STAR

[spiderdj82]

Posted: 10/31/04 at 8:06pm

I just bought STAR, starring Julie Andrews on a whim and I have never seen it. Does anyone like it?

[spiderdj82]

Posted: 10/31/04 at 8:27pm

Ok, so I guess no one has seen this.

[Glebb]

Posted: 10/31/04 at 8:29pm

Ashamed to admit that Funny Girl came along and took my attentions away from Julie at that point but I have a wonderful friend who knows this film well and owns it.

Wish I could get him to post here.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 10/31/04 at 8:38pm

I love, love, LOVE this terrible, terrible, TERRIBLE film.

Buy the DVD and program it first to watch ONLY the musical numbers, which are fabulous. Then (and only then) can you sit through the lugubrious storyline.

Updated On: 10/31/04 at 08:38 PM

[spiderdj82]

Posted: 10/31/04 at 8:40pm

Oh well. It was only $9

[Glebb]

Posted: 10/31/04 at 8:44pm

Is this where Julie plays Gertrude Lawrence and Daniel Massey is Noel Coward? I've seen the Poor Jenny number. It's a big deal.

[etoile]

Posted: 10/31/04 at 8:44pm

If you enjoy musicals you'll enjoy the movie just for that reason. Yeah, the story can drag, but who cares. It's Julie Andrews doing Gertrude Lawrence surrounded by Gershwin, Coward, and Porter tunes. You'll get your money's worth.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 10/31/04 at 8:47pm

etoile is right on the money.

The musical numbers are the sum and substance of STAR!.

"Parisienne Pierrot, Someone To Watch Over Me, Burlington Bertie, The Saga of Jenny," come to mind.

Daniel Massey does a fine job as Coward.

[Marquise]

Posted: 10/31/04 at 9:04pm

okay just looked this up because i have never heard of it. now spider's got me interested in possibly renting it but the running time of the movie is putting me off.

richard crenna and robert reed are also in it. from what i've read so far [i have the info open in another window] this movie tanked. it was also severely edited and underwent a title change [possibly to fool an unsuspecting public] and tanked a second time.

it took me awhile to warm up to andrews, and after giving her a second chance i watched "mary poppins" earlier this week and i was impressed. i can only tolerate the "sound of music" in spurts. i'm going to have to think about STAR though...

spider, watch it and let me know what you think bro...post a review. Updated On: 10/31/04 at 09:04 PM

[spiderdj82]

Posted: 10/31/04 at 9:06pm

Will do, my friend. I am going to watch it in a few minutes and get back to ya later tonight.

[NYadgal]

Posted: 10/31/04 at 9:09pm

Marquise - TRUST ME on the Julie Andrews issue! Love her!

...have I steered you wrong yet?

[Marquise]

Posted: 10/31/04 at 9:17pm

no you haven't. i'm just getting acquainted with the ladie's work. i was never really into her. i always viewed her as "corny". just not my style. i'm into things that have more of an edge. first time i saw "mary poppins" was only because my girlfriend at the time, sonia, loved that flick and me, being the supportive boyfriend i pride myself in being sat down and watched it with her...i guess that time i was half-@ssed about it because i really didn't pay attention to it.

this time around i watched it and was impressed with everything..i guess i'm opening my mind to other thing...etc., etc.

i'm checking different things out a little at a time. i'm considering giving "the sound of music" another try as well..it's just that goat song really irks the sh!t outta me!

[redhotinnyc2]

Posted: 11/1/04 at 8:59am

I think Julie Andrews is one of the most talented people on the planet - but STAR, in my opinion, is just not a good film at all. She gets a chance to do some great songs, but the character (perhaps rightly so) is so unfriendly and unlovable...I just couldn't get into it at all.

[Marquise]

Posted: 11/1/04 at 12:28pm

is she playing the same gertrude lawrence who starred in the original production of "the king and i".

another question: if andrews played her as unfriendly and unloveable does this mean that lawrence was that way in real life?

