Captivating movie !

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Co-Written and directed by Frank Pierson, this 1976 remake of "A Star is Born" starred Barbra Streisand back when she was at the pinnacle of her singing and acting career, it was however it was complex in pulling off the magic of the old 1937 version that starred Janet Gaynor and Frederic March or the the old 1954 version starring Judy Garland and James Mason. In many ways like Gaynor and Garland, Streisand was also very labouring to work with on the set due to her heavy demands and her perfectionist ways. For some not so surprising evidence, Babs had her legions of loyal fans while by way of contrast, she also has her equal share of critics who are more than happy to verbally inject their disdain towards her. Some of the quips bestowed upon her are quite witty in their analogy as claiming this movie to be renamed "A Bore is Born".But in spite of who stars in this movie, it was quite a refreshing spin of an old classic to relocate the scenario as the focus is not on Hollywood actors but on rock-and-roll performers. Just like the other two films it's based on, the storytelling is equally poignant. Sure it may not be for everyone, but it still exceeds Streisand's 1973 film "The Way We Were". It had some appeal to the fans as it grossed over $80 million which was the third highest grossing picture of that year.Falling in the routine of its predecessors in terms of the plot, we see Streisand starring as Esther Hoffman breaking into a career in show business. She meets and befriends and falls in love with a veteran rock musician who as her career is flourishing, his career is plummeting. Streisand was the right choice for this role and her pairing with Kris Kristofferson gives it the right kind of chemistry as he's quite effective as the self-loathing, inebriated loser named John Norman Howard. And though it is a thankless performance playing a musician who's given up on hope, Kristofferson plays is very gracefully.The songs that feature Streisand on lead vocals are both riveting, vibrant and will surely lift your spirits. She handled the song she sung "Evergreen" which she co-wrote with Paul Williams with such power, that she won an Oscar for Best Song and her wonderful voice will surely appease nicely to her legions of fans. Ecstatically, this song was recorded in one take and Streisand nailed it with absolute perfection. Like the character Esther Hoffman who won a Grammy, Streisand went on to win both a Grammy and and Oscar for the song "Evergreen". In addition to that, Robert Surtees was nominated for an Oscar winner for Best Cinematography. Robert Knudson, Dan Wallin, Robert Glass and Tom Overton were nominated for Best Sound and Roger Kellaway was nominated for Best Original Score.For all the cynics out there, the inspiration of this remarkable film should be informed that there is going to be a new remake of "A Star is Born" which will be launched next year and starring Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper, indicating that if it wasn't for this version starring Streisand and Kristofferson. Will it exceeds the viewer's expectations? Only time will tell. This remake is still inferior to the Judy Garland and James Mason version, but it's still a good watch.A great shout to the supporting performers including Gary Busey as Bobby Ritchie, Paul Mazursky as Brian Wexler, Sally Kirkland as a photographer, Robert Englund as Marty, Venetta Fields and Clydie King are Hoffman's backup vocalists, The Oreos, plus brief appearances by Kristofferson's then wife Rita Coolidge and Tony Orlando as themselves.When it came to film "A Star is Born", it was a very rocky road indeed. There was claims that the egocentric Streisand directed some scenes for herself much to the chagrin of director Pierson with rumours floating about that Babs and Pierson conflicted with each other many times on set, even with Pierson stating his experience was horrendous. Kristofferson almost came close to quitting movies after making this film claiming co-starring with Streisand was a labouring experience.The soundtrack was a big success as it sold over 4 million copies in the U.S. and was a chart topper for six weeks in a row and 15 million copies worldwide.Streisand originally didn't have Kristofferson in mind to play the male lead, but Elvis Presley instead or a close second Marlon Brando. The King had a keen interest in the role of John Norman Howard, but his manager Col. Tom Parker rebuffed at the idea due to her not asking him at first and wanted overwhelming demands.Still in spite of its ups and downs and trials and tribulations, it's a great watch that's filled with drama, romance, music and fun old entertainment. I recommend you all to see it.

