Funny Lady (1975)

It's the 1930s and the Great Depression is on. When her latest show closes, Fanny Brice (Barbra Streisand) finds herself out of work like everyone else and looks around for a new show. Enter showman Billy Rose (James Caan) who sweet talks Brice into doing a show for him. Directed by Herbert Ross, this is the sequel to FUNNY GIRL (1968) which earned Streisand a best actress Oscar. When Streisand burst onto the screen in FUNNY GIRL, it was thrilling. The film itself was decent enough but it was merely the setting for the emergence of a dynamic Star who commanded the screen like it was her own domain even though it was her first film. Seven years later, who thought it was a good idea for her to go back and revisit her past triumph? Almost nothing works in the movie. The songs by John Kander and Fred Ebb aren't as good, there's nothing as memorable as People or Don't Rain On My Parade from FUNNY GIRL and the highly fictionalized screenplay is mess of cliches (yes, I know FUNNY GIRL was cliched too but Streisand was so exciting, you didn't care). In the movie, Brice complains to Rose that the numbers in his show are overproduced and need to be stripped down to be effective yet when the reworked numbers are shown to us, they're overproduced. Great Day with the black dancers groveling and writhing before Streisand like a goddess is a good example. On the plus side, Streisand is in terrific voice, looks sensational in her Bob Mackie and Ray Aghayan costumes and is lovingly photographed by James Wong Howe (it was his final film). With Omar Sharif, Roddy McDowall, Ben Vereen, Carole Wells, Larry Gates and Colleen Camp.