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Barbra
Streisand (1942) was born in Brooklyn, New York.
After
graduating early from high school, she won a singing contest
at a Manhattan club and soon developed her own nightclub act.
Her Broadway
career began with 1962's "I Can Get It for You Wholesale"; a year later,
she landed a recording contract with Columbia. She eschewed frequent touring
in favor of more work on Broadway (including 1964's "Funny Girl," the 1967
movie adaptation of which earned her an Oscar) and television specials
(which in turn spawned albums). Continuing to act in musicals, comedies,
and dramas throughout the 1960s and 1970s, her film work eventually included
producing (starting with 1977's A Star Is Born) and directing (1983's Yentl
marked her debut). Some 35 years after catching the world's attention with
The Voice, and despite frequent accounts of prima donna behavior, Streisand
continues to mine success in concert, on record, and on film. |
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A
Star Is Born (1976) VHS
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| A superstar
on the decline meets a young singer on the way up. They marry as their
career trajectories intersect, and his eventual demise is meant as a sacrifice
to further boost her career by ridding her of the burden of him. Kristofferson's
rock & roll numbers are decidedly lousy -- Hollywood's idea of rock
music--and Streisand looks good and always sounds fine (she won an Oscar
for cowriting the song "Evergreen"). But you can feel her heavy hand guiding
every shot; she seems to serve as puppet master for director Frank Pierson,
framing every image of herself for maximum glow. The ultimate date flick
(if the guy can sit still through it). --Marshall Fine |
Barbra
Streisand - Putting It Together (The Making of "The Broadway Album") (1986)
VHS
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The
Prince of Tides
(1991)
DVD
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| Streisand's
best film as a director is helped enormously by one of Nick Nolte's finest
performances. Nolte plays a football coach who is estranged from his wife
(Blythe Danner) and who enters into an affair with the psychiatrist (Streisand)
of his suicidal sister (Melinda Dillon). Streisand is acceptable in her
star turn, but behind the camera she paces the story very well and provides
lots of room for Nolte to inhabit his burdened but likable character. --Tom
Keogh |
Yentl
(1983) VHS
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| Streisand
made her directorial debut with this 1983 adaptation of the Isaac Bashevis
Singer story about a young Eastern European woman (Streisand) who disguises
herself as a male at the turn of the century in order to get an education.
Except for an excessive musical score with too many songs and Streisand's
tiresome tendency to play characters who suppress their beauty, the film
is crisp and engaging, and the gender-bending love story complications
are fun, if gimmicky. Streisand gives a smart, vulnerable performance and
gets fresh work from costars Mandy Patinkin and Amy Irving.Tom Keogh |
On
a Clear Day You Can See Forever (1970) VHS
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| When
a psychiatrist (Yves Montand) begins talking to a young woman (Barbra Streisand),
he realizes that she can recall a past life while under hypnosis. Although
this brash New Yorker is thoroughly modern and somewhat abrasive, he becomes
fascinated by the 19th-century English woman who speaks through her. --Robert
Horton |
Nuts
(1987) VHS
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Based
On A True Story!
Barbara
does an amazing job with her performance as Claudia Draper a call girl
accussed of murder. |
Up
the Sandbox (1972) VHS
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Funny
Girl (1968) DVD
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| Ah, Barbra.
Of all her onscreen personas, she sparkles in none as she does in her role
as 1930s comedian Fanny Brice in the musical Funny Girl. Portraying the
life of this star of stage and radio, Brice preens and prances and sings,
captivating her audience both onscreen and off. Fanny Brice started life
on the Lower East Side of New York, the daughter of a Jewish saloon owner.
Not the prettiest girl around, Brice still managed to quickly rise to stardom
as a performer in the Ziegfield Follies. A shrewd, obstinate woman, Brice
dictated her own success story on stage; things were a different matter
in romance. Falling hard for the stunning Nick Arnstein (suavely played
by Omar Sharif), Brice must navigate a difficult marriage. - Jenny Brown |
| Order
Funny Lady (1975) DVD |
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| Order
Funny Lady (1975) VHS |
The
Way We Were:
Special
Edition (1973) DVD
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Barbra
Streisand & Robert Redford lead the cast as Katie and Hubble, two mismatched
lovers who deeply care for each other, but have irreconcilable differences
that tear them apart.
The an
hour long DVD includes commentary by director Sydney Pollack, documentary
featuring interviews with Pollack, Streisand, screenwriter Arthur Laurents
and composer Marvin Hamlisch, and the original trailer. |
Hello,
Dolly! (1969) VHS
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Based
on Thornton Wilder's play The Matchmaker, this won Academy Awards for best
sound, art direction, and musical score.
Streisand
is great as Dolly Levy, a New York matchmaker who can find a mate for anyone.
Anyone but herself, that is. Determined to marry wealthy Walter Matthau,
she lures him out of Yonkers and sets about wooing him. |
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