DIRECTOR MARK RYDELL.
BOTTOM LINE: Bette Midler made a spectacular movie debut playing The Rose, a rock singer who is emotionally unraveling during what she insists is her final concert tour. Battling exhaustion, loneliness and addiction, she is at the mercy of her manager (Alan Bates), who pushes her relentlessly, and things reach a climax when they visit her hometown.
The film is based on the life of bisexual singer Janis Joplin and is a must-see for fans of the Divine Miss M. Her voice is not suited to the big rock numbers like “Stay With Me Baby,” but she delivers them with gusto. This is star power at its most breathtaking. Nominated for a Best Actress Oscar, she lost to Sally Field in “Norma Rae”.
About thirty minutes into the movie, a candid and well-handled love scene between The Rose, who always refers to herself in the third person, and one of her old lovers, played by Sandra McCabe, is featured, which was quite daring for 1979.
With Oscar-nominated Frederic Forrest giving a sweet performance as an AWOL army sergeant whom The Rose thinks may be her one true love, and Harry Dean Stanton in a great scene playing a country music star who cruelly demands that The Rose stop performing his songs. Meanwhile, Alan Bates hams it up. If ever an actor appeared to be “doing it for the money,” this is it!
Director Mark Rydell keeps things moving, even if the concert sequences resemble outtakes from Spielberg’s “Close Encounters” – Vilmos Zsigmond was the cinematographer on both films.
Bette had a massive hit with the film’s title song, “The Rose,” written by Amanda McBroom, which failed to snag a nomination for Best Original Song.
NOT AVAILABLE FOR STREAMING. AVAILABLE ON DVD FROM AMAZON
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Sixty-nine-Queer Films of the New Hollywood (1967-1981) Table Summary
