1968 American Feature
Cast: Barbra Streisand, Omar Sharif, Kay Medford, Anne Francis, Walter Pidgeon, Lee Allen, Mae Questel, Gerald Mohr and Frank Faylen
Director: William Wyler
Writer: Isobel Lennart, based on her book for the stage musical
Songs: Jule Styne and Bob Merrill
Synopsis:
The life of comedienne Fanny Brice, an unconventional beauty who grew up in the Jewish slums of New York City dreaming of stardom and became a legendary Broadway star in the Ziegfeld Follies.
Links:
- Internet Movie Database page
- Wikipedia page
- Box Office Mojo total domestic gross: $52,223,306
Ratings:
- Internet Movie Database: 7.2/10
- Rotten Tomatoes - Critics: 92% / Audience: 81%
- Metacritic - Critics: 89% / Audience: 7.4%
- OMG rating: 7/10
Buy/Rent:
Trailer:
Awards:
- Academy Award for Best Actress (Streisand); also nominated for Best Picture, Director, Supporting Actress (Medford), Cinematography, Score of a Musical Picture - Original or Adaptation, Original Song ("Funny Girl"), Film Editing and Sound.
- BAFTA Award nominations for Best Actress (Streisand), Cinematography and Costume Design.
- David di Donatello Award Best Foreign Actress (Streisand).
- Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures.
- Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Musical/Comedy (Streisand); also nominated for Best Motion Picture - Musical/Comedy, Director and Original Song ("Funny Girl").
- Writers Guild of America Award for Best Written American Musical.
Notes/Trivia:
- Funny Girl made its Broadway debut in 1964. It was nominated for eight Tony Awards, including Best Musical. Barbra Streisand and Kay Medford, who were both nominated for Tony Awards, reprised their stage roles in the film.
- Ray Stark, the producer of both the stage and film versions of Funny Girl, was the son-in-law of Fanny Brice.
- Film debut of Barbra Streisand, who tied with Katharine Hepburn (for The Lion in Winter) for the Best Actress Academy Award. When the Oscar statuette was handed to Streisand, her first words were "Hello, gorgeous."
- The highest grossing film of 1968.
- William Wyler was later asked if Barbra Streisand had been hard to work with. He replied, "No, not too hard, considering it was the first movie she ever directed."
- In 1975, Barbra Streisand reprised her role as Fanny Brice (opposite James Caan as Brice's second husband, impresario Billy Rose) in the sequelFunny Lady.
- In 2002, Funny Girl was ranked #41 on the American Film Institute's "100 Years, 100 Passions" list.
- In 2004, "People" was ranked #13 and "Don't Rain on My Parade" was ranked #46 on the American Film Institute's "100 Years, 100 Songs" list.
- In 2005, "Hello, gorgeous" was ranked #81 on the American Film Institute's "100 Years, 100 Movie Quotes" list.
- In 2006, Funny Girl was ranked #16 on the American Film Institute's "Greatest Movie Musicals" list.
Related Movies:
- Spoofed in Mrs. Doubtfire.
Related OMG Posts:
OMG Movie #306
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