# A Star Is Born (1976 film)

A Star Is Born is a 1976 American musical romantic drama film directed by Frank Pierson, written by Pierson, John Gregory Dunne, and Joan Didion. It stars Barbra Streisand as an unknown singer and Kris Kristofferson as an established rock and roll star. The two fall in love, only to find her career ascending while his goes into decline.
The film premiered at the Mann Village Theater on December 18, 1976, with a wide release by Warner Bros. the following day. A huge box office success, grossing $80 million on a $6 million budget in North America, the film became the 2nd highest-grossing that year. Reviews praised its performances and musical score, but criticized the screenplay and runtime. At the 49th Academy Awards, the film won Best Original Song for its love theme "Evergreen".
The film is a remake of the 1937 original with Janet Gaynor and Fredric March, notably adapted in 1954 as a musical starring Judy Garland and James Mason; and subsequently again in 2018 with Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper.

## Plot

John Norman Howard, a famous and self-destructive singer/songwriter rock star, arrives late for a concert. He is drunk, and leaves the stage after singing only a few songs. John's driver takes him to a bar where Esther Hoffman is singing. One of John's fans finds him there and starts a fight. Esther grabs John and helps him escape out a back door.
They go to Esther's and she invites him to come back for breakfast. Over breakfast (pepperoni pizza), she agrees to go to a concert with him. After arriving by helicopter, John rides a motorbike around the stage, snags a cable and crashes off the front of the stage. John is taken away by ambulance and his entourage leave in the helicopter, forgetting Esther.
Afterwards, John is resting at home by his pool. A radio DJ, Bebe Jesus, hovers over the pool in a helicopter and invites John to his studio. John gets angry and shoots at the helicopter. Bebe Jesus then threatens to never play John's songs. Later, John goes to the radio station with a case of whiskey to make peace with Bebe Jesus. The disc jockey does not accept John's apology and calls John an alcoholic over the air. Esther happens to be at the radio station at the same time, taping a commercial. John takes Esther to his mansion and writes her name on the wall with a can of spray paint. They make love, have a bubble bath together, and he listens to her playing his piano. She thinks no one would be able to sing to the tune she has written, but he makes up some lyrics and starts singing.
At his next concert, John gets Esther on stage to sing. Although the audience boos at first, she wins them over. Later, she tells John she wants them to get married. John replies that he is no good for her, but she persists, and they marry. John takes Esther to a ranch he has in the Southwest, where they build a simple house. She wants to go on tour together, but he thinks she should do the tour on her own. Esther's career takes off, eclipsing his.
John returns to the studio thinking of restarting his career. Bobbie, a member of his entourage, tells him that the band has gone on without him and have renamed themselves. To save face, John asks Bobbie to tell them that he has found some new artists to work with and wishes them luck.
At home alone, John begins to write a new song. As he sings, he is constantly interrupted by the telephone. Someone asks for Esther and wants to know whether he is her secretary. When Esther returns home, she wants to find out how it went with the band and John tells her it did not work out. He changes the subject to find out about Esther's day and goes through the messages he has taken for her, one of which is that she is up for a Grammy Award.
At the Grammy Awards, Esther wins for best female performance. While she is giving her acceptance speech, John arrives late and drunk and makes a scene. Later, Esther tries to talk Brian into giving John a last chance. John is writing songs again, but they are different from his earlier hits. Brian calls on John and likes the new songs, but suggests John release them alongside some of his old hits. John wants to pursue this new direction, so he turns down the offer.
Back at his Los Angeles mansion, John finds Quentin, an aspiring music journalist, swimming half-naked in his swimming pool. She follows him inside, saying she is willing to do anything to get an exclusive interview—with Esther. When Esther arrives soon after, she finds them in bed together. Quentin tries to interview Esther, but John tells Quentin to get out. Esther and John fight, him saying "I love you" and her responding "I hate you", until Esther confesses that she does love him. In an attempt to recapture their earlier happiness, they return to the ranch.
One day, John wakes early and tells Esther he is going to pick up Brian from the airport. Esther asks him to hurry back. John leaves the house with a beer in hand and drives off in his flashy red sports car. He puts on his biggest hit, but gets bored and switches to one of Esther's songs. He drives faster and faster on the winding country roads.
A police helicopter approaches John's wrecked car. It lands, and Esther and Brian run out towards John's dead body, which is covered by a blanket. Esther asks for another blanket and cleans his face. In tears, she lies down on John and asks him what she is supposed to do without him. John is taken away in an ambulance, as a police officer shoos off a few photographers.
Back at the LA mansion, Esther hears John's voice, but she discovers it is just the tape of his earlier songwriting session, which a mover cannot figure out how to stop. She cries on the step in the now empty house, saying that he was a liar and he was not supposed to leave her.
At a memorial concert for John, Esther walks onstage, introduced as Esther Hoffman-Howard, and the audience raises candles as a tribute to her late husband. She sings the song John wrote for her, "With One More Look at You", and then transitions into John's hit "Watch Closely Now", done in her own style. On the last beat of the song, Esther spreads her arms wide and looks up to the heavens.

