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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 13, 1977)
To what extent is self-indulgence entertaining? Barbra Streisand wants us to gaze upon ner, awestruck by her talent, in A Star is Bom This has been her goal for most of her career, but only recently has self -consciousness overwhelmed her ability. This kind of show-biz self con gratulation is not comfortable with modem trends toward low key un derplaying, however. A showboat ing performer like Streisand de mands her own world; she can’t slip easily into a pre-established By KRISTI TURNQUIST Of the Emerald one. This split accounts for the hybrid quality of the new rock re make of A Star is Born, produced by Streisand and her house-mate, Jon Peters. Inundated by the ad campaign and pre-release publicity, one could well expect the movie to be a huge, vulgar laughfest of unin tentional gaffes. Unfortunately, that's not the case. What we find instead is an externally over blown, internally piddling vanity production, dedicated to the grea ter glory of Barbra Streisand. Originally filmed in 1937 by Wil liam Wellman from a script by Dorothy Parker and Wellman, A Star is Born has been a venerable vehicle for some years. It was musically remade by George Cukor in 1954, with Judy Garland and James Mason, adapted by Moss Hart. The story was far from fresh then and is positively moldy by now. The new version moves from Hollywood to rock stardom, but fol lows the details of its predeces sors. Fading big-time star (Kris Kristofferson) meets promising young talent (Streisand), nurtures her career, marries her, is over shadowed by her, and finally kills himself to put them both out of their misery. Lotsa laughs? Hardfy. What has given this maudlin fable appeal through the years is the opportun ity it provides for actors. Such meaty roles! The 1954 version achieved near-mythic status by joining this story to Judy Garland s comeback; Garland blazed through the corn and triumphed, aided by James Mason's superb work as the star on the skids. Streisand’s attraction to this material is understandable. She has a flair for show-stopping finales and smiling-through heartbreak, as she showed way back in Funny Girl and in her splendid weeper. The Way We Were. This time out, though, she's overdrawn on her talents. One can t escape her flaws, as the en tire movie revolves around her From conception, to executive producer chores, to "musical con _c_rmm ■—i EMU Food Service | BEER GARDEN * I TODAY 4-6 p.m. ^ EMU PATIO y Free popcorn 7 Glass 35# Pitcher $1.50 Yj Entertainment By Peter, Blue & Friends emu Cultural forum presents Gil Scott-H&on and the fTlidnight Band UJith the Sonnq King Quartet featuring flkbar de Priest fridaci January 14 8p.m. emu BfliLROom Tickets: $4.00 U of O Students $5.50 General Public • • • • • Available: ffTlU fTlain Desk. & fvercjbodq'i Records cepts," it's HER SHOW She irritates from the start. In troduced singing in a nightclub with two black girls, she is dread fully coy, yet takes center stage as if by divine right. Kristofferson spots her, and smitten by her voice and saucy personality (yawn), follows her home Streisand's figurative winking at the audience through all this is unbearable. Every wisecrack, every expression is gauged for ef fect. Whatever happened to spon taneity? When he manages to wrest the camera away from Streisand's manic grasp, Kristofferson does surprisingly well as the doped-up alcoholic, burned-out star He’s believably self-destructive and confused, a raspy-voiced, erratic has-been Old-timer Robert Surtees sweats a little to be hip, but his photography is always adequate. Director-screenwriter Frank Pier son (he wrote Dog Day Afternoon) apparently had some ideas about how to treat rock stardom, but blows them all in the first 15 mi nutes, after which he dozes Reinforcing the idiocy of doing this in rock milieu is Paul Williams score. Williams belongs in Bugsy Malone, not in rock, and it takes more than twangy electric guitars to hide this fact. Pierson and Streisand re-do the famous Academy Awards scene, where drunk husband humiliates himself and loyal wife, and place it at the Grammies The Gram mies?! Oh yeah, these people know rock. Streisand doesn t flinch from comparisons with show biz greats She took on Fanny Brice in Funny Girl and Funny Lady, and here she challenges Judy Gar land. If only she wouldn t force comparisons with herself Her live-recorded finale here is lifted from Funny Girl, as are so many plot elements. Judging from accounts of the filming, Streisand is a tempermen tal perfectionist, convinced of what is and isn’t right for her The sad thing about this sorry enter prise is that her confidence in her self is so misplaced Instead of rousing us, she distances us. Streisand is a remarkably talented woman possessed of admirable drive How disappointing to find when left to her own devices, she comes up with A Star is Bom Eagles, Joe Walsh make nice blend Joe Walsh has a new back-up band. They're called the Eagles. Walsh adds another electric guitar punch to their sound, and fits his unique vocal style into their celebrated high harmonies, but he doesn't substantially change their sound. This is unfortunate for this new Eagles release, Hotel California, could just as easily been called One of These Nights Vol II. That they have not changed their music much since their last album is not unusual, it could merely mean that with their fifth album they are settling into a mus ical territory they call their own This is unusual, but not unex pected The Eagles have lost much of their country roots with the depar ture of Bernie Leadon, guitarist and writer, and a key figure in the cohesive management of the group in their early days The Eagles 'made it" with a stnng of country flavored hit singles from their first album, "Take it Easy, "Witchy Woman,1' and "Peaceful Easy Feeling,' and thus became, for better or for worse, a country rock band Bassist Randy Meisner wrote some of the country mater ial for the band, "Midnight Flyer' was one, but it was Berme Leadon, ex-Flying Burrito Brother, who contnbuted the lion's share of country influence. Leadon lost his touch after Desperado and the songwriting team of Glenn Frey/Don Henley took up the slack "My Man, Leadon s touching tribute to the late Gram Parsons, went un noticed on On the Border when "Best of My Love hit the air waves On One of These Nights Leadon was reduced to Singing harmony and one unusual instru mental, "Journey of the Sorcerer ' And then he was gone The Eagles are left with Meisner to hold up the country end of their sound, although guitarist Don Felder emerges here with one dis tinctly country tune Whatever in fluence Joe Walsh brings it most certainly is not country western! Now Hotel California is really a very good album; the instrumenta tion is solid with all of the right flourishes; the songwriting, domi nated by Henley/Frey, is as strong as ever; and the harmonies are, of course, flawless, but everything is just the same Everything moves, but nothing is alive, as one writer once put it So far as talent goes, Walsh is just the man to fill the empty guitar spot with the Eagles Don Felder accompanied Walsh on his last solo tour and the resulting live album contains some very fine duels that snap, crackle and pop1 Walsh returns the favor here with some of the movmgest music he has ever made His performances on "Life In The Fast Lane, and Victim of Love," are dazzling ex hibits of guitar pyrotechnics The title track of this album, sounding eerily like One of These Nights, is one of the best songs to be released by the Eagles in quite some time. Hotel California has some surrealistic-mystic over tones in the lyrics, something that has survived with the Eagles since their first album "Her mind is Tiffany-twisted She got the Mercedes bends She got a lot of pretty, pretty boys That she calls friends So, the Eagles, with Joe Walsh, chalk up another one With a built in hit single, "New Kid In Town," his album will get right up there with "Best of My Love,” solid gold and the Eagles will finally have found their place in the musical ladder: Eagles Territory. When you have almost made up your mind on the state of Eagles art, listen to "The Last Re sort." There is something in the way Don Henley sings "We satisfy our endless needs And justify our blood deeds In the name of Destiny And in the name of God."
