The young Fanny Brice (Barbra Streisand) desperately wants to be a success in show business and after a shaky start thinks she has made it when she lands a part in a big Ziegfeld show. Ziegfeld (Walter Pidgeon) and Fanny clash over various matters due to her strong personality but her talent shines through and she does eventually become a major star. She meets gambler Nicky Arnstein (Omar Sharif) and falls madly in love with him. Unfortunately his gambling habits get him in trouble with the police causing Fanny much sadness and anguish. However, she overcomes these problems to concentrate on her career and manages to realise her ambition to become a big Broadway star.
The film of "Funny Girl" was awaited with much anticipation after all the tremendous publicity given to Barbra Streisand following her stunning portrayal of Fanny Brice in the hit Broadway show. An "unauthorised" version of the Fanny Brice story had been filmed once before as "Rose of Washington Square" (1939) starring Alice Faye, Tyrone Power and Al Jolson but Fanny Brice was not happy about the film and sued 20th Century Fox for invasion of privacy.
"Funny Girl" received a total of eight Oscar nominations but only picked up the one (for Best Actress) which Streisand had to share with Katharine Hepburn for "The Lion in Winter". Personally, I thought this was a real shame as Hepburn had just picked up the Best Actress Award the previous year for "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" and had also won back in 1932 for "Morning Glory". In my opinion Streisand (in her first film) had worked tremendously hard on "Funny Girl" and given an excellent portrayal of Fanny Brice and her singing at the time was sensational. To have to share the award with Hepburn was bad luck for Streisand and must have taken away some of the pleasure of winning.
The film was directed by the legendary William Wyler and produced by Ray Stark (who was in fact Fanny Brice's son-in-law!). The film had a superior supporting cast including Kay Medford (recreating her Broadway role as Rose Brice), Anne Francis (Georgia James), Lee Allen (Eddie Ryan), Gerald Mohr (Branca), and with Frank Faylen as Keeney.
What a marvellous collection of songs this film contained: "People", "Second Hand Rose", "Don't Rain on My Parade", "My Man" and "I'm the Greatest Star" are just five gems from a really wonderful score.
Some favourite lines from the film:
Barbra Streisand (to her reflection in theatre mirror): "Hello gorgeous".
Lee Allen (to Streisand): "Are you sure you can rollerskate?". Streisand: "Can I rollerskate??".
Streisand: "I'm a Ziegfeld girl!".
Streisand (to Walter Pidgeon): "O.K. you win. You don't win fair but you win!".
"Funny Girl" was one of those rare occasions when the perfect part came along with the perfect star to play it. One of the last of the great Hollywood musicals. 10/10. Clive Roberts.
The film of "Funny Girl" was awaited with much anticipation after all the tremendous publicity given to Barbra Streisand following her stunning portrayal of Fanny Brice in the hit Broadway show. An "unauthorised" version of the Fanny Brice story had been filmed once before as "Rose of Washington Square" (1939) starring Alice Faye, Tyrone Power and Al Jolson but Fanny Brice was not happy about the film and sued 20th Century Fox for invasion of privacy.
"Funny Girl" received a total of eight Oscar nominations but only picked up the one (for Best Actress) which Streisand had to share with Katharine Hepburn for "The Lion in Winter". Personally, I thought this was a real shame as Hepburn had just picked up the Best Actress Award the previous year for "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" and had also won back in 1932 for "Morning Glory". In my opinion Streisand (in her first film) had worked tremendously hard on "Funny Girl" and given an excellent portrayal of Fanny Brice and her singing at the time was sensational. To have to share the award with Hepburn was bad luck for Streisand and must have taken away some of the pleasure of winning.
The film was directed by the legendary William Wyler and produced by Ray Stark (who was in fact Fanny Brice's son-in-law!). The film had a superior supporting cast including Kay Medford (recreating her Broadway role as Rose Brice), Anne Francis (Georgia James), Lee Allen (Eddie Ryan), Gerald Mohr (Branca), and with Frank Faylen as Keeney.
What a marvellous collection of songs this film contained: "People", "Second Hand Rose", "Don't Rain on My Parade", "My Man" and "I'm the Greatest Star" are just five gems from a really wonderful score.
Some favourite lines from the film:
Barbra Streisand (to her reflection in theatre mirror): "Hello gorgeous".
Lee Allen (to Streisand): "Are you sure you can rollerskate?". Streisand: "Can I rollerskate??".
Streisand: "I'm a Ziegfeld girl!".
Streisand (to Walter Pidgeon): "O.K. you win. You don't win fair but you win!".
"Funny Girl" was one of those rare occasions when the perfect part came along with the perfect star to play it. One of the last of the great Hollywood musicals. 10/10. Clive Roberts.