## Cast

* Barbra Streisand as Esther Hoffman Howard
* Kris Kristofferson as John Norman Howard
* Paul Mazursky as Brian Wexler, John's manager
* Gary Busey as Bobbie Ritchie
* Oliver Clark as Gary Danziger, John's PR man
* Venetta Fields as a member of The Oreos
* Clydie King as a member of The Oreos
* Marta Heflin as Quentin, an aspiring music journalist
* M.G. Kelly as Bebe Jesus, a radio DJ
* Sally Kirkland as Photographer
* Joanne Linville as Freddie Lowenstein, John's agent
* Uncle Rudy as Mo, John's driver
* Rita Coolidge as herself
* Tony Orlando as himself
* Susan Richardson as the groupie in the limousine (uncredited)
* Robert Englund as Marty (uncredited)
* Maidie Norman as the justice of the peace (uncredited)
* Martin Erlichman as Manager (uncredited)

## Production

Directed by Frank Pierson, the film updates the original story and screenplay of William A. Wellman and Robert Carson with additional contributions by Pierson, John Gregory Dunne, and Joan Didion. Gary Busey and Sally Kirkland appear in the film in supporting roles. Singers Venetta Fields and Clydie King play Esther's backing vocalists, and Tony Orlando and Kristofferson's then-wife Rita Coolidge appear briefly as themselves as the presenters of Esther's Grammy.
The two previous A Star is Born films portrayed the behind-the-scenes world of Hollywood filmmaking. However, this version adapted the story to the music business. For example, while the 1937 and 1954 films each portrayed the lead female character winning an Academy Award, this version (and the later 2018 version) depicts the heroine winning a Grammy Award instead.
A Star Is Born was co-produced by Streisand and her then-partner Jon Peters for Barwood Films and Warner Brothers, with Peters credited as producer and Streisand as executive producer. They wanted Elvis Presley for the male lead, and met with Elvis to discuss the film. He was interested in taking the part, thinking it would revive his film career, but his manager, Colonel Tom Parker, insisted Elvis have top billing and asked for a substantial sum of money for the role, even though he had not had an acting role since 1969, and it was unknown what kind of box office draw he would be. This effectively ended Elvis's involvement with the project. Parker also did not want to have Elvis portrayed as having a show business career in decline, because this was far from the truth, with Elvis playing to packed auditoriums wherever he toured in the States. Among the other actors considered for the male lead were Neil Diamond and Marlon Brando. Diamond, who knew Streisand and had attended high school with her at Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn, had to decline due to his extensive concert commitments, and Kristofferson got the part of John Norman Howard.
Kristofferson denied modelling his character on Jim Morrison saying: "That's a good idea but it's not true. I don't think I ever met Morrison. A lot of people said we looked alike – shirts off, beards – but that washed-up rock star was more about me."
The film cost around $6 million to produce. Its soundtrack album was an international success, reaching number 1 in many countries and selling nearly 15 million copies worldwide. It featured the ballad "Evergreen (Love Theme from A Star Is Born)", which became one of the biggest hits of Streisand's career, spending three weeks at number one in the United States, and peaking at number three in the United Kingdom.
The filming locations included many in Arizona, such as downtown Tucson, Tucson Community Center, Sonoita, and Tempe, including Sun Devil Stadium. Streisand's wardrobe was selected from her own personal clothing—the film credit reads: "Miss Streisand's clothes from... her closet". The film was choreographed by David Winters, who worked closely with Streisand to perfect the movie's dancing sequences.

