Highly Overrated But Still Good

Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

The first thing I had to do when I hit the IMDb board for this picture was to check the Award nominations for Bette Midler. Sally Field was pretty good in "Norma Rae" that year, but man, Midler's performance here was out and out classic. The comparisons to the life and times of Janis Joplin are pretty obvious if you lived through the era, and my preference would have been for an outright telling of the Joplin story as she remains to this day my favorite female vocalist. Even so, Midler evokes the spirit of Joplin in her tortured portrayal, a woman desperately looking for love but never quite finding it or coming to terms with the limitations of a life on the road that legislates against it. Instead she turns to alcohol, drugs and the next fling hoping that somewhere in all the turmoil a miracle blossoms from the maelstrom. Interestingly, no Joplin songs are part of the film, though a number of them parallel the kinds of songs that Bette Midler performed with heart wrenching emotion. The closest was 'Stay With Me, Baby', reminiscent of Joplin ballads like 'Maybe', 'Little Girl Blue', 'Cry Baby' and 'A Woman Left Lonely'. Oddly, this is the only movie in which I've seem Midler perform, as her real life persona has a tendency to rub me the wrong way whenever I've seen her on a late night talk show or in a similar venue. But here she WAS 'The Rose', and she was absolutely stunning.

The similarities to Janis Joplin are obvious in Bette Midler's performance as Rose, a rock star climbing up and falling just as quickly with an over-indulgence of drugs and alcohol, fame and folly, regret and romance. She had been around for over a decade with live performance, and in her first major motion picture, moved into the second phase of her career with power and passion, becoming a legend, and deserving super-stardom of the highest order.She's a likable character, getting involved with the handsome Fredric Forrest but dooming that relationship thanks to her crazy lifestyle and a few secrets out of her past. Her tough agent (Alan Bates) tries to keep her in line, but can't even stop the independent Rose from swearing at a concert. When Bette encounters a group of drag queens in a nightclub (even one who looks like herself), she is in heaven, both as Rose and Bette, bringing a lot of herself and live interaction in performing with them. Look briefly for Doris Roberts in a silent cameo as Rose's mother.Then, in live performances, Bette shows she is as adept as performing hard rock as she is with the standards which she has influxed her career with. By the time she breaks into the title song over the credits, you have probably missed the names of the people involved because your eyes were too blurry from crying. Bette went back to live performance for a short time after this but within a few years, would be back on top when she signed with Touchstone. But it all started with "The Rose", and she proves that both as a comic and dramatic actress (who sings!) that she is one tough act to follow.

First of all, everyone who saw this movie in 1979 (as I did) knew it was supposed to be about Janis Joplin. There was otherwise no point to the movie. A lot of the details were different, but The Rose's life was the same kind of train wreck as Janis Joplin's life. The Rose is a character that is impossible to admire. She had it all and blew it. She was stupid. An idiot. She took her somewhat marginal talents -- used them and abused them -- made lots of money and instead of living the good life descended into a hell of personal despair. I don't feel sorry for people like that. As for the singing, one can take only so much of Miss Middler's caterwauling; enough is enough. Her occasional appearances on TV were more than enough. Over 2 hours of her pseudo-Ethel-Mermanesque screeching is more than any human should endure. Most of the other characters in this film are unlikeable and despicable as well. There are no positive role models. Nothing but tragedy, bad sex, bad drugs and alcohol. This isn't entertainment. It's overwrought theatrical angst!It's typical overindulgence on the part of Hollywood -- in which the lives of movie stars and rock stars are made to seem soooo tragic. I feel so sorry for these spoiled and over-rich babies. Not!

This is a most exciting, gripping and fabulous film. Bette Midler's electrifying performance was worthy of best actress. The Janis Joplin type performance is stunning - her heart and soul is in her voice which pulsates and vibrates into your very being and sends shock waves of electricity tingling coolly down the back of your spine touching your very soul. This is a gut-wrenching experience that teaches nothing but makes you experience everything.I love this film, the music and the voice and performance of Bette Midler. What a thrill it is to see an artist like Bette Midler perform to such an extreme and lofty level. What a dazzling radiant star that burned so brightly for so short a time and then was so suddenly and prematurely snuffed out. But when an artist gives so much of herself in every song she sings, it is no wonder that her life was slowly drained and eventually terminated by the fans who loved her.I was working with The Canadian Film Institute in 1980, one year after the release of this film, and we put on a festival in Ottawa at the National Film Archives Theatre in July. We started out with "The Rose" at 8pm and then concluded with Crawley Films Academy Award winning Documentary film "Janis" at 11pm. It was just like a live Rock Concert. The crowd was in a frenzy. The only thing missing was Jimi Hendrix! Love this one. Real entertainment and excitement!I should note that the director, Mark Rydell, does an overview commentary on the DVD version of this film and it is like taking a university level cinematic studies course. He makes interesting and relevant comments on every scene in the film and it is well worth listening to. Highly informative and fascinating!