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A Star Is Born

In one form or another (or another), the story of A Star Is Born has thrice been told on film, with a fourth production currently simmering in development hell. The original 1937 film (with a script credited to four writers, including director William Wellman and the legendary Dorothy Parker) starred Janet Gaynor as an aspiring actress and Fredric March as her mentor. The 1954 remake scripted by playwright Moss Hart added a musical angle in the casting—opposite James Mason—of Judy Garland as the rising-star actress who also sang a slew of tunes (mostly by Harold Arlen & Ira Gershwin). And so it was that the iconic Garland set a standard to be met by Barbra Streisand in a second remake, the 1976 A Star Is Born, directed by Oscar-winning screenwriter Frank Pierson.

The deeply troubled Streisand version was its own offscreen drama of artistic angst, star egos, high-stakes careerism, and stressful industry romance. Produced under the auspices of First Artists (patterned after United Artists as an opportunity for stars to retain creative control over their films), this A Star Is Born was a highly personal project for Barbra, who earned her executive producer credit with intense involvement in every part of the filmmaking process, from the assemblage of talent to the screenplay to the shooting and editing (heck, her wardrobe infamously is credited as coming "from... her closet"). The film's producer was Jon Peters, whose reputation rode on the film's success: derided as Streisand's former hairdresser/current lover, Peters needed to prove he had the right stuff to producer blockbuster movies. Clashes between the lovers themselves and between the lovers and Pierson—and, for that matter, between all of the above and, respectively co-star Kris Kristofferson and the top-flight musical artists hired to write songs—reportedly turned the production into a nightmare for all involved.

And yet it all contributes to the texture of a film that's in no small part about the mania of combining art and commerce in America. Kristofferson plays John Norman Howard, an arena rocker fronting the group called John Norman Howard Speedway. Variously described as "a rude, joyless, burned-out, spoiled pain in the ass" and as "getting to be a cosmic joke," Howard has entered into a spiral of ennui, self-doubt and substance abuse that threatens to end his career for good. But when he stumbles into a meeting with nightclub performer Esther Hoffman (Streisand), her artistry and life force humble him and give him a reason to care about life again. Her presence calms the beast within Howard, who sets about making Esther a star. In most respects, each cares more about the other than about his or her own stardom or "success," but the demands of career, inextricable from the path of their relationship, ironically threaten to pull them apart.

While in its romantic and romanticized particulars, this A Star Is Born can often seem silly, hoary, disjointed or meandering, the essence of the showbiz narrative still exerts a powerful pull, especially with the unfaked, indeed mesmerizing presence of actual music stars Streisand and Kristofferson. As in the previous versions of the story, the man's wounded pride plays some part (Howard faces the ignominy of being called "Mr. Hoffman"). In this case, the man's self-destructiveness recklessness manifests in need-for-speed daredevilry as well as sex, drugs (and alcohol), and rock and roll, while the woman allows the demands of career and the pursuit of her higher calling to art to get just enough in the way to allow tragic consequences to her relationship.

In some ways, though, no theme resonates more in this version of A Star Is Born—with its script credited to Pierson and the high-toned novelist couple of John Gregory Dunne and Joan Didion—than the circus atmosphere surrounding a superstar (a key sequence being an arena show turned bacchanalia, with audience frenzy fueling artist frenzy), the irrational neediness of the audience and the psychic toll on the individual-turned-celebrity. To hear Pierson tell it (which he injudiciously did in a tell-all magazine article timed to the film's release), such themes write large the neuroses of Streisand and Peters. Meanwhile, the picture also reflected reality with its giant-sized, star-fueled success, the film's hugely popular soundtrack featuring the Oscar-winning Original Song "Evergreen (Love Theme from A Star Is Born)" with lyrics by Paul Williams and music by Streisand herself.

Though a bit condescendingly framed as a sex symbol (he's constantly shirtless), Kristofferson demonstrates considerable acting chops to match the authenticity of his concert sequences: there's an almost Brando-esque realism to his shambling charm, and his willingness to be charmless or even terrifying as the occasion demands. In acting terms, Streisand gives a more conventional performance, but one defined by her inimitable star power: she's as luminous as everyone says Esther is, and her vocal performances are second to none (though almost as self-conscious as that of her co-star, Streisand's sexualization is less animal and more individualized: the wisecracker with the oft-remarked-upon cutie-patootie butt).

As aforementioned, Warner Brothers has kicked around the idea of another remake of A Star Is Born, to be directed by Clint Eastwood and originally to star Beyoncé Knowles (rumored male lead possibilities have included Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Cruise, Russell Crowe, Gerard Butler, Will Smith, Christian Bale, Johnny Depp and, most recently, Bradley Cooper). But any leading lady will need to be able to reach the high bar set by Judy and Barbra before her in terms of star wattage and musical talent, and good luck with that.