For the Boys

Rating:
Summary: A Movie You Don't See Everyday!
Review: For the Boys is a really good movie. This is one of my mom's favorites and I can always remember her watching it. I can also remember listening to the soundtrack. One time we got bored so my mom deciced we should watch a movie and we watched this one. The movie is about this women named Dixie Leonard and she is a singer. During WWII she goes to Europe to sing for the troops over there, with Eddie Sparks who is very famous. This movie is about there times performing together from WWII to Vietnam.This movie also has some really sad parts and this movie almost made me even cry!!! I highly recomend this movie and if you like the movie and the music I also recomend the soundtrack.

Rating:
Summary: Not for everybody, but truly fantastic!!!!
Review: 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.



Rating:
Summary: Why are there bad reviews?
Review: 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:
Summary: Thanks for the date and FOR THE BOYS
Review: I invited a date to the movies and when she picked FOR THE BOYS, I cringed a little. But I liked FOR THE BOYS a lot, as it turned out. Predictable, well, yeah, but it conveys the unavoidable intimacy of the long, albeit working, relationship of the characters portrayed by James Caan and Bette Midler. And in addition to the two lead actors, George Segal turns in a good performance. See FOR THE BOYS.

Rating:
Summary: One of the better Bette performances.
Review: I stumbled across "For the Boys" on HBO and watched it. I liked it so much, I later taped it. It has remained one of my favorite videos. You see alot of the old wise cracking, smart mouthed Bette as well as the new softer, more appealing Bette. It was an entertaining story of the fall and rise of a USO entertainer who loved the business but also loved her husband and son. Not only is it a "Chick-flick", it will also appeal to the guy who like war movies.

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

Rating:
Summary: Bette's most entertaining movie!
Review: 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:
Summary: DRAMA, SONG, LOVE, WAR AND OF COURSE BETTE
Review: 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!

Rating:
Summary: For this boy ...
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Great Musical
Review: 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!!