## Reception
### Box office

The film entered general release in the United States on December 19, 1976. It grossed $80 million at the U.S. box office, making it the 2nd highest grossing film of 1976.

### Critical reception
#### Contemporary reviews

Roger Ebert gave the film two and a half stars out of four, writing in his review: "There is, to begin with, no denying Barbra Streisand's enormous talent. At the end of A Star Is Born the camera stays on her for one unbroken shot of seven or eight minutes, and she sings her heart out, and we concede that she's one of the great stars of the movies, one of the elemental presences...I thought Miss Streisand was distractingly miscast in the role, and yet I forgave her everything when she sang."
Gene Siskel also gave the film two and a half stars, calling it "a lumbering love story made palatable by Streisand's superb singing."
Variety was positive, calling Streisand's performance "her finest screen work to date, while Kris Kristofferson's portrayal of her failing benefactor realizes all the promise first shown five years ago in Cisco Pike. Jon Peters' production is outstanding, and Frank Pierson's direction is brilliant."
Vincent Canby of The New York Times called the film "a transistorized remake, louder than ever, but very small in terms of its being about anything whatsoever." He also noted that Kristofferson "walks through the film looking very bored."
Charles Champlin of the Los Angeles Times wrote: "The treatment of Streisand is so ceaselessly close up and reverential from the start that there really seems nowhere to go but further up, and little of the mutuality of need that is essential to a love, or a love story...A half-hour in, I wrote 'a star is boring' in my notes, and was not later persuaded I'd been wrong."
Gary Arnold of The Washington Post suggested that the film "should be retitled 'A Star is Embalmed' or 'A Star is Entombed' or simply 'A Star is Lost'...One loses sight of the ostensible dramatic tragedy, because the real tragedy appears to be Streisand's misuse of her talent."
Geoff Brown of The Monthly Film Bulletin faulted the film for "Streisand's failure to convince as a rock star, even when singing the docile brand of rock supplied here. Luckily, Kris Kristofferson makes a far better impression. His eyes have the proper faraway look that betokens a mind besotted either with booze or love, and he drifts toward his destiny with none of James Mason's fireworks but with a great deal of quiet charm."
In the Mad issue #193, dated September 1977, the movie was parodied in the "Rock of Aged Department" section as "A Star's A Bomb."

#### 21st-century reviews

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 37% of 43 critics' reviews of the film are positive, with an average rating of 5.4/10; the site's "critics consensus" states: "A lack of memorable music, chemistry between its leads, and an overlong runtime prompts this modish iteration of A Star is Born to fizzle out quickly." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 58 out of 100 based on reviews from 8 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.

