OSCARS '75: Funny Girl (1968) / Funny Lady (1975)
“Hello, gorgeous.”
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CONTENT WARNING: Gambling, theft, abuse, homelessness, economic issues.
Notwithstanding her often tempestuous behavior, we here at Macintosh & Maud consider Barbra Streisand as one of the greats. She’s already made an appearance as Dolly Levi, shining through her co-star’s complete lack of interest or care. But it’s this role that started her stardom, before she’d ever been in a film. Barbra is Fanny, Fanny is Barbra, and none of what we see in these movies is the actual Fanny Brice. Which is fine for our first movie on the docket - sure it’s slow, and a little pointless, but those songs and that drama, wow! But when it comes to the film we’re more focused on for this series, we’re once again left asking “why bother and who cared?” It was the best of Barbra, it was the worst of Barbra, as we continue our Oscars ‘75 series with 1968’s Funny Girl and 1975’s Funny Lady.
PLUS: Reviews of the new films Nomadland and Borat: Subsequent Moviefilm
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Intro music taken from the Second Movement of Ludwig von Beethoven's 9th Symphony. Licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Hong Kong (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 HK) license. To hear the full performance or get more information, visit the song page at the Internet Archive.
Excerpt taken from the “Overture” to the film Funny Girl, written and composed by Jule Styne and Bob Merrill. Copyright 1968 Columbia Records / CBS, Inc.
Clip taken from the film Funny Girl copyright © 1968, renewed 1996 Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Excerpt taken from the song “Don’t Rain on My Parade,” written and composed by Jule Styne and Bob Merrill. Copyright 1968 Columbia Records / CBS, Inc.
Excerpt taken from the song “Make ‘Em Laugh,” with lyrics by Arthur Freed and music by Nacio Herb Brown. Copyright 1952 MGM Records, Inc. & Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc.
