For the Boys **** (1991, Bette Midler, James Caan, George Segal) – Classic Movie Review 9681

Director Mark Rydell’s 1991 For the Boys is a lavish, old-fashioned musical drama vehicle for Bette Midler as Dixie Leonard, an American showgirl with a heart of gold and a will of iron, who teams up with James Caan as tricky US song ‘n’ dance comic Eddie Sparks to cheer up the American boys ‘over here’ in Britain in 1942 in the Second World War. They perform for the boys in a hit tour from North Africa to the Pacific.

They do the same for the Korean War and the Vietnam War before finally meeting again in their 80s at a TV honours ceremony, where it emerges that Midler’s Dixie has taught Caan’s Eddie to be a human being after all.

For the Boys is a highly confident film in Hollywood’s best tradition, unafraid to tell a tale of a showbiz marriage that lurches over 50 years, and unafraid to make clear statements about the changing nature of war, patriotism (‘America, the land of the fee’) and the Communist witchhunts.

You can’t help admire its guts, bravura and big-hearted showbiz sentiment, an exact reflection of Bette Midler herself. She is unflaggingly entertaining in a rich character study and Caan is not far behind. Midler was Oscar nominated as Best Actress in a Leading Role and won the Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical.

Also in the cast are George Segal, Patrick O’Neal, Christopher Rydell, Arye Gross, Norman Fell, Bud Yorkin, Arliss Howard, Rosemary Murphy, Dori Brenner, and Jack Sheldon.

It is written by Marshall Brickman (screenplay), Neal Jimenez (story and screenplay), and Lindy Laub (story and screenplay).

Mark Rydell also directed Midler in The Rose.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 9681

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