Beaches | | Cast : | Bette Midler, Barbara Hershey | | Director : | Garry Marshall | | Studio : | Buena Vista Home Entertainment | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned | | Released Date : | December 21, 1988 | | DVD Released Date : | August 03, 2004 | | Language : | English (Dubbed) | | Audience Rating : | PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | May 18, 2005 | | Summary | Best Bette | Content
 | Bette Midler strikes again in this excellent Comedy/Drama about friends. Bette Midler and Barbara Hershey star in this movie about an singer(Midler) and a ritzy uptight lawyer(Hershey) who as kids became best friends ( they wern't singers and lawyers then). But, I would tell you about the ending but it would ruin it for you so.............
So long,
Bettelover |
| Rating | | | Date | May 17, 2005 | | Summary | Tear Jerker and excellent movie | Content
| I fell in love with this movie the first time I saw it and to this day I still love it so much. The plot is so well-written and the friendship between Bette Midler and Barbara Hershey's characters are very well acted and make you truly believe in them. I advise this movie to anyone who wants a movie where you'll cry a lot, laugh some and leave with just a great feeling of friendship. |
| Rating | | | Date | April 27, 2005 | | Summary | Beaches the best friendship movie ever | Content
| Beaches is my favorite movie of all time!! I showed it to my friends at school and most had already seen it and LOVED it and we are in teh 7th grade now if it is liked by 7th graders you knwo it is great!!!! I love this movie and i would definitely advise you to watch it with your best friend, your mother, your sister, your aunt, anyone you will all cry your heart out!! the Best Tear jerker since Terms of Endearment
LH |
| Rating | | | Date | April 19, 2005 | | Summary | Melodramatic Tear Drencher... | Content
| Trust, communication, and care are three key ingredients when two individuals form a friendship, as these components maintain and foster mutual respect and understanding. Trust entails two individual's ability to share secretive and personal information without limitations, as there is no fear of harm and judgment. Listening is the vital portion of communication while the other shares his or her personal information. Without this kind of communication it becomes hard to share information, and difficult to form friendship. To provide the best possible attention through good communication and trust one displays that one cares. If two individuals care it becomes possible for the most unlikely individuals to form an improbable friendship, as C C Bloom (Bette Midler) and Hillary Whitney (Barbara Hershey) do in Beaches.
C C rehearses for a performance at the Hollywood Bowl when she receives a message, an unknown message to the audience, but the audience can decipher the social codes that are important as C C drops everything including the evening performance in order to get to San Francisco. This opening directs the audience into the direction of something immediately threatening. The question is what can be so important to C C, as she leaves everything behind and rents a car to drive in a rainstorm to San Francisco. Two lengthy flashbacks deliver the reason for why it is important to C C to drive through the storm.
The first flashback begins decades earlier in Atlantic City where Hillary has lost herself along the boardwalk, as C C notices her while hiding in order to smoke a cigarette. Helpfully, C C emerges from underneath the boardwalk, as she tells Hillary that she knows the hotel where she is staying. This moment brings the two together, as C C's mother appears to tell her that she has received an opportunity to audition for a Hollywood film director. C C asks, or more like tells, Hillary to tag along, as she get to witness C C's star quality, which bedazzles her. T his seems to be the moment when Hillary discovers that C C has confidence to do what she pleases-something that is foreign to her. However, it is the beginning for a long friendship that seems to be held together through long letters of reciprocal sharing of thoughts and feelings, as the two girls mature into women.
The story makes several leaps, as it skips years at a time. These leaps cause a hurried effect in the story, which do not seem to emphasize the emotional character development. This hurts the cinematic experience, as story does not offer a genuine feeling for the characters. Both women seem hollow and empty in their emotional portrayal, which is supposed to be the strength of the film. To further the lack of emotional quality, the film presents a quantity of cinematic clichés that are supposed to provide emotional tension and affection. Nonetheless, there are moments in the film where the story grabs the audience with heartbreaking and joyous tears.
The friendships between C C, a spoiled and ditsy self-centered diva with a Jewish heritage from the Bronx, and Hillary, a well-mannered aristocratic lawyer with a well-established background from outside San Francisco are an unlikely alliance. These two women beat the odds and remain friends far into adulthood where their friendship gets tested, as their trust and communication are broken leaving them careless of each other. Nonetheless, it is expected that these two women will mend their friendship, as they go through marriages and divorces and through years of joy and sadness.
Beaches offers a melodramatic tale that temporarily displays moments of great drama, but often regresses into the genre of television soap operas. At times the film seems like the lines were written and never spoken, and at times the characters seem awkward with the lines. This furthers the difficulty in the film. In addition, the film plays with the audience's empathetic side, as it purposely manipulates the audience's affection in a crude manner. This crudeness leaves the audience with moments of tears, yet it also leaves a feeling of having been cheated of genuine emotion. Despite the poor depiction of the story it offers some valuable lessons worth pondering, which at the end leaves the audience with an ok cinematic experience. |
| Rating | | | Date | March 31, 2005 | | Summary | Touched by the Divine Ms.M ! | Content
| Honestly, I would give this movie three stars, but with Bette and Barbara Hershey's heartbreaking performances, it deserves two more stars! I saw this Fabulously Entertaining Tearjerker at the theater, and have rented it at least twice over the years. It's the kind of film that I can embrace myself with emotionally, that's why it's always a touching experience. Anyone who hasn't had enduring friendships and are emotionally "locked up" will not like this movie. If you are a fan of Bette like myself and loved her in For The Boys, The Rose, or Stella, then this is a must see. Barbara Hershey is great, but it's ultimately Bette who dominated the viewers with her sassy and funny performance, and of course the songs in this movie, especially The Wind Beneath My Wings have been heard a million times, but it's still one of her best and most beloved!
It's a perfect vehicle for Bette to showcase her multi-talent as singer and actress delivering a funny and touching performance. It's so enjoyable to watch her whenever she plays a woman in showbiz. The everlasting friendship between Bette and Barbara Hershey's characters are very real representation of many ordinary lives. It takes a lot of unconditional love, respect, trust, and faith to maintain a long distance friendship for decades. No matter what happened in their lives, they know they would still have each other to share their struggles and happiness. Never let time and distance wash away their best intensions and promises.
Throughout this movie, there are many moments of laughters, joy, fabulous singing by Bette, and yes, the reunion to the last days their lives shared together was the the climatic point that will require some tissues to stand by! |
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