Review of Beaches (1988) by Meredith W — 28 Nov 2012

My eyes are filled with tears. Just the thought of this movie makes me get teary eyed. Beaches came out in December of 1988 as both a comedy and a drama. The lead roles of this movie are played by Bette Midler and Barbara Hershey. Director Garry Marshall shows us in this movie two girls that have many people around them, but the one always there for them when they needed it was each other, their best friend. The movie includes a series of flashbacks showing their childhood together along with the tragic recent events.

The movie starts out with C.C. Bloom (Bette Midler) preparing for her show that night when she gets a terrible phone call and rushes to the airport. Since there are no flights going out due to bad weather, she decides to rent a car to drive to San Francisco. As she makes the long drive, she starts having flashbacks of when they first meet up to just before she leaves to do this show. C.C. started her career as a young girl and met Hillary (Barbara Hersey) when she was smoking under the boardwalk and tried to give Hillary directions back to her hotel. After the two meet that day, they become pen pals and write each other back and forth until the day they become roommates in C.C.â(TM)s hometown, the Bronx. As roommates they share a common love (though at different times), and when Hillaryâ(TM)s father becomes ill she must go take care of him. When she comes back to visit after being married the two get in an argument and stop talking for a short time. Back in San Francisco when C.C. does a show, she meets up with Hillary and discovers she is having a baby, so stays. Later in the childâ(TM)s life, Hillary gets sick and has troubles taking care of her daughter so gets help from C.C.

The two main characters, C.C. and Hillary, show true trust and care for each other. They are always there when the other needs them even if they take all of the attention. The movie shows how these great qualities can affect a bond between two people and make these friends almost like sisters.

The cinematography of this movie was, overall, pretty good. You must take into account that it was filmed a while ago, so the technology wasnâ(TM)t as good as it is today. That said, the movie doesnâ(TM)t necessarily have amazing clarity, though they were very creative in the filming and the director does a very good job at bringing across the friendship and the drama to the story! Garry Marshallâ(TM)s Beaches is overall a great examination of friendship and how it is affected over time.