I should start a thread for Dolly newbies or something, because I'm wasting all of you folks' time with my musings on the film. (The original reason for this thread was to let people who wanted to see the 1969 movie before it disappeared from Netflix at the end of June.)
But I will concede a few things about the movie, which is a partial commentary on the musical itself. (There's only so much I can say, as I've never seen it live.)
First, several songs really have stuck in my head as intended. Yeah, fine, I'd heard several of them before, but it's not the same as seeing and hearing the whole thing. "Put on Your Sunday Clothes" is a terrific song, and it's one that does work well as directed by Gene Kelly.
There are plenty of parts of the movie that I could easily imagine working a lot better on stage, as I'm sure they do in the revival.
I remarked that Streisand was miscast in the film, but that's mostly because I thought the pairing with Walter Matthau was dreadful. They have anti-chemistry. I could imagine Streisand as a young widow looking for a rich husband, but Matthau's Horace just seems so tiresome that his conversion in the last 10 minutes is too little, too late, and not very convincing. Streisand has to carry her scenes with him all alone.
The amazing part is that she pulls it off. When Streisand is on screen, I liked the movie. When she's singing "Before the Parade Passes By," I forget all the other nonsense - even the overdone marching bands and song interruptions. I like the soundtrack better for that reason. She's funny, sexy, and her voice really does the score justice.
So I'll give the movie this: Despite its flaws, it's got Streisand, playing Dolly in her own way, and that covers a lot of flaws. I can understand why some Hello, Dolly aficionados dislike the film. I can understand others who say it works just fine on its own terms. My initial reaction was negative, but Streisand's performance has stayed with me.
Updated On: 7/3/17 at 01:02 AM
