A Star Is Born

At 16 (in 1976) watching this movie in the theater with a group of girls, we all walked out wanting to be Esther Hoffman and hoping we would date a rock star like John Norman Howard!!! So much fun to watch it again 40 years later!!! The music, though a bit dated now, is still wonderful and the story line of this classic remake brought back great memories of being lucky enough to grow up in the 70's. BTW - I did marry a rock star!

One of my favorite movies of all time! The music is wonderful, Streisand is excellent and I fell in love with Kris Kristofferson because of this movie. My son's middle name is Kristoffer. :) I've always been a big Barbra Streisand fan, she has the most beautiful, pure voice. The chemistry between her and Kristofferson was special. Bought the movie so I could watch it over and over. I know that Elvis was the first choice for John Norman Howard and I'm sure he would have been great but it's hard to imagine anyone other than Kris Kristofferson in that role now.

This movie made quite a splash in the 70s - mostly terrible reviews, but a smash hit soundtrack and Barbra and Kris' chemistry made this a very popular movie. Even then, it was over the top in many ways, but the timeless story, now being made a fourth time with Lady GaGa and Bradley Cooper, endures, and there are more than a few gems on the soundtrack. Barbra is at the zenith of her performing power, her voice rich and confident and her live performances throughout the movie remain classics. But it is Kristofferson who steals your heart. He is touchingly vulnerable, especially pitted against Babs' undeniable power, and earns your tears. A note: this movie deserves a top-notch Blu-Ray version, for the music alone.

Of all 4 versions, this is the one to own.No one can sing like Barbra.Kris Kristofferson is absolutely gorgeous.Their duet of Evergreen is the definition of romantic.Plus, her rendition of Woman On The Moon should be a national anthem for women.Extraordinary! You owe it to yourself to see this 1976 version. Beautiful!

Excluding the version with Frederick March, this version continues to be the best modern remake including Cooper/Gaga. I have to be honest about Cooper/Gaga; I was dying to see it expecting it to out do Streisand/Kristofferson, I was shocked to be wrong. There were wonderful revelations and moments. Lady Gaga’s interaction w Cooper’s character bar/parking lot and sharing the song in the parking lot (gold). Cooper’s character funny and vulnerable...but what Streisand did 1000% right is her character never lost sight of herself, who she was as a performer, who and what her voice was and that is what Kristofersson’s character loved her and was willing to give his career, his very life up for her. Because she KNEW exactly who and what she was, selling out wasn’t even in the realm of possibility. What Cooper did so very wrong, why I couldn’t care about their love, her career, and anything that resulted from their union as a result of her career. She, so strong as to write “Shallows” immediately sells herself out to sing a la J Lo, changing herself into a pop queen faster than a popsicle melts in AZ, and has him calling her on it...in what world is that undying unconditional love. Who the heck cares if he derails her pop career, it’s cruddy, it deserves to be derailed. It didn’t make sense that he would give his life to protect that which he didn’t respect...that’s where Cooper went wrong.Streisand wrote her version perfectly. Kristofferson is gorgeous, has been a singer so he can play a singer an vulnerability oozes out if every pore. Streisand’s character so sure if everything is completely unsure of the deceitful Hollywood world that wants to change everything about her, and she stands firm so you root for her. He tells her to stand firm so you love him for it, so you love them, you root for them and even though you hate him you get it when he is unfaithful you want them to stay together. When he races off in his Fararri, and you know what’s coming you keep saying no, no...When Cooper’s character embarrasses his wife you wonder why he’s not happy cause her accolades are for music he doesn’t and she shouldn’t respect. It should be an opportunity for her to wake-up. Instead she yells at him about being critical of her? You don’t feel any thing for her, you don’t want him to stay with her, you want him to leave and go back out on the road with his brother, sober and leave her behind. Dying for her success making crappy music makes no sense and was a waste of a remake, a waste of VOD and certainly a waste of my time. Instead watch the Streisand/Kristofferson version and the March version much better!!

