Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
Bookmark this pageA Star Is Born (1976)
Director: Frank Pierson
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
70mm screens have been filled with some vacuous stuff in their time, but this monstrous remake takes the biscuit. It's set in the rock world, but the kind of rock these people peddle is the softest thing next to jelly. And the embarrassment when Streisand gets to shake her loins in rhythm...Kristofferson is much better as the fading drunkard who promotes and marries the rising star. Apart from the flash new environment, this version vaunts its modernity by vulgarising everything in sight, making the characters mouthpieces for foul language and equally foul sentimentality. Maybe Brian De Palma in his Phantom of the Paradise days could have wrested a film from all this, but Pierson (replacing Jerry Schatzberg, Streisand's hairdresser Jon Peters, and probably a million others) just lets it hang out, uncoordinated and ridiculous.Author: GB
Cast & crew
Director: Frank Pierson
Producer: Jon Peters
Cast: Barbra Streisand, Kris Kristofferson, Paul Mazursky, Gary Busey, Oliver Clark, Marta Heflin full cast
Genre(s): Musicals
Duration: 140 mins
Most popular on this site
Top Stories
Has David Cronenberg turned tame?
Has director David Cronenberg veered too far from his radical and bloody roots with new film 'A Dangerous Method'?
The 10 worst date movies
Just in time for Valentine's Day, we present ten of the least romantic films ever made
Where to watch this year's Oscar-nominated films
Find out where to watch 2012's Oscar-nominated films in London cinemas
10 unlikely badboy biopics
Featuring Phil Collins, Jeremy Clarkson, Nick Clegg, David Starkey and a host of other unlikely subjects
Interview: Sean Durkin on 'Martha Marcy May Marlene'
The first-time director of the brilliant new thriller discusses religious cults and robot boxing
Pop-up cinema for Valentine's Day
Side-step romantic clichés with some alternative Valentine’s viewing
What do you think?
Post your review now