**SOME SPOILERS** Very likely the schmaltziest of the three or is it four versions of the movie "A Star is Born" has super rock star John Norman Howard, Kris Kristofferson, self destruct right before our eyes as his old lady or wife Esther, Barbara Streisand, rises to to top of the pop music world without as much as breaking into a sweat or note. John who already was on the way down when he met Esther as a member of a bi-racial womens singing trio "The Oreos" and discovered as well as later married her while he was still sober. Before the poor and suffering from the DT's John knew it Esther became the biggest hit in the world of music with him becoming a helpless drunk and speed freak.Despite her amazing success Esther still stuck by her man John and did her best to get him back on his feet and wagon but his pride just got in the way. The final straw was when John found semi nude "Rolling Stone" reporter Queint,Marta Heflin, taking a dip in his swimming pool who asked him for an exclusive interview. It's when a shocked Esther found John and Quint buff a** naked in bed and under the covers she blew a fuse and practically kicked him out of the house. What really ticked off the outraged Esther is just how the drugged out looking Quint acted as if there was nothing wrong in being in bed with John as she was interviewing him. John who by now had lost all his self respect and dignity continued to make a complete fool of himself in public at the expense of his wife Esther by falling down drunk at an award "The Grammies" show that his wife Ester was invited as a guest speaker. Drunk disorderly and and out of control a semi conscious and smashed out of his skull John in the end let it all go and went along with it. Taking a drive in the desert with his hopped up red sport car that in it going over 100 MPH overturned and killed him.Unlike in the other versions of the movie where the husband ends it all by walking nude into the Pacific Ocean and drowning himself in here he took the land or scenic route to do himself in so to keep from getting himself wet and not having his body washed away out at sea. In fact John's death unlike the previous movies was more like and accident instead of a suicide which made it less, for what it's worth, tragic.A devastated Esther who had since made up with her drunk and philandering husband John came back out of hiding to belt out a song at a memorial for her late husband who's singing brought the roof down as well as caused her to suffer what seemed like a major emotional as well as psychical breakdown. As Esther struggling to regain her composer seemed to lose it on the stage as well as at times forget the lyrics of the song she was singing! With her turning all the colors of the rainbow as the movie ended in an eerie freeze frame before she was given any sort of medical attention. Despite the movie's many faults it turned out to be one of the top money makers of 1976 doing some 80 million dollars in ticket sales.Which showed just how powerful Barbara Streisand's star power was even when she was given a turkey of a role as well as movie to perform in.

This film is my number one guilty pleasure as far as movies go. Yes, the critics were right about everything: Streisand's pop songs sound more like her usual, Broadway show-stoppers; Streisand's character's instant stardom is contrived, to say the least; Kris is an excellent songwriter, but he, uh, can't sing a note (yet he didn't write any of the songs in the film); and (getting a little mean here) even with a beard, Kristofferson is prettier than Babs. So why have I seen this film at least 100 times? Well, it was extremely entertaining despite it's many clichés and the other things I've sited. The music is also good, as cheesy as Babs' songs are and as poorly sung as Kris' are. I'm apparently not alone--in 1976, only Rocky made more money at the box office (not bad for an R-Rated movie in a year that had many great films, such as Taxi Driver, Network, All the President's Men and The Omen, The Bad News Bears, to list a few. Very dated today, but I still want to watch it again.

So I had heard from a few people that this film had brought them to tears in the theater. As I watched it for the first time I was expecting another romantic, tear-jerking Barbra Streisand film; Something like The Way We Were. I was certainly wrong. The chemistry between the two main characters, Esther Hoffman and her John Howard, was nonexistent, making it impossible to get attached to the characters. There wasn't anything romantic about it. Streisand's character fell for an alcoholic drug addict who couldn't sing a single note without making me want to hit the fast-forward button. At one point her character finds her husband in bed with another woman and she forgives him about five minutes later. There's nothing romantic about a deadbeat rock star and a woman who can't seem to realize it until he actually dies. Parts of the movie seemed to drag on and on, and I kept asking myself when it was going to end.The death of John Howard was completely predictable. There was totally obvious foreshadowing of his reckless behavior early on in the movie, and when he died I felt no emotion whatsoever. It wasn't a tragic accident, it was him basically being an idiot. Not to mention throughout the movie I was distracted by his hideous beard.The only parts of this movie worth seeing are the Streisand songs. The ending of the movie when she sings "With One More Look At You/Watch Closely Now" was my reason for giving this film a whopping 3/10. Those 7 minutes were the only part of the movie I actually felt an emotion other than irritation and anger.