Review of A Star Is Born (1976) by Stuart K — 30 Jul 2009
The story of A Star Is Born had been done twice before, once back in 1937 as a drama and again in 1954 as a musical. Now, for the 1970's, it was going to be a drama like the 1937 original, but it was going to be set in the world of rock music.
It became a world success, and even if it is a little on the long side, it's still an engaging enough story. It starts off with once successful rock star John Norman Howard (Kris Kristofferson), whose career has gone into a bad decline, he's late for concerts and his musicianship and singing is now sloppy, and he's drinking heavily too.
One night, he's in a club, and he see's an upcoming singer Esther Hoffman (Barbara Streisand) who exudes talent. John tells her "I'm gonna take you girl, I'm gonna show you how." He helps make Esther a huge success, and the two fall in love and marry one another.
As her fame grows, John's career sinks even further into a sad decline. It's a good love story, and Streisand and Kristofferson make a good pairing. The music is pretty good as well, (the song Evergreen won an Oscar for Streisand and Paul Williams), it's a story which could happen to anyone, anywhere.
But, it's good enough to hold the attention for 2 hours and a bit.
This review of A Star Is Born (1976) was written by Stuart K on 30 Jul 2009.
A Star Is Born has generally received mixed reviews.
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