Barbara Joan “Barbra” Streisand began her career in the early 1960’s as a nightclub singer and Broadway performer. This transformed into some guest appearances on television as well as a contract with Columbia records where she wisely chose less pay in exchange for full artistic control. By the late sixties she was starring in the Broadway production of Funny Girl by Isobel Lennart with music and lyrics by Jule Styne and Bob Merrill. The play was loosely based on the real life singer Fanny Brice who fell in love with and eventually married professional gambler and con man Nicky Arnstein. When the play was optioned for the big screen Barbra Streisand reprised her role as Fanny making her motion picture debut and earning herself an Academy Award. She would become famous for uttering the words “Hello, Gorgeous,” at the beginning of the movie and again as she accepted the Oscar. That line would enter the pop culture zeitgeist and pop up in many other films, songs and other media.
The film opens with Fanny Brice (Streisand) stepping out on stage in an empty theater, looking out from the presidium into the seats, then mime shooting into the audience. She is awaiting for her husband, Nicky Arnstein (Omar Sharif), to arrive at the theater. The setting is just before World War I and Fanny is one of the Ziegfeld Follies stars. The rest of the film is told in flashback beginning with a young Fanny Brice as a stage-struck Jewish teenager trying to break in to vaudeville. She applies for the only opening available, a chorus girl, even though she cannot dance. This gets her immediately fired. However, she gets a second chance when she refuses to take no for an answer and accepts a role as a roller-skate performer. This turns out to be a disaster as she lied about being able to skate, too. The performance turns out so badly that the audience is left in stitches, laughing at how clumsy she is in the skates. She makes the most of this unplanned comedy act and receives five curtain calls prompting her boss to hire her on a regular salary. Backstage she meets professional gambler Nicky Arnstein who secures her a better salary by pretending to represent a rival agency willing to pay more. He has eyes for the young performer but his illicit activities take him away for long periods of time and the two separate.
Some time passes and Fanny receives word that Florenz Ziegfeld (Walter Pidgeon) wants her to join the Ziegfeld Follies. In her debut performance she is cast as the beautiful bride in an elaborate musical number. She feels this is poor casting as she sees herself as homely and unattractive but Ziegfeld demands she play the part anyway and not to alter one word of the lyrics. She reluctantly agrees but on the opening night of the show she appears onstage with a pillow stuffed inside her dress making her look pregnant. She sings the song word for word but with a comedic twist in her voice and mannerisms. The audience loves it but Ziegfeld is incensed. He does accept that the audience is always right and tells her to keep performing it that way, anyway. Nicky reappears, congratulates her and accompanies her to a family celebration for her success. Her star continues to grow and, as she travels the country, she bumps into Nicky again in Baltimore. The two share some romantic time together before he must leave yet again. His latest scheme, racing a horse, has left him broke and he is off on a tugboat to recoup his losses through card playing. Determined not to lose him again she drops out of the Follies a few weeks early to follow him on board.
Barbra Streisand is simply delightful in the role of Fanny Brice. This character has to be able to sing, dance, appear clumsy, and cover the whole gambit of emotions from excited to devastated. Barbra nails all of this and even intermixes those things effortlessly. After Nicky is arrested late in the film for attempting to defraud stocks she gets bombarded outside the theater with reporters desperate to question her about the arrest. She hides her feelings behind her witticism, giving out deflecting answers in a humorous way while inwardly she is in turmoil. This is finally broken down by one simple question: “Do you still love him?” She cannot deflect that one and she also cannot answer it, either. After bravely facing the reporters rather than sneak out the back of the theater, she finally breaks and runs back inside.
This film is even more about the relationship between Fanny and Nicky than it is about an insecure young woman making a name for herself in show business. Nicky is there from the start as she is just trying to get on stage for the first time and he is there in the end when she is the successful one and he is being taken to prison. He is suave and charming and it is easy to see why she falls for him. Later, after his luck runs out and he finds himself desperate for money she bails him out and tries to get him a position that pays good and makes use of his talents. But he is too proud and won’t take charity even from his wife and instead chooses to try and make money illegally to pay his mounting debts. His self-destructive mentality ultimately lands him in jail. He’s man enough to refuse lying in court to get a lessor or dropped sentence, pleading guilty and taking the full sentence of two years in prison. When the film returns back to where it started in the theater, Nicky finally arrives, newly released from jail. After a bittersweet reunion, though, the two agree to permanently separate, leaving Fanny heartbroken.
There is a lot to be said about show business including the perception that only a certain physical appearance can make it there. Fanny definitely believes that, hiding her real talents behind humor because she has skinny legs and a big nose. Even when she proves that those physical characteristics don’t define her nor do they hold her back she feels like her looks are not good enough. Many times throughout the film she is self deprecating, putting herself down. Nicky talks her up but she dismisses this and focuses on her perceived physical faults instead. This is a mentality that is all too real in the world of glitz and glamour of show business. We saw it in All About Eve with Margo Channing bemoaning getting old and losing her career and it can be seen in the real world with celebrities going under the knife in a desperate bid to hold onto their youth forever. Fanny’s self-deprecating humor masks a deep seated discomfort of being in her own skin.
The musical numbers are a little hit-and-miss with some like “I’m the Greatest Star” and “Don’t Rain on My Parade” standing out while many others don’t make as much of an impact. Even the mediocre numbers are elevated by Barbra’s melodic chops and make them worth listening to even if you won’t be humming them later. This is a musical but most of the film works just fine without the songs. They are not what makes this film great. This film is great on its own thanks to the star making performance by Barbra Streisand paired with an adequate, somewhat more laid back, Omar Sherif. The two make for an interesting on screen couple and Omar’s over-the top performance in the sequel, Funny Lady, is one of the many reasons that film just doesn’t work on the same level.
Academy Award Nominations:
Best Picture: Ray Stark
Best Actress: Barbra Streisand (won)
Best supporting Actress: Kay Medford
Best Cinematography: Harry Stradling
Best Film Editing: Robert Swink, Maury Winetrobe and William Sands
Best Score of a Musical Picture - Original or Adaptation: Walter Scharf
Best Song - Original for the Picture: “Funny Girl” - Jule Styne and Bob Merrill
Best Sound: Columbia Studio Sound Department
____________________________________________________
Release Date: September 18, 1968
Running Time: 149 Minutes
Rated G
Starring: Barbra Streisand, Omar Sharif, Kay Medford, Anne Francis and Walter Pidgeon
Directed By: Williams Wyler
Comments
Post a Comment