The Rose | |
---|---|
Directed by | Mark Rydell |
Screenplay by | Bo Goldman Bill Kerby Michael Cimino (uncredited) |
Story by | Bill Kerby |
Produced by | Aaron Russo Marvin Worth Anthony Ray |
Starring | Bette Midler Alan Bates Frederic Forrest |
Cinematography | Vilmos Zsigmond |
Edited by | Carroll Timothy O'Meara Robert L. Wolfe |
Music by | Paul A. Rothchild (Mendelssohn – Piano concerto no 1, 2nd movement, the Rose) |
Distributed by | 20th Century-Fox |
Release date |
|
Running time | 134 minutes [2] |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $9.3 million [3] [4] |
Box office | $29.2 million (US/Canada) [5] |
The Rose is a 1979 American musical drama film directed by Mark Rydell, and starring Bette Midler, Alan Bates, Frederic Forrest, Harry Dean Stanton, Barry Primus, and David Keith. Loosely based on the life of Janis Joplin, the film follows a self-destructive rock star in the late 1960s, who struggles to cope with the pressures of her career and the demands of her ruthless business manager.
Originally titled Pearl (Janis Joplin's nickname and the title of her last album), the film's screenplay was revised and fictionalized after the Joplin family declined to allow producers the rights to her story. [6]
The Rose was nominated for four Academy Awards at the 52nd Academy Awards (1980), including Best Actress in a Leading Role (Bette Midler, in her screen debut), Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Frederic Forrest), Best Film Editing and Best Sound. [7] Midler performed the soundtrack album for the film, and its title track became one of her biggest hit singles.
In late 1969, Mary Rose Foster is a famous rock and roll diva known as "The Rose." In spite of her success, her personal life is lonely and exhausting. She is exploited and overworked by her gruff, greedy manager and promoter Rudge Campbell. Though forthright and brassy, Rose is an insecure alcoholic and former drug user who seems to crave approval in her life. As such, she is determined to return to her Florida hometown, now as a superstar, and perform for the people from her past.
Following a performance in Texas, Rose meets with country music star Billy Ray, whom she idolizes and whose songs she often covers in live shows. Billy Ray cruelly demands that she never perform his music again and rudely dismisses her. After discovering that Rudge arranged the meeting because he wants to sign Billy Ray to his label, Rose defiantly flees with a limousine driver named Huston Dyer. The two take a cross-country trip to New York City, where Rose is scheduled to complete recording sessions. They begin a whirlwind romance.
Rudge assumes that Huston is just another hanger-on, but Rose feels she has finally met her true love. Huston eventually admits to her that he is actually an AWOL sergeant from the Army, and she tells him of her past in Florida. The couple's relationship grows turbulent amidst Rose's reckless lifestyle and constant touring. In Memphis, Rose is met by Sarah, a former lover of hers. When Huston walks in on the two women kissing, he and Rose get into a violent fight, after which Huston flees.
Determined to reunite with Huston, Rose searches for him in a red light district of Memphis with PFC Mal, a military member whom she met in Texas. She subsequently appoints Mal as her security escort, and the two travel to Rose's hometown Jacksonville, where Rudge has booked her a hometown reunion show. Upon arriving, Rose shows Mal her childhood home, her high school and other local landmarks from her childhood. Arriving at the stadium for afternoon rehearsals, Rose repeats her intention to take a one-year break from performing, leading Rudge to tell her she will be in breach of contract. Rudge proceeds to fire her, though unbeknownst to Rose, this is only a ploy to ensure that she performs the show. A distraught Rose is met by Huston, who has traveled to Jacksonville to reunite with her.
Believing her concert is cancelled, Rose decides to run away and start a new life with Huston. That night, she takes Huston on a tour of local bars and clubs she used to frequent prior to becoming famous, recklessly drinking and indulging in barbiturates and heroin. At one bar, Huston becomes jealous when a male patron harasses Rose as she performs, and he begins a fight. After, Rudge reaches Rose on her car phone and convinces her to return for the concert. She acquiesces, and her decision to appease Rudge causes Huston to give up on the relationship and leave town. Later that night, after performing the opening song of her long-awaited homecoming concert, Rose collapses onstage and dies of an overdose.
The movie ends with a closing scene of Rose's parents and Mal at a garage, following a member of the press who is following Rose's tragic death. After taking pictures from Rose as a kid, and some clips she gathered from Billy Ray, Mal turns the lights off as they leave and the garage, along with Rose's memories and photographs, goes dark.
The film was originally offered to Ken Russell, who chose instead to direct Valentino . Russell has described this decision as the biggest mistake of his career. [8] At one point, Michael Cimino was also slated to direct, but he chose to direct Heaven's Gate instead. Cimino did, however, make uncredited contributions to the script. [9]
Suzy Williams was originally offered the title role, but turned it down for personal reasons, instead suggesting it to Bette Midler. [10]
The Rose was completed in time for a scheduled release in April 1979; however, 20th Century-Fox elected to postpone release til autumn 1979:(Mark Rydell quote:)"[at] Easter time...the public seems to like frothy films." [11]
The Rose received a mixed to positive critical reception. The film has a 74% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 23 reviews. [12] Among the positive reviews were Siskel & Ebert, who on their program Sneak Previews , both gave the film a collective "Yes". [13]
The film opened in New York City on Wednesday, November 7, 1979 and grossed $793,063 in its opening weekend from 44 screens, the second highest-grossing opening weekend on under 50 screens behind Star Wars (1977). [14] The film went on to gross $29.2 million in the United States and Canada. [5]
The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:
The Criterion Collection released the film on Blu-ray and DVD on May 19, 2015. [16]
Janis Lyn Joplin was an American singer and songwriter. One of the most iconic and successful rock performers of her era, she was noted for her powerful mezzo-soprano vocals, as well as her "electric" stage presence.
