I am still dumbfounded that Bette Midler got passed over for the best actress Oscar for this movie. She really got shafted! She was so awesome in this movie. I am watching it again right now and still love the singing in this movie not to mention the great acting. But, then again, the Oscars are a farce, anyways. Who cares what those people think! It's what the fans, like me, think (LOL). I love you, Bette, for this movie ;) It is one of my all time favorites and rightfully deserves a 10 out of 10 stars on this site! This movie brings back all the memories, good and bad, of the 70's for me. Every single song you sang in this movie was just spectacular! The gay bar scene was another great part. I just want to say thanks for this Oscar performance, once again!

The similarities to Janis Joplin are obvious in Bette Midler's performance as Rose, a rock star climbing up and falling just as quickly with an over-indulgence of drugs and alcohol, fame and folly, regret and romance. She had been around for over a decade with live performance, and in her first major motion picture, moved into the second phase of her career with power and passion, becoming a legend, and deserving super-stardom of the highest order.She's a likable character, getting involved with the handsome Fredric Forrest but dooming that relationship thanks to her crazy lifestyle and a few secrets out of her past. Her tough agent (Alan Bates) tries to keep her in line, but can't even stop the independent Rose from swearing at a concert. When Bette encounters a group of drag queens in a nightclub (even one who looks like herself), she is in heaven, both as Rose and Bette, bringing a lot of herself and live interaction in performing with them. Look briefly for Doris Roberts in a silent cameo as Rose's mother.Then, in live performances, Bette shows she is as adept as performing hard rock as she is with the standards which she has influxed her career with. By the time she breaks into the title song over the credits, you have probably missed the names of the people involved because your eyes were too blurry from crying. Bette went back to live performance for a short time after this but within a few years, would be back on top when she signed with Touchstone. But it all started with "The Rose", and she proves that both as a comic and dramatic actress (who sings!) that she is one tough act to follow.

This is NOT a Janis Joplin movie. However the character of Rose is clearly influenced by Joplin and her life, in her later years becoming known as "Pearl" by her fans. She didn't have many "later years", she died of a heroin overdose, possibly exacerbated by alcohol, when she was only 27. Bette Midler is Mary Rose Foster, known simply as "Rose." She is a very undisciplined person, one boyfriend made the remark "Your life is like a grenade range." She has no boundaries, neither for herself or for how she relates to others. Her hair, her cheap jewelry, her glasses all remind us of Joplin. Like Joplin she is a talented singer, lives a hard life, and dies young, but in a different circumstance. This was one of Midler's earlier roles, some years before Beaches (1988) and Stella (1990), but in all these movies she is just great. Many may believe that because she is primarily a singer that she is only adequate as an actress, but she puts everything into her roles and always excels.Just a word about her singing in "The Rose". It is important to realize she was singing in a raspy voice and style created for the character. The only song where she is using her normal Bette Midler voice is the closing song, after her death: Some say love, it is a river ... That drowns the tender reed... Some say love, it is a razor ... That leaves your soul to bleed ... Some say love, it is a hunger ... An endless aching need... I say love, it is a flower ... And you its only seed.Terrific movie.

I have saw many films about famous persons and about music but "Rose" is one of the best I have ever seen. It's really timeless movie and it always thrillingly to re-watching, at some moment you forget what is movie, you just living with characters of this film some time. Bette Midler showed here high class her acting and I will be planning re-watch all her filmography for the coming time, she is exceptionally talented actress and exactly the one of the best. The "Rose" is most truthful and emotional movie about generation 60's -70's, times when were born really great music and grand musician, whose we remember and love until today. It's very sensitivity and live story about woman dedicated herself and her life to music and gave to it all, without remainder. Pure brilliance and masterpiece for the century!!!