Funny Lady

Funny Lady is a 1975 American biographical musical comedy-drama film directed by Herbert Ross and starring Barbra Streisand, James Caan, Omar Sharif, Roddy McDowall and Ben Vereen.
A sequel to the 1968 film Funny Girl, it is a highly fictionalized account of the later life and career of comedian Fanny Brice and her marriage to songwriter and impresario Billy Rose. The screenplay was by Jay Presson Allen and Arnold Schulman, based on a story by Schulman. The primary score was by John Kander and Fred Ebb.
==Cast==
*Barbra Streisand as Fanny Brice
*James Caan as Billy Rose
*Omar Sharif as Nick Arnstein
*Roddy McDowall as Bobby Moore
*Ben Vereen as Bert Robbins
*Carole Wells as Norma Butler
*Larry Gates as Bernard Baruch
===Uncredited===
*Jack Angel as the voice of Radio Announcer
==Production==
Although she was contractually bound to make one more film for producer Ray Stark (Fanny Brice's one-time son-in-law), Streisand balked at doing the project. She told Stark "that it would take litigation to make her do a sequel." However, Streisand liked the script, which showed Fanny to be "...tougher, more acerbic, more mature...", and she agreed to do the film.Waldman, p.120-121Funny Lady history tcm.com, accessed March 4, 2009
The first actor to read for the role of Billy Rose was Robert Blake. Other actors were mentioned, including Al Pacino and Robert De Niro, but ultimately James Caan was chosen. Streisand explained: "It comes down to whom the audience wants me to kiss. Robert Blake, no. James Caan, yes."
Stark, unhappy with the scenes shot by the original cinematographer, Vilmos Zsigmond, lured an ailing James Wong Howe out of retirement to complete the film. It proved to be his final project, and it earned him an Academy Award nomination.Nickens and Swenson, pp.124-125
Studio heads forced Ross to trim the film to a manageable 136 minutes before its release. Much of Vereen's performance ended up on the cutting room floor, together with a recreation of Brice's Baby Snooks radio show and dramatic scenes involving her and her daughter.Nickens and Swenson, p. 129
In addition to Howe, Oscar nominations went to Ray Aghayan and Bob Mackie for Best Costume Design, John Kander and Fred Ebb for Best Original Song ("How Lucky Can You Get?"), Peter Matz for Best Scoring of an Original Song Score and/or Adaptation, and the sound crew. Streisand, Caan, and Vereen all received Golden Globe Award nominations, as did Kander and Ebb and the film itself, but it was shut out of any wins in both competitions.Internet Movie Database listing, "Funny Lady" awards imdb.com, accessed March 3, 2009
==Reception==
Funny Lady received mixed reviews from critics. It holds a rating of 31% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 13 reviews.Funny Lady. Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved August 6, 2021.
Vincent Canby of The New York Times wrote, "As long as Miss Streisand as Fanny is singing the blues, or singing anything else, 'Funny Lady' is superb entertainment, but the minute she stops the movie turns into a concrete soufflé. It's heavy and tasteless ... Moments meant to be dramatic are embarrassingly bad."Canby, Vincent (March 12, 1975). "Streisand as Fanny Brice (Continued)". The New York Times. 30. Roger Ebert gave the film 1 star out of 4 and called it "a big, messy flop of a movie that's almost cruel in the way it invites our memories of 'Funny Girl' and doesn't match them." Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune awarded 2.5 stars out of 4 and wrote, "It takes few chances and delivers mostly what you'd expect ... What was missing, for me at least, was a sense of surprise, of unpredictability—the sort of wit or pacing that separates a memorable musical like 'Cabaret' from the merely tuneful."Siskel, Gene (March 13, 1975). "Streisand's 'Funny Lady'". Chicago Tribune. Section 3, p. 6. Pauline Kael of The New Yorker wrote, "Streisand is in beautiful voice, and her singing is terrific—too terrific. It's no longer singing, it's something else—that strident overdramatization that turns a song into a big number. The audience's attention is directed away from the music and onto the star's feat in charging it with false energy. Streisand is out to knock you cold, and you get cold, all right." Kael also criticized the plot as "right out of those terrible forties movies in which couples who break up spend a lifetime thinking about each other, with encounters every five or ten years. And we get a double load of it here, with two graying ex-husbands."Kael, Pauline (March 17, 1975). "The Current Cinema". The New Yorker. 112, 114. Arthur D. Murphy of Variety wrote, "Barbra Streisand was outstanding as the younger Fanny Brice in 'Funny Girl,' and in 'Funny Lady' she's even better ... However much of a letdown the plot becomes, there's no denying the superior integration of drama, comedy, show music and personal dramatic music en route."Murphy, Arthur D. (March 5, 1975). "Film Reviews: Funny Lady". Variety. 20. Charles Champlin of the Los Angeles Times wrote, "Barbra Streisand, like the picture, extends the characterization she launched so dazzlingly in 'Funny Girl' ... What I find most impressive and likable about the performance is the softened, bittersweet maturity that Streisand lets us see in Fanny Brice. You sense that Streisand understands the star as well as she understood the impetuous young hopeful. An extraordinary presentation is the power and delight of both movies."Champlin, Charles (March 14, 1975). "A Funny Girl Grows Up". Los Angeles Times. Part IV, p. 1. Gary Arnold of The Washington Post called it a "lavish but uninspired" film that "seems to be celebrating stardom for stardom's sake. It's a joyless, mechanical Big Movie Musical."Arnold, Gary (March 12, 1975). "The Second Time Around, a Not-So-Funny 'Lady'". The Washington Post. B1.
James Caan thought there were "too many cooks messing around" the film, although he liked his performance.
===Box office===
The film opened Wednesday, March 12, 1975 and grossed $2,254,3851 in its first five days from 111 theatres to be number one at the US box office. It went on to gross $40,055,897 at the U.S. and Canadian box office, making it the seventh highest grossing picture of 1975.
==Awards==
The film was nominated for five Academy Awards:
* Academy Award for Cinematography
* Academy Award for Costume Design
* Academy Award for Music (Scoring: Original Song Score and Adaptation)
* Academy Award for Music (Original Song) "How Lucky Can You Get?"
* Academy Award for Sound (Richard Portman, Don MacDougall, Curly Thirlwell and Jack Solomon)
It was also nominated for six Golden Globe Awards:
*Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy 
*Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for Barbra Streisand
*Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for James Caan.
* Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score – Motion Picture
* Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song – Motion Picture for "How Lucky Can You Get?"
* Golden Globe Award for Best Acting Debut in a Motion Picture – Male for Ben Vereen
==Soundtrack==
The soundtrack peaked on the Billboard Album Chart at number 6 and was certified gold.Billboard barbra-archives.com A majority of the songs were written by Kander and Ebb."Tracks" barbra-archives.com
==See also==
* List of American films of 1975
==References==
===Bibliography===
*Nickens, Christopher and Swenson, Karen (2001). The Films of Barbra Streisand, Citadel Press, 
*Waldman, Allison J. (2001). The Barbra Streisand Scrapbook, Citadel Press, 
==External links==
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*Barbra Archives Page on Funny Lady film, including cut scenes 
*Barbra Archives: "Funny Lady" Soundtrack page 
Category:1975 films
Category:1975 musicals
Category:1970s musical films
Category:American films
Category:American musical films
Category:American biographical films
Category:American sequel films
Category:Columbia Pictures films
Category:English-language films
Category:Films about musical theatre
Category:Films directed by Herbert Ross
Category:Films set in New York City
Category:Films set in the 1930s
Category:Films set in the 1940s
Category:Musical films based on actual events