[redhotinnyc2]

Posted: 11/1/04 at 12:32pm

well your guess is as good as mine, on that subject. I never heard or read much about Lawrence...so I have no idea - but if she was really like the performance Andrews gave - I wouldn't have wanted to know her at all.
And I LUVs me some Julie Andrews!

[WOSQ]

Posted: 11/1/04 at 2:25pm

Gertrude "King and I" Lawrence and Gertrude "Star" Lawrence are one and the same. Any one of my older friends who saw Gert on stage said she was a major personality who couldn't really keep her pitch, but you adored her anyway. Mrs. Anna's songs have a range of about 5-6 notes because it was written as a vehicle for her. Why major singers (Rise Stevens, Connie Towers, Patricia Morrison, Barbara Cook) get cast in the role is beyond me. Adapting the book was Lawrence's lawyer's idea and they took the idea to R&H.

Lawrence was generous, loving and the proverbial handful. She is probably one of those people who it it impossible to dramatize.

In a tiny role in Star near the beginning is Beryl Reid playing Gert's mother. She had just won a Tony the previous season for The Killing of Sister George.

Its my opinion that Star is a lousy movie with great music and a great underappreciated performance by Julie Andrews.

If you want a different Julie, find her first film, a darkly comic satire called The Americanization of Emily which is not a musical. It was filmed before Mary Poppins but released afterwards. It has a sharp script by Paddy Chayevsky and co-stars James Garner and Melvyn Douglas.

[Marquise]

Posted: 11/1/04 at 4:14pm

WOSQ wrote:

"Lawrence was generous, loving and the proverbial handful. She is probably one of those people who it it impossible to dramatize".

now i'm confused. if lawrence was generous and loving then why is she portrayed in this movie by andrews as: "unfriendly and unlovable"

but thanks for taking the time to post and clear some things up WOSQ. i guess i'm going to have to read up on this movie some more and read up on gertrude lawrence.

spider, have you watched your DVD yet? any thoughts. . . Updated On: 11/1/04 at 04:14 PM

[WOSQ]

Posted: 11/1/04 at 4:35pm

Her autobiography "A Star Danced" went to many printings and is readily findable in used bookstores;
"Mrs. A" by Richard Aldrich her husband was written shortly after her death and was very popular in the 50s. It also went to many editions, but doesn't seem as easy to find as the first;
and Sheridan Morley wrote a not-that-well written biography in the last 10-15 years.

If you put them all together you'll get the complex, self-centered woman portrayed on screen.

The movie isn't called "Star" for nix.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 11/1/04 at 4:41pm

I'd have to second WOSQ's praise for THE AMERICANIZATION OF EMILY. It's kind of a forgotten classic, really. And it's easily Miss Andrews' best, most complex performance.

[spiderdj82]

Posted: 11/1/04 at 5:54pm

Ok, folks. I watched the ENTIRE movie last night and here is what I think. Julie Andrews is one of the best actresses/singers to ever grace the silver screen (or in my case the Apple Powerbook). I love *almost* every minute of that movie. There were parts that dragged but so did SOUND OF MUSIC. I thought Julie was hillarious and that voice **Faints**. I definetly have to buy that soundtrack. The main problem I had with the movie was they guy that played her best friend, Noel was sooooooo annoying. Everytime he talked I wanted to turn my computer off. And I didn't really understand all the guys that were attracted to her. They just kept piling up and I forgot who was who and why she liked them. And her daughter was almost non-existant through the entire movie. I wish they would have resolved something about that at the end. But, yes.....Julie has never been better. She was funny, bitchy, a cutie pie, a devil, and an angel. I am glad that I bought it.

[Marquise]

Posted: 11/1/04 at 6:20pm

okay i respect spider's opinion so i will be renting this one from my local video store as soon as i get the chance.

[spiderdj82]

Posted: 11/1/04 at 6:23pm

Awww. *blushes* Just be prepared to sit through a LOOOOOOOOOONG movie. That is all I have to say. And if you don't like it, no busting a cap in my ass

[Unknown User]

Posted: 11/1/04 at 8:49pm

Yey! AMERICANIZATION OF EMILY.

Don't forget about HAWAII, another long movie, but Julie wins every scene she's in.