For the Boys | | Cast : | Bette Midler, James Caan | | Director : | Mark Rydell | | Studio : | Twentieth Century Fox | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Dolby, Widescreen | | Released Date : | November 22, 1991 | | DVD Released Date : | September 07, 2004 | | Language : | French (Dubbed), English (Subtitled), English (Dubbed), English (Original Language), French (Original Language), Spanish (Subtitled) | | Audience Rating : | R (Restricted) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | February 23, 2005 | | Summary | Why are there bad reviews? | Content
 | I have no idea why anyone would give this a bad review, whether it was when it first debuted or today. This movie has something for everyone. Personally, I love Bette Midler & and I love anything from the 40s, so this is perfect for me. And I've seen reviews for this that say you can only appreciate it, if you lived during one of the eras portrayed in the film. I am living proof that that statement is wrong, because I am 24 years old and love everything about this movie.
Bette Midler & James Caan are wonderful actors and truly show that they are capable of any genre. If you are in doubt of whether you would like this movie, don't be. There is something for everyone, whether it is comedy, music, or drama. |
| Rating | | | Date | February 15, 2005 | | Summary | For this boy ... | Content
| Many moons ago I received the DVD of "Norma Rae," and there was a trailer included in the special features for "For the Boys." The trailer featured Bette's character singing "In My Life" during the Vietnam War, while flashes of history are played on the screen. Perhaps needless to say, I CRIED my eyes out while watching this! It made me believe that the movie would be outstanding, or, at least, as emotional as that song. Anyway, I was looking forward to seeing it, and bought it for cheap somewhere.
AS USUAL I had to watch the movie a few times before I really started appreciating it, and now I can say that I love it, DESPITE the scathing reviews it received. But I do agree on a few points:
Unfortunately, the best part of the entire movie is the first forty minutes or so, and considering the movie is two-and-one-half hours long, that perhaps isn't saying much. But watching Bette perform in these scenes is enough to sustain you throughout the rest. Basically, you just wind up wishing the movie would "pick up," but you're stuck waiting for the other half of a one-two punch; it never REALLY comes.
The entire movie in itself IS emotional, cute, funny, tragic ... all the adjectives you'd expect. But all of these things working together don't add up to a perfect whole. And the ending is somewhat unsatisfying. It's the ending we were expecting, but ... it could have been executed a bit better. At times it seems as though it were a TV-movie. And everyone complains about the age makeup, but ... this was 1990; this was "For the Boys," not "Lord of the Rings."
All-in-all it's the songs and one-liners that are going to stay with you, and, again, Bette's performance in those first forty minutes. I guess I'm just biased, but ... I believe this movie DOES have an audience if you're open-minded, and can view this as a flawed masterpiece. If you've read any entertainment "news" from 1991, then you'd know that Bette's own production company brought "For the Boys" to fruition, and it was truly a love-letter to all her fans.
Maybe sometime before the 2000s are over she'll have one more big hit, and maybe she'll finally get an Oscar. I hope. :) |
| Rating | | | Date | January 08, 2005 | | Summary | Bette's most entertaining movie! | Content
| If you like to see Bette sing, act, dance, cry, and joke, then this is the movie that will fulfill all that! Unlike her first Oscar nominated The Rose's depressing A La Janis Joplin spin off story that was too heavy to digest, For The Boys has the ability to be a comedy, musical, and tearjearker at the same time. Bette got another Oscar nomination for the role of Dixie Leonard.
For The Boys takes you to journey in Dixie Leonard's memory lane across some 40 year span when she was being persuaded by a man from the awards organization to attend the gala event. At first, she refused to go knowing that Eddie Sparks(James Caan), her long time showbiz partner/lover would be there. Before she made up her mind wether to go or not, she started to tell the man about her career and life experiences.....
A lot of happy, funny, and even tragic events happen in her flashbacks. In the beginning, Eddie Sparks didn't like her, but Dixie stole the show when they were entertaining the troops, and they became partners to go overseas to do shows for the boys fighting in the Vietnam and Korean wars. Dixie's husband died in the war, and she was devastated. Graudually, she and Eddie got intimate with each other, despite the fact that he was married with kids. More than ten years later, Dixie witnessed her only son died in the Vietnam War. She blamed it on Eddie, and never spoke to him again.
The singing and dancing were dazzling, and there were many funny moments as well as moving moments, especially the scene when Dixie's son got killed by a bomb, and the scene when the aged Eddie gave his speech at the gala presentation. He was speechless when he talked about losing his boy(Dixie's son). That was a very moving point in this film, but it's not the actual ending. The reunion of Dixie and Eddie was the joyful and uplifting moment, because they forgave each other.
James Caan was very good, he exudes the sophistication of old Hollywood entertainers, and he's a great pairing with Bette.
This is my favorite Bette Midler movie of all time along with The Rose, and Beaches. |
| Rating | | | Date | November 29, 2004 | | Summary | I Love this movie | Content
| I think this movie is up there with Beaches. I just love it. The music, the acting, the story... all work wonderfully. |
| Rating | | | Date | November 02, 2004 | | Summary | bette you have outdone yourself! | Content
| This movie was so touching.Just to think about all those wars.but what killed me was when dixie's son dies.i cried all the way.but what a comedy team Bette Midler + James Cann.I loved tfhis movie!I hope you will to. |
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