Funny Girl (film)

https://youtu.be/TP4Th50cfEA  U tube

Funny Girl is a 1968 American biographical musical film directed by William Wyler. The screenplay by Isobel Lennart was adapted from her book for the eponymous stage musical. It is loosely based on the life and career of Broadway and film star and comedian Fanny Brice and her stormy relationship with entrepreneur and gambler Nicky Arnstein.
Produced by Brice's son-in-law, Ray Stark, with music and lyrics by Jule Styne and Bob Merrill, the film stars Barbra Streisand (in her film debut reprising her Broadway role) as Brice and Omar Sharif as Arnstein, with a supporting cast featuring Kay Medford, Anne Francis, Walter Pidgeon, Lee Allen, and Mae Questel. It was the first film by Stark's company Rastar.
Streisand won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance, tying with Katharine Hepburn (The Lion in Winter). In 2006, the American Film Institute ranked the film #16 on its list commemorating AFI's Greatest Movie Musicals. Previously it had ranked the film #41 in its 2002 list of 100 Years ... 100 Passions, the songs "People" and "Don't Rain on My Parade" at #13 and #46, respectively, in its 2004 list of 100 Years ... 100 Songs, and the line "Hello, gorgeous" at #81 in its 2005 list of 100 Years ... 100 Movie Quotes. Funny Girl is considered one of the greatest musical films ever.^[4][5][6]
In 2016, Funny Girl was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the United States Library of Congress, and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.

Contents

• 1 Plot
• 2 Cast
• 3 Musical numbers
• 4 Soundtrack
• 5 Production
  • 5.1 Development
  • 5.2 Casting
  • 5.3 Filming
• 6 Jewish representation
• 7 Release
  • 7.1 Critical reception
  • 7.2 Awards and nominations
• 8 Legacy
  • 8.1 "Hello, gorgeous"
  • 8.2 Sequel
• 9 Home media
• 10 See also
• 11 References
• 12 External links

Plot

Set in and around New York City just prior to and following World War I, the story opens with Ziegfeld Follies star Fanny Brice awaiting the return of husband Nicky Arnstein from prison, and then moves into an extended flashback focusing on their meeting and marriage.
Fanny is first seen as a stage-struck teenager who gets her first job in vaudeville and meets the suave Arnstein following her debut performance. They continue to meet occasionally over the years, becoming more romantically involved as Fanny's career flourishes and she becomes a star. Arnstein eventually seduces Fanny, who decides to abandon the Follies to be with him.
After winning a fortune playing poker while traveling aboard the RMS Berengaria, Nicky agrees to marry Fanny. They move into an expensive house and have a daughter, and Fanny eventually returns to Ziegfeld and the Follies. Meanwhile, Nicky's various business ventures fail, forcing them to move into an apartment. Refusing financial support from his wife, he becomes involved in a bonds scam and is imprisoned for embezzlement for eighteen months.
Following Nicky's release from prison, he and Fanny agree to separate.

Cast

• Barbra Streisand as Fanny Brice
• Omar Sharif as Nick Arnstein
• Kay Medford as Rose Brice
• Anne Francis as Georgia James
• Walter Pidgeon as Florenz Ziegfeld
• Lee Allen as Eddie Ryan
• Mae Questel as Mrs. Strakosh
• Gerald Mohr as Branca
• Frank Faylen as Keeney
• Mittie Lawrence as Emma
• Gertrude Flynn as Mrs. O'Malley
• Penny Santon as Mrs. Meeker
• John Harmon as Company Manager
• Ruth Clifford as Maid (uncredited)

Musical numbers

1. "Overture"
2. "If a Girl Isn't Pretty" – Fanny, Rose, and Mrs. Strakosh
3. "I'm the Greatest Star" – Fanny
4. "Rollerskate Rag" – Fanny and Rollerskate Girls
5. "I'd Rather Be Blue Over You (Than Happy With Somebody Else)" – Fanny
6. "Second Hand Rose" – Fanny
7. "His Love Makes Me Beautiful" – Fanny and Follies Ensemble
8. "People" – Fanny
9. "You Are Woman, I Am Man" – Nicky and Fanny
10. "Don't Rain on My Parade" – Fanny
11. "Entr'acte"
12. "Sadie, Sadie" – Fanny and Nicky
13. "The Swan" – Fanny
14. "Funny Girl" – Fanny
15. "My Man" – Fanny
16. "Exit Music"

Although originally released on her 1964 album People, the song "People" was re-recorded for the film with a different tempo and additional lyrics.
In the 1985 book Barbra Streisand: The Woman, the Myth, the Music by Shaun Considine, composer Styne revealed he was unhappy with the orchestrations for the film. "They were going for pop arrangements," he recalled. "They dropped eight songs from the Broadway show and we were asked to write some new ones. They didn’t want to go with success. It was the old-fashioned MGM Hollywood way of doing a musical. They always change things to their way of vision, and they always do it wrong. But, of all my musicals they screwed up, Funny Girl came out the best."^[7]
Because the songs "My Man", "Second Hand Rose", and "I'd Rather Be Blue" frequently were performed by the real Brice during her career, they were interpolated into the Styne-Merrill score.