I loved this film back in the 70s but it has not aged well. Kristofferson is really great and authentic but underutilized, while Streisand is shrill and surprisingly annoying. His performance is realistic and natural, hers is pure melodrama. Roger Ebert was right that she was miscast in this. She soars in the musical performances though. Apparently this was part of the Streisand/Jon Peters campaign to create a sexier image for her (remember Barbra on the cover of Playboy anyone?). Though I've always been a fan, I find it interesting that Streisand wears being a perfectionist on her sleeve and yet most of her films are mediocre at best. She said recently that she wished she'd made more movies. After this film she was offered the part of Lillian Hellman in Fred Zinnemann's Julia. Instead she went on to do The Main Event and her acting career was never the same again. In fact, by the time Yentl came around, it was actually considered her comeback. It would have been interesting if she had accepted the role in Julia, a part she surely would have been great in and that would have probably opened up her career to better film projects. It seems that part of being a perfectionist is in also making the right choices. Anyway, bravo to Bradley Cooper for making a better, more realistic version of A Star is Born.

I recently saw the remake of this classic movie with Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga. It isnt nearly as good as the 70s version with Barbara Streisand and Kris Kristofferson. They changed the best parts of the plot in my opinion which made you really like the movie in the first place. Watch this one, and you'll see what I mean. You cry, laugh, and feel sadness right along with the characters.

I saw this film years ago on TV. I recently bought a Barbra Streisand Greatest Hits CD and one of my favourite songs is 'Evergreen', which made me think of this film and finding it on Amazon for a good price, I ordered it thinking it may seem a bit dated now, but it doesn't. The songs are excellent, especially those performed by Streisand.Good acting and Streisand and Kristofferson have great chemistry together, so their love story was believable. Yes it's sad but the two songs performed by Streisand at the end are very powerful.Loved it.

This film is a wonderful insite in to how two people's paths cross and how true love can win and destroy lives. Barbra plays a wonderful singer, who has some fantastic songs to sing with The Oreo's and who hits the big time after she is seen by Kris, who plays a 'has been' rock star. Obsessed by her, he escalates her to super stardom whilst he sits back and watches, and ends up wanting badly what she ends up with - that esteemed love and adoration from the public. Their chemistry is hot and you are left wanting to see so much more.The emotional toing and froing captures you immediately and you are drawn into their relationship right through to the end of the movie, laughing and crying with them both every step of the way. I broke the video tape - I've played it so much, and now I long for it to come out on DVD. Jan 1, 2010 seems an eternity to wait for this masterpiece to be released.5 amazing stars for this film, an absolutely MUST SEE.

Great film for Streisand fans finally on dvd....THIS WAS NUMBER ONE FILM on its original release.....Only one thing that gripes me is Babs keep calling KKs name...john norman...i hate double barrelled names at best of time....Good performances especially from KK who was over shadowed by Babs as it was her film anyway...WORTH A LOOK evenif U not a Streisand fan....fashionable film too of the 70s although looks a little dated now....lol...some good songs too including EVERGREEn of which Babs co wrote and got oscra for best film song of that year.

Streisand as good an actor as she was a singer. For me, only Madonna with Evita beats her in the acting field. The plot is probably quite accurate/typical as regards the rise and fall of that industry

I first saw this film with my then girlfriend (now my wife) sitting in the balcony (the only part that was open) of a huge old 1930s cinema that has since been demolished, so it has some nostalgia appeal for me. And this DVD does not disappoint. It's an excellent transfer with a superb 5.1 sound mix.My only quibble is with the technical details on the packaging, which are self-contradictory and confusing. It says that it is a 16:9 transfer, which it is; it says the film is in it's original aspect ratio, which is nearly true. Actually the original aspect ratio is 1.85:1 and this DVD is 1.78:1, so a small bit of the image has been cropped from the sides. But the packaging also says "1.33:1 - regular", which is just plain wrong. Quite how this bit of misinformation got past Warner's quality inspectors we'll probably never know.