The tragic life of a self-destructive female rock star who struggles to deal with the constant pressures of her career and the demands of her ruthless business manager.
Director: Mark Rydell
Stars: Bette Midler, Alan Bates, Frederic Forrest.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079826/
Watched online, ok print.
Rated 5 on 2015-07-05, and I'll keep it. This is ugly stuff, and not worth watching again. Better to find some video of Joplin performing, and ignore the destructive lifestyle and self-loathing.
If she'd wanted to, BM could have made a career as a rock singer. She's very good at this Joplin-style of singing, although it might hurt her throat to do so much rough screaming. So a soundtrack album of this would be worth a listen.
There's too much violence here: heavy champagne bottles being hurled, faces being slapped, people out of control.
I wonder if there's a way to be a stadium rocker and have a level-headed life. The responsibility of playing such a large venue, and the energy coming back to the performer from the crowd, must be overwhelming. In this story, her manager is also adding pressure, holding her to commitments when she wants to take a rest.
Then a(nother) failed romance sets her off into her death spiral, overdosing and dying onstage. And he was no peach: they each contributed to the violence, but he had sense enough to leave. She should have had sense enough to let him go, but she repeated multiple times: "why does everybody leave?" I say: Because they can.
Fox, dir. Rydell; 5