The Deer Hunter is a 1978 American epic war drama film co-written and directed by Michael Cimino about a trio of Slavic-American steelworkers whose lives are upended after fighting in the Vietnam War. The three soldiers are played by Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, and John Savage, with John Cazale, Meryl Streep, and George Dzundza in supporting roles. The story takes place in Clairton, Pennsylvania, a working-class town on the Monongahela River south of Pittsburgh, and in Vietnam.
Moonstruck is a 1987 American romantic comedy film directed by Norman Jewison and written by John Patrick Shanley. It stars Cher as a widowed Italian American woman who falls in love with her fiancé's hot-tempered, estranged younger brother, played by Nicolas Cage. The supporting cast includes Danny Aiello, Olympia Dukakis and Vincent Gardenia.
Bette Midler is an American actress, comedian, singer, and author. Throughout her five-decade career Midler has received numerous accolades, including four Golden Globe Awards, three Grammy Awards, three Primetime Emmy Awards, two Tony Awards, and a Kennedy Center Honor, in addition to nominations for two Academy Awards and a British Academy Film Award.
Aaron Russo was an American entertainment businessman, film producer, director, and political activist. He was best known for producing movies including Trading Places, Wise Guys, and The Rose. Later in life, he created various libertarian-leaning political documentaries including Mad as Hell and America: Freedom to Fascism.
For the Boys is a 1991 American musical comedy-drama film that traces the life of Dixie Leonard, a 1940s actress/singer who teams up with Eddie Sparks, a famous performer, to entertain American troops.
Elsie Janis was an American actress of stage and screen, singer, songwriter, screenwriter and radio announcer. Entertaining the troops during World War I immortalized her as "the sweetheart of the AEF".
Frederic Fenimore Forrest Jr. was an American actor. A figure of the New Hollywood movement, Forrest was best known for his collaborations with director Francis Ford Coppola, playing prominent roles in The Conversation (1974), Apocalypse Now (1979), One from the Heart (1982), and Tucker: The Man and His Dream (1988). He was nominated for an Academy Award and Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Huston Dyer in the musical drama The Rose (1979).
Outrageous Fortune is a 1987 American comedy film written by Leslie Dixon, directed by Arthur Hiller and starring Shelley Long and Bette Midler. The title is taken from Shakespeare's Hamlet. It is the tenth film of Touchstone Pictures.
Hocus Pocus is a 1993 American fantasy comedy film directed by Kenny Ortega from a screenplay by Mick Garris and Neil Cuthbert, and a story by David Kirschner and Garris. It follows a villainous comedic trio of witches who are inadvertently resurrected by a teenage boy in Salem, Massachusetts on Halloween night.
"The Rose" is a pop song written by Amanda McBroom. Bette Midler made the song famous when she recorded it for her 1979 film The Rose, in which it plays during the closing credits. It has been recorded multiple times, including by Conway Twitty and Westlife who had US Country & Western and UK number one hits with the song, respectively. Nana Mouskouri recorded a German version, also in 1980, as well as an English version.
Big Business is a 1988 American comedy film starring Bette Midler and Lily Tomlin, each playing two roles, as sets of identical twins mismatched at birth. The nature versus nurture farce adapts The Comedy of Errors, but with female siblings in contemporary society: one of each twin being reared in a wealthy urban setting, while the others grew up in a poor rural environment.
The Rose is the soundtrack to the feature film of the same name starring Bette Midler, released in 1979.
No Frills is the sixth studio album by American singer Bette Midler, released on Atlantic Records in 1983. No Frills was Midler's first studio album in four years, following the films The Rose, Divine Madness! and Jinxed!. The rock and new wave-influenced album was produced by Chuck Plotkin, best known for his work with Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen, and included three single releases; the ballad "All I Need to Know", a cover of Marshall Crenshaw's "You're My Favorite Waste of Time" and Midler's take on the Rolling Stones song "Beast of Burden".
The 45th New York Film Critics Circle Awards honored the best filmmaking of 1979. The winners were announced on 19 December 1979 and the awards were given on 1 February 1980.
In This Our Life is a 1942 American drama film, the second to be directed by John Huston. The screenplay by Howard Koch is based on the 1941 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same title by Ellen Glasgow. The cast included the established stars Bette Davis and Olivia de Havilland as sisters and rivals in romance and life. Raoul Walsh also worked as director, taking over when Huston was called away for a war assignment after the United States entered World War II, but he was uncredited. This film was the third of six films that de Havilland and Davis starred in together.
Misery is a 1990 American psychological horror thriller film directed by Rob Reiner from a script by William Goldman, based on Stephen King's 1987 novel of the same name, The plot centers around an author who is held captive by an obsessive fan who forces him to rewrite the finale to his novel series. Richard Farnsworth, Frances Sternhagen, and Lauren Bacall also star.
Jordan "Jerry" Ragovoy was an American songwriter and record producer.
Bill Kerby was a screenwriter for several Hollywood films and television series who wrote and co-wrote the 1970s films Hooper and The Rose.
Susan Dimiti "Suzy" Williams is an American singer-songwriter. She became well known through the musical duo Stormin’ Norman & Suzy. Williams has performed at venues ranging from Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center to the Hotel Palmas in the Canary Islands, and on network television and film. She has been reviewed in publications including Rolling Stone, The New York Times, Cosmopolitan, and Los Angeles Magazine. Her singing was referred to in Rolling Stone as a "mixture of Bessie Smith, Sophie Tucker, and perhaps a trace of Janis Joplin".