A Star is Born (1976) Director: Frank Pierson Watched: 6/5/18 Rating: 5/10 Forgive my bias, No need to "Watch Closely Now", This is Streisand's show. "Evergreen" story- Rising woman/falling man, Fatal mismatched love. Gorgeous mise-en-scène, Epic rock concerts/fun songs, "Everything" else schmaltz. I "Believe in Love", But there was no chemistry Between these two leads. Film crew grieved "Queen Bee" Streisand; Good films need more than a voice. Haiku Sonnets are comprised of 4 3-line haiku plus a couplet of either 5 or 7 syllables, adding up to 14 lines, the same number of lines found in a sonnet. (5-7-5, 5-7-5, 5-7-5, 5-7-5, 7-7/5-5) #HaikuSonnet #PoemReview #GoldenGlobesBestPicture #Musical #Remake

I don't remember when I first learned of "A Star Is Born", but I eventually learned that the first version was the 1937 one starring Janet Gaynor and Fredric March, then there was the 1954 one starring Judy Garland and James Mason, and lastly there was the 1976 one starring Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson. Now that I've seen all three, I can say that the original was a masterpiece, the second one was OK, and this third one was the lowest of the three. Watching it, I felt as though Streisand made it as a vanity project. The really interesting character is Kristofferson's burnt-out rock star who watches Streisand's nightclub singer overtake him.The previous versions were indictments of Hollywood's star system, while this one makes it look as though the problems are all of one's own making. Another noticeable change is what happens at the end. Due to the women's movement, it would've been outdated for the woman to identify herself as the man's wife. In the end, I'd say that it wasn't a bad movie. Even though it was more of a star vehicle for Streisand, it still tried to do something good.

I was 20 when this film originally opened in theaters, and it certainly was not Barbra Streisand, her singing, or her musical composition that drew me to the theater. It was Kris Kristofferson, and I'm relatively certain that Kris Kristofferson drew most of the female audience to the movie. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see much of Kris because we were supposed to believe the unbelievable, IE. that 1.) that a man like the character Kristofferson played would ever be attracted to a woman like Streisand played - it just wouldn't happen; 2.) that Kristofferson's character would find Streisand's character's type of campy lounge act interesting or promotable; and 3.) that a control freak like Esther Hoffman with all her complaining and judgment would ever go along with the reckless and slightly bored likes of John Norman, whom she irritatingly reduced to "Johnny" throughout the film, as if that tall, beautiful, visceral free spirited icon to male sensuality could ever be reduced to the name of a small pet. My favorite scenes were of Kris Kristofferson changing his shirt. Otherwise, it appeared his role was to stay out of sight so Barbra could be in more shots. More interesting than the film itself was the back story on all the in-fighting that went on, and the fact that Streisand complained that Mr. Kristofferson was too organic in his approach to acting, IE. that he was actually naked in the bathtub scene. In fact, Kris seemed very comfortable in his skin as John Norman, and Streisand seemed, well...tense, with her attempts at being "cute," "perky," "comical," with her campy one-liner ad-libbing. I felt no chemistry between the two, even though I admired Kristofferson's efforts which are shown in the extremely gentle way he touched Streisand, when he actually did touch her, in the film. Kristofferson actually cried in the fighting scene, and Streisand had to have tears artificially induced with menthol vapors according to an interview given by the director. That's not acting. In fact, I found Streisand irritating and dreaded seeing her face on the screen because she seemed so tense. No argument here that the woman has an exceptional voice, and the song Evergreen deserved recognition as an exceptionally beautiful composition. But, having recently watched the film at 57 years old, it's hard to believe that the film won so many awards. Gary Busey had about 15 total minutes of screen time, and he was the only other interesting character in the film. All the support cast was barely visible, and so we saw a lot of Barbra climbing to stardom, and the rugged, yet self-destructive Kris fading to black. And, due to the fact that Barbra retained the right of the final edit of the film, most of Kris Kristofferson's scenes showing his process of downward spiral and the emotions ancillary thereto...were cut, in order to show more of Barbra's scenes. The two main characters were such bipolar opposites, one can't help but wonder why Streisand wanted Kristofferson for the part unless she was already bored with her hairdresser-cum-filmmaker boyfriend Jon Peters, and needed the extremely masculine Kristofferson around for entertainment. After all, even a star gets bored.

I swear when I first saw this movie,I cried my eyes out! A STAR IS BORN is the movie that lets you know what love is really like despite the obstacles John Norman (Kris Kristofferson) and Esther (Streisand) face. You also experience what it's like to lose a love like that by the end of the movie. Streisand and Kristofferson have such great chemistry together and the music is fantastic! When Streisand sings With one more look at you/Watch closely now, it's just pure magic! This movie made the song Evergreen one of my favorites,and Queen Bee is such a fun song. Also I love the fashion of the '70s (except Streisand's afro. Besides that,she's a beauty.). A Star is Born is my number one favorite movie. This movie is a pleasure to watch and is a heart-breaker at the end.