Customer Reviews

For the Boys [VHS]

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

To tell you the truth, I love this movie. Bette Midler can act in anything-comedy or drama-anything! But I like her most in drama. This movie was Bette Midler's second Academy Award nomination. Directed by the same man who directed the movie The Rose (also with Bette Midler-her first Academy Award nomination).
I find this movie to be delightful, funny, heartbreaking, and VERY well acted!
Bette Midler sings in this movie, and it only adds to the superior quality of the film. The acting, the story, the music is worth watching over and over again. Like I said, I love this movie, and I recommend it to one and all!

The only reason Miss Midler didn't win that year, (Jodie Foster won for Silence of the Lambs) was because 'For the Boys' was a box-office dud. I wish back then the marketing executives at 20th Century Fox would've sold this movie a little better. First of all the soundtrack had two possible mega hits, 'In My Life' the Beatles' tune in which Bette's renditon turned into an emotionally packed moment in the movie. I get a lump in the throat every time I see it. The other tune, 'Every road leads Back to you', like 'Wind beneath my wings' is a wonderful song reflecting on a bumpy and long, yet close and loving friendship. These songs should've been airing over the radio way before the movie was released. Secondly, 'For the boys' was pitted against 'Beauty and the Beast' and 'Addams Family' when it was released. It's no wonder this movie got shoved aside. As for the movie itself, it's evident that Miss Midler poured her soul and guts into the whole project. Yes, the movie does try to cover a lot of war-history in 2 1/2 hours, but Bette as Dixie and her love-hate relationship with Caan as Eddie do have an appealing quality despite all their tumultuus bickering behind the scenes of entertaining the boys. Critics complained about how awful the aging makeup looked on Midler and Caan. Well my argumnent to them is, when you see an elderly performers win a lifetime acheivement award on TV, aren't they supposed to look somewhat gray and wrinkled...Or do all aged show biz icons have to look like Joan Collins and Dick Clark? Nevertheless, the scene of Dixies's first time singing with the troops in 1942 is the reason why people love to see Bette....I just wish more people would have done so when this was released in 1991. TL

This movie is great the way it sneaks up at you and touches your heart. It makes you feel wonderful and sad all at the same time, and makes you evaluate your life

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.

Musicals by the early 90s were extremely rare but this reminds one of the days when musicals were both popular and fun as Bette Midler and James Caan play two USO singers who go all the way from World War II to the Vietnam War entertaining and wowing the army boys. Along the way is the drama that they both experience as they try to court one another while James is still married. For Bette, this should have been another hit as it had a great song off the soundtrack which could have worked as a hit single EVERY ROAD LEADS BACK To YOU as well as a great performance. In fact Bette does a better job here than in BEACHES as she has to carry more of the film on her shoulders. Her sparky, brassy, witty attitude and humor are evidenced here and she and James have impecable chemistry which allows the movie to work. It also is intersting seeing them age from middle age 40-year olds to some 90 year olds receiving awards. A great movie reminding one of the old days of musicals as well as one that tugs at the heartstrings!!

I think this movie is up there with Beaches. I just love it. The music, the acting, the story... all work wonderfully.

For the Boys is truly an underrated gem. Spanning a period of 50 years and three different wars, the film tells the story of Dixie Leonard (the Divine Mrs. M), a singer who is plucked from semi-obscurity at the outset of World War II and given her big break: A USO tour of Europe with Eddie Sparks (James Caan), a song-and-dance man who's a famous star. Their first time on the stage together, Dixie steals the show, Eddie tries to fire her, and they're off and running. Through thick and thin - North Africa, the Korean war, television, McCarthyism, Vietnam - they fight and make up while the world applauds, and finally there's a climax on a live TV awards show, where Dixie and Eddie are seeing each other for the first time in years.

Bette Midler is truly fantastic in her role as Dixie. The first USO musical number is a great success, with Bette trading risque repartee with Caan and then belting out a loud number and a ballad. She has a beautiful voice, powerful and bursting with emotion. This part was written for Bette, no one else could have played Dixie quite like her. She was once again robbed at the Oscars that year, losing to non other than Jodie Foster for the terribly overrated Silence of the Lambs. Midler's performance was much more dramatic and real, and she deserved that statuette.

I am not a big fan of James Caan, but he was good in the film. He had a certain chemistry with Midler that made his character believable. Sparks isn't a particularly likeable soul, but Caan brings a certain charm to a role that's tailor-made for his talents. He's right at home with Eddie's emotional isolation and single-minded ambition, bringing to mind a used-car salesman who discovers that the marks are actually buying his manufactured sincerity. The script has no intention of guiding him down the road to redemption, but the occasional showdowns with his conscience add a human touch that allows us to tolerate (if not entirely enjoy) his company for the duration.

The film is full of cliches, yes, but seriously, what movie isn't. And are we really expected to believe these guys are so famous that 50 million people are going to tune in to their awards ceremony? Probably not, and yet, despite it all, there are moments when you might find yourself moved beyond reasonable expectation. The first 40 minutes are terrific, and while the rest of the film never quite manages to hold onto that unbdeniable magic, it remains an entertaining and touching experience.

Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, the singing and dancing occupy a surprisingly brief portion of the 140 minute running time. There is a lot of story to tell and not much time to tell it. Encapsulating an entire life in a couple of hours is always a dicey proposition, but our innate awareness that the years are slipping by makes us naturally receptive to a film that follows its characters from the comparative optimism of early middle age to the long nights at the end of the line. The transitions are sweeping (fifteen years here, twenty-five there), sacrificing a coherent whole for a series of snapshots, but there's enough here to provide us with an investment in the outcome. Every misstep is matched by a finely tuned observation on the human condition and it works its way to a manipulative but undeniably emotional climax that could conceivably end in tears.

This is one of the most entertaining movies of all time. If you like period movies or a movie that is set place during war time this movie is it, you get them all.

So, is this movie really about Bob Hope and Martha Raye? Or is it Betty Hutton? Judy Canova? We may never know. But Bette Middler and James Caan are so wonderful that almost every moment of this film is a delight. Buy the DVD and watch "Stuff Like That There" over and over again!

IT MAY NOT HAVE GOTTEN THE GREATEST REVIEWS AT THE BOX OFFICE BUT WHO REALLY EVER LISTENS TO A CRITIC! YOU'VE GOTTA SEE IT. IF YOU DON'T GET ANYTHING ELSE OUT OF IT AT LEAST YOU'LL GET TO HEAR BETTE SING AND SEE HER SMILE. THE MUSICS GREAT AS IS SHE! THANKS BETTE!