Funny Lady (1975)

User Rating:

6.1/10   

Director:

Herbert Ross

Writers:

Arnold Schulman (story)
Jay Presson Allen (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

15 March 1975 (USA)

Genre:

Musical | Comedy | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

How Lucky Can You Get

Plot:

Story of singer Fanny Brice's stormy relationship with showman Billy Rose.

Plot Keywords:

1930s | Love | Sequel | Husband Wife Relationship | Male Female Relationship

Awards:

Nominated for 5 Oscars. Another 6 nominations

Cast

Barbra Streisand	...	Fanny Brice
James Caan	...	Billy Rose
Omar Sharif	...	Nicky Arnstein
Roddy McDowall	...	Bobby Moore
Ben Vereen	...	Bert Robbins
Carole Wells	...	Norma Butler
Larry Gates	...	Bernard Baruch
Eugene Troobnick	...	Ned (as Gene Troobnick)
Heidi O'Rourke	...	Eleanor Holm
Royce Wallace	...	Adèle
Lilyan Chauvin	...	Mademoiselle
Samantha C. Kirkeby	...	Fran (as Samantha Huffaker)
Matt Emery	...	Buck Bolton
Joshua Shelley	...	Painter
Cliff Norton	...	Set Manager

Runtime:

136 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo

Certification:

Australia:PG | Finland:S | Sweden:Btl | UK:PG | USA:PG | West Germany:6 | Singapore:PG | Netherlands:AL

Filming Locations:

Pan-Pacific Auditorium - 7600 W. Beverly Boulevard, Fairfax, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

Barbra Streisand was considering Robert Blake for the role of Billy Rose, whom he resembled more than the actor who eventually played him in the film, James Caan. Streisand had Blake come to her house and read the script with her. After the read-through, an impressed Streisand asked Blake if he's like to do the part. "I just did," said Blake, miffed that he had been made to audition. He walked out of Streisand house, and the role was given to Caan.

Goofs:

Factual errors: Near the end of the movie, in a meeting between Brice and Rose, they discuss his divorce from Eleanor Holm. Rose and Holm divorced three years after Brice's death, so the discussion could not have taken place as portrayed in the film.

Quotes:

Fanny Brice: [at her first meeting Billy Rose] If we hate the same people and you get your suit cleaned, it's a match.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Country Girl's Hollywood Adventure (1975)

Soundtrack:

Me And My Shadow

Funny Lady is Better

"Funny Lady" is a better movie than "Funny Girl". All "Funny Girl" does is let Barbra Streisand showcase her singing talent between scenes. You don't care about the other characters or the story. After Streisand, the only other interesting person in the movie is Walter Pidgeon portraying Florenz Ziegfeld.

"Funny Lady" has heart and soul. It is about Fanny Brice (Barbra Streisand), who goes on with her career during the depression after her divorce, meets her next husband, Billy Rose, (James Caan) marries him but yearns for her former husband, Nicky Arnstein (Omar Sharif). This is a tortured love story with music. Most of the musical numbers are set in the shows that Fanny Brice performed in, and that makes sense.

However, there are three musical numbers that are used as dialogue, but are set to music. They work. The two that touched me were: Jimmy Caan singing briefly with Barbra Streisand - they sing sweetly together while falling in like. The best dramatic musical number is when Fanny Brice sings her broken heart out on an empty stage, lamenting the loss of her newly married ex-husband; and Billy Rose watching in pain. This is Streisand's, Caan's, and Sharif's best romantic performances. Of all the leading men Barbra Streisand worked with, James Cann complimented her the best. They should work again as a team. Only the Foreign Press Globes honored this movie with major nominations.