### Awards and nominations

| Award | Category | Nominee(s) | Result |
| Academy Awards | Best Cinematography | Robert Surtees | Nominated |
| Academy Awards | Best Original Song Score and Its Adaptation or Adaptation Score | Roger Kellaway | Nominated |
| Academy Awards | Best Original Song | "Evergreen (Love Theme from A Star Is Born)" Music by Barbra Streisand; Lyrics by Paul Williams | Won |
| Academy Awards | Best Sound | Robert Knudson, Dan Wallin, Robert Glass, and Tom Overton | Nominated |
| ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards | Most Performed Feature Film Standards | "Evergreen (Love Theme from A Star Is Born)" Music by Barbra Streisand; Lyrics by Paul Williams | Won |
| British Academy Film Awards | Anthony Asquith Award for Original Film Music | Paul Williams, Barbra Streisand, Kenny Ascher, Rupert Holmes, Leon Russell, Kenny Loggins, Alan Bergman, Marilyn Bergman, and Donna Weiss | Nominated |
| British Academy Film Awards | Best Soundtrack | Robert Glass, Robert Knudson, Marvin Kosberg, Tom Overton, Joseph Von Stroheim, and Dan Wallin | Nominated |
| Golden Globe Awards | Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy | Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy | Won |
| Golden Globe Awards | Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy | Kris Kristofferson | Won |
| Golden Globe Awards | Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy | Barbra Streisand | Won |
| Golden Globe Awards | Best Original Score – Motion Picture | Kenny Ascher and Paul Williams | Won |
| Golden Globe Awards | Best Original Song – Motion Picture | "Evergreen (Love Theme from A Star Is Born)" Music by Barbra Streisand; Lyrics by Paul Williams | Won |
| Grammy Awards | Record of the Year | "Evergreen (Love Theme from A Star Is Born)" Phil Ramone and Barbra Streisand | Nominated |
| Grammy Awards | Song of the Year | "Evergreen (Love Theme from A Star Is Born)" Barbra Streisand and Paul Williams | Won |
| Grammy Awards | Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female | "Evergreen (Love Theme from A Star Is Born)" – Barbra Streisand | Won |
| Grammy Awards | Best Original Score Written for a Motion Picture or a Television Special | A Star Is Born – Kenny Ascher, Alan Bergman, Marilyn Bergman, Rupert Holmes, Leon Russell, Barbra Streisand, Donna Weiss, Paul Williams, and Kenny Loggins | Nominated |
In the 1937 and 1954 versions of A Star is Born, the characters played by Janet Gaynor and Judy Garland were each depicted on screen winning an Academy Award. Both actresses were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for their work in their respective films, but neither won (though Gaynor had won previously, and Garland had won an Academy Juvenile Award). In this film, the character played by Barbra Streisand is instead depicted as winning a Grammy Award, and, in real life, the film's song "Evergreen" won her both a Grammy Award for Song of the Year and an Academy Award for Best Original Song.
The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:
* 2004: AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs:
** "Evergreen (Love Theme from A Star Is Born)" – #16

## Remakes

A Star Is Born was the second remake of the original 1937 drama, the prior being the 1954 musical starring Judy Garland and James Mason. Bradley Cooper later starred in , directed, co-wrote, and co-produced a 2018 retelling, with Lady Gaga co-starring and composing new music. The four official A Star is Born films were, collectively, nominated for 25 Academy Awards, at least four each. The story was also adapted as the 2013 Bollywood film Aashiqui 2.
In August 2021, while promoting her upcoming album, Streisand suggested that the 2018 film was unoriginal and the “wrong idea,” despite her version also being a remake and her clear and apparent support and praise of the project both during production and after its release.

## Home media

In 2006, the film was released on Region 1 DVD in North America in Dolby Digital 5.1 sound with various extras, including a full-length commentary by Streisand, 16 minutes of never-before-seen and additional footage, and footage of wardrobe tests. In 2007, a Region 2 DVD with the same extras was released in Germany. In 2008, a Region 4 DVD was released in Australia, the content of which appears to be the same as the Region 1 edition. The DVD has yet to be released in any other region.
Warner Bros. released the film worldwide on the Blu-ray format on February 6, 2013. The DVD and Blu-ray reissues were released as manufacture-on-demand titles on May 14, 2019, by Warner Archive Collection, which also reissued the 1954 adaptation on DVD and Blu-ray formats that day.

## Soundtrack

The film's soundtrack album was released by Columbia Records in 1976.