Starring Bette Midler, Fredric Forrest, Alan Bates, and Barry Primus
Directed by Mark Rydell
Music and Lyrics by various
For the Boys wasn't the first time Midler appeared in a fictional "biography" directed by Rydell. She made her big breakthrough in this smash hit. It was originally intended to be a real biography of Janis Joplin, but Midler and Joplin's family thought her death was too fresh to discuss at that point. Midler herself threw in some input on how to create a composite character and stay true to Joplin's tragic life while not being offensive. It certainly worked in 1979, but how does it look now? Let's begin as "The Rose's" (Midler) parents (Sandy Ward and Doris Roberts) go to her old room to piece together her sad story and find out...
The Story: "The Rose" is Mary Rose Foster, a rock star in 1969 whose life is out of control. She's being used and overworked by her greedy manager Rudge Campbell (Bates), who keeps pushing her into concert after concert without time off. She keeps pleading with him to let her rest for a year, but he doesn't want to lose his cash cow. He even humiliates her when he introduces her to country star Billy Ray (Harry Dean Stanton), whom she idolizes...but he rudely tells her he doesn't want her singing his songs and thinks she's trash.
Angry with Rudge, she takes off with handsome limousine driver Huston (Forrest). They fall in love during a cross-country trip that includes a stop at a gay bar with male impersonators. Huston, however, finds it very difficult to continue loving Rose. She's inundated by hangers-on, including her former lover Sarah (Sandra McCabe), and is prone to violent fits of temper thanks to her drinking and drug use.
Rose is obsessed with returning to her Florida hometown and showing them just how loved she is now. Rudge "fires" her to assure that she'll do the concert. She claims she wants to run off with Huston, but when Rudge calls her back, he realizes that her first true love will always be the spotlight...and she realizes how badly her life has spiraled out of her grasp.
The Song and Dance: Midler's crushing performance anchors this searing look into the darker side of fame. Hard to believe this was her first major role. Rydell wouldn't do the movie without her, and he was totally right. She's nothing short of a phenomenon, whether belting "Fire Down Below" with a drag queen playing her, doing acrobatics onstage, or sobbing in the phone booth near the end when Huston has finally walked out on her and she realizes what a mess her life is. Forrest got his own Oscar nomination as her laid-back lover with his own problems; Bates is also excellent as her controlling manager who does nothing to end her damaging lifestyle.
Favorite Number: Midler's onstage concert performances are simply electrifying. "Night In Memphis," "Sold My Soul to Rock and Roll," and "When a Man Loves a Woman" are especially strong. Bob Segar's "Fire Down Below" was actually written six years after the story is set, but the sequence where she performs it with her drag queen imitator is so intense and well-done, you can forgive the discrepancy. "Stay With Me" is the big finale where she pours all of her grief and loss into literally just staying alive after a drug overdose. The film ends with the title song over the credits, a gentle, aching ballad that became a #1 hit.
What I Don't Like: The melodramatic plot is where this one falters. It's dark and dreary, and while not bad, it's definitely not up to the incredible concert sequences. The ending is not one of the most uplifting, either, considering the finale involves a woman dying of an overdose in front of thousands of people.
You'd never know this is set in 1969, either. From Midler's frizzy blonde curls to the long fluffed hair on men and women alike, this is definitely more disco than late 60's hard rock. This is also very much an R-rated movie, with some sexual situations, domestic abuse, violence, and heavy swearing from Rose in particular (including frequent uses of the F word). Let your kids listen to the classic title song, but they'll have to wait on the movie until they're much older.
The Big Finale: An absolute necessity for anyone with even a remote interest in Midler or the harder rock of the late 60's and 70's.
Home Media: Currently on disc from the Criterion Collection.
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