like figure, but his "deep" tunes are like bad junior high poetry. And they are very poorly suited to his limited vocal talents. They would have done much better to just let the man sing his own classics his own way. Thousands of people are filling stadia to see this guy? Ha. And Streisand's songs are just as ludicrous, filled with stupid lyrics sung to equally idiotically childish tunes. Their dumbness levels rival songs from old Elvis movies like "Do the Clam," except they are not catchy and fun. The only good song is the Oscar winning "Evergreen." If you're into MOR ballads. Anyway, it just boggles the mind that these tunes got the go-ahead. BUT if it didn't have the horrible songs, would the movie be "so bad it's good"? Nah, it'd just be another lame movie, probably.

This film is my number one guilty pleasure as far as movies go. Yes, the critics were right about everything: Streisand's pop songs sound more like her usual, Broadway show-stoppers; Streisand's character's instant stardom is contrived, to say the least; Kris is an excellent songwriter, but he, uh, can't sing a note (yet he didn't write any of the songs in the film); and (getting a little mean here) even with a beard, Kristofferson is prettier than Babs. So why have I seen this film at least 100 times? Well, it was extremely entertaining despite it's many clichés and the other things I've sited. The music is also good, as cheesy as Babs' songs are and as poorly sung as Kris' are. I'm apparently not alone--in 1976, only Rocky made more money at the box office (not bad for an R-Rated movie in a year that had many great films, such as Taxi Driver, Network, All the President's Men and The Omen, The Bad News Bears, to list a few. Very dated today, but I still want to watch it again.

Personnaly I really loved this movie, and it particularly moved me. The two main actors are giving us such great performances, that at the end, it is really heart breaking to know what finally happened to their characters.The alchemy between Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson is marvelous, and the song are just great the way they are. That's why I didn't feel surprised when I learned it had won 5 golden globe awards (the most rewarded movie at the Golden Globes), an Oscar and even a Grammy. This movie is a classic that deserves to be seen by anyone. A great movie, that has often been criticized (maybe because Streisand dared to get involved in it, surely as a "co-director"). Her artistry is the biggest, and that will surely please you!

Barbra Streisand brought her own vision to A STAR IS BORN, the third version of this classic Hollywood story about the romance between an up and coming star and her alcoholic husband whose career is fading into oblivion. Streisand put her own stamp on this movie, making the story more acceptable to her and more accessible to 1970s film audiences. She changed the setting of the story from films to the world of music, making her Esther Hoffman a struggling singer who is discovered by an alcoholic, self-destructive rocker named John Norman Howard (Kris Kristofferson)who grooms her for stardom while his own career falls apart. We all know this story and have seen either of the previous versions and some were unsettled by the fact that in this version, John Norman doesn't commit suicide, he is killed in a car accident instead, taking away a lot of the power of the story. The point of the original story is that the actor sacrifices his own life so that his wife won't give up the career she's worked so hard for. One of the most amusing parts of the original and 1954 versions is the whole episode about Esther changing her name so it looks better on a marquee. Here, our feminist heroine, Esther Hoffman, refuses to change her name and for me, this small but vital plot points diluted a lot of the power of this story. This production is overblown and uneven. It should be understood that Streisand was just on the edge of insanity while making this film. She was involved at the time with future film producer Jon Peters, who was running her career and her life. Peters butted heads with leading man Kristofferson as well as credited director Frank Pierson, who pretty much directed this film in name only...Streisand and Peters had the last word on everything regarding this film, much to its detriment, due mainly to Streisand's complete trust in Peters, who really knew nothing about film-making at this time. But no matter what else she does, this movie comes alive whenever Streisand sings. Highlights for me were "Queen Bee", "Woman in the Moon", "With One More Look at You" and, of course, the Oscar-winning "Evergreen." With all the hats she was wearing while making this film, needless to say, Streisand was not very focused on her performance here, which can be described, kindly, as uneven. Kristofferson, in a role originally offered to Elvis Presley, is strong and surprisingly sexy as John Norman Howard and Gary Busey also scores as John Norman's manager. For hard-core Streisand fans only.