Bette Midler Movies
Gloriously flamboyant American entertainer Bette Midler was born in Honolulu, HI, to the only Jewish family in the neighborhood. After dropping out of a drama class at the University of Hawaii, she took a tiny role in the 1966 film Hawaii, playing a seasick boat passenger (though it's hard to see her when viewing the film). Training for a dancing career in New York, Midler made the casting rounds for several months before finally winning a chorus role, and then the featured part of Tzeitel, in the long-running Broadway musical Fiddler on the Roof.It helps to do something well that no one else does, and Midler found her forte by singing at the Continental Baths, a gay hangout in New York. Most bath house performers were painfully bad, but Midler established herself by combining genuine talent with the tackiness expected of her. As the "Divine Miss M," Midler did an act consisting of campy (and dirty) specialty numbers; dead-on imitations of such earlier performers as the Andrews Sisters and Libby Holman; and the most outrageously revealing costumes this side of Bob Mackie. Soon she outgrew the bath houses and went on to nightclub and recording-artist fame, earning a Grammy Award in 1973. After several years of sell-out tours, Midler re-entered films as the star of The Rose, a 1979 film à clef loosely based upon the life and times of Janis Joplin. The film was a success, but it failed to establish Midler as a dramatic actress; audiences, particularly gay fans, still preferred the Divine Miss M.
Jinxed (1982), Midler's next film, lived up to its name with well-publicized production squabbles between Midler, the director, producers, and a few of her co-stars. Following the film's failure, Midler wasn't seen onscreen until she signed a contract with Disney in 1986. Establishing a new film identity as a character comedienne, Midler sparkled in Down and Out in Beverly Hills (1986), and was even better as a loudmouthed kidnap victim in Ruthless People (1987). Using her restored film stature, Midler set up her own production company and produced Beaches (1988), a pals-through-the-years saga that proved to be a four-hankie audience favorite. Once again attempting to establish herself as a tragedian, Midler starred in Stella (1989), a poorly-received remake of 1937's Stella Dallas. For the Boys (1992), offered Midler in tons of old-age makeup as a Martha Raye-style USO star (Raye responded to this "tribute" by suing the studio). The subsequent Scenes From a Mall (1991), which paired Midler with Woody Allen, and witchcraft fantasy Hocus Pocus (1993) also failed to truly showcase her talents. She rebounded somewhat in 1995 