FOR PETE'S SAKE should have been almost as good, goofy, and enjoyable as WHAT'S UP DOC?', but the rather unpleasant backstory eventually irritates despite the comedic potential. Barbra is as bright and spunky as she had been in 'DOC', but the uneven script places her in situations that, potentially hysterical, somehow leave a bad taste for several reasons - the methods by which innocent Barbra tries to get the money her hubby, Pete, needs for 'porkbellies'. The Brooklyn setting is real and fits the story well...but it is Michael Sarrazin that really carries the pleasant and charming center of the story. Far away from his strong and dynamic performance in THEY SHOOT HORSES..., he, here, is a delightful leading man with a fine sense of timing, expressive light comedic style (a/la Rod Taylor). He is entirely convincing. The surprising negative factors include the appearance of Molly Picon as a peculiar and supposedly charming madame-underworld character. The part should have been a superb moment for her, but her dialogue and actions become uncomfortable for this formidable star. Nonetheless. the Steisand-Sarrazin teaming looks and feels right...and the love scenes are satirically delicious.

I appreciate the 1970s dress, manner of speaking, street scenes of NYC, cars, etc. but this movie is quite dated. Viewers today will find little humor and not much of interest. Streisand is always pretty good to watch (no signing here) and carries what little there is in this movie.

I didn't see this picture, FOR PETE'S SAKE, when it came out because the notion, as the picture was marketed at the time, about Barbra Streisand turning tricks to support her husband, was ugly and prima facia ugly. Now that I've seen it I have to say I'm glad I didn't waste a dollar or how ever much it cost to see a movie at the time. It is flat out awful. Really it's nothing more than a series of gags constructed for Babs that are executed on a sub- I Love Lucy level. It's strange because director Peter Yates has shown himself to be a master of very complicated mise en scene in action films like BULLET. Here it's clear that no one working on this picture has the slightest sense of humor.Pete, a cab driver, wants to be rich and has the opportunity to invest in pork bellies (see, its funny already). His wife borrows the money from a loan shark and can't pay it back. Instead of being rubbed out for not paying back her loan her contract is sold, first to a madam who turns out Babs but, guess what, she has a series of hilarious accidents and never actually has sex. So typical. Right down to Pretty Woman, Hollywood movie hookers never, ever, have sex. Then one belabored, unfunny, poorly played and poorly executed gag after another. Michael Sarrazin, as Babs' husband, is injected onto the screen at intervals for reasons neither he nor the director really understands. In the old days, when women ruled the box office, women were the biggest and most important stars. The male stars were known as leading men. They were around to give the women something to play off of. In FOR PETE'S SAKE Barbra Streisand doesn't need anyone else to play off of. As a comic she has eliminated the straight man. The results are monumentally flat. And so unfunny. Just terrible.This will make you appreciate Peter Bogdanovich all the more, his ability to produce a coherent, constantly funny comedy with multiple characters playing off each other. Even the little known I WONDER WHO'S KILLING HER NOW, with a similar structure, is a masterpiece compared to this ego trip. I have the terrible feeling that Streisand had become a monster by this time and did everything her way, and the only that was photographed here was her out-sized ego. It's not for nothing that this bummer never gets revived. Like Orson Wells she directed from in front of the camera. Except that Wells had talent. Streisand only has fans.P.S. As if one didn't have enough reason to hate these people for appearing in a crap movie, check out the huge apartment across the street from Prospect Park. In New York we hate people with great apartments like this especially if they're rent controlled.

Barbra Streisand shines as a woman helping her husband (Michael Sarrazin) get through school, whatever it takes. What takes place is very funny because he has no idea what she does all day as he's working as a cab driver in New York City. She keeps all of her hilarious misdeeds from him, hoping to be able to make the money he needs for school. She'll do anything...all for Pete's sake. My rating: 8