Post by dirtypillows on Sept 1, 2018 7:39:53 GMT
Almost the first thing I thought of when I saw this thread was the posters I've been seeing advertising Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper in the FOURTH version of "A Star is Born".
God help me if it's because I'm getting older and resist changing times, but the 1976 remake with Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson was obnoxious enough. (It really wasn't a very good movie (my opinion, obviously) and didn't need to be done, anyway - somehow I am thinking it was a vanity project for La Streisand.) I didn't see the 1937 version with Janet Gaynor and Frederic March, but that one got excellent reviews and I think almost always the first version is going to be the best version.
The reason why the 1954 is unique in that it is a remake that is generally considered the best and the definitive version of this story is really one reason only, and that reason is Judy Garland, whose performance here is considered the essential Judy Garland performance (along, obviously, with Dorothy). Well, that and the fact that because it starred Judy Garland, it almost had to have a musical spin, and some of the numbers in the '54 version are considered classics.
I know that the distance of time sometimes can often change perspective and I have nothing personally against Lady Gaga (though couldn't she have picked a better stage name for herself?), but I just cannot ever imagine her being in the same level of iconography or the same talent even as Miss Garland. And with Bradley Cooper vs. James Mason, it's no contest. James Mason was an exquisite actor and what a speaking voice!
Bradley Cooper I find to be boring.
God help me if it's because I'm getting older and resist changing times, but the 1976 remake with Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson was obnoxious enough. (It really wasn't a very good movie (my opinion, obviously) and didn't need to be done, anyway - somehow I am thinking it was a vanity project for La Streisand.) I didn't see the 1937 version with Janet Gaynor and Frederic March, but that one got excellent reviews and I think almost always the first version is going to be the best version.
The reason why the 1954 is unique in that it is a remake that is generally considered the best and the definitive version of this story is really one reason only, and that reason is Judy Garland, whose performance here is considered the essential Judy Garland performance (along, obviously, with Dorothy). Well, that and the fact that because it starred Judy Garland, it almost had to have a musical spin, and some of the numbers in the '54 version are considered classics.
I know that the distance of time sometimes can often change perspective and I have nothing personally against Lady Gaga (though couldn't she have picked a better stage name for herself?), but I just cannot ever imagine her being in the same level of iconography or the same talent even as Miss Garland. And with Bradley Cooper vs. James Mason, it's no contest. James Mason was an exquisite actor and what a speaking voice!
Bradley Cooper I find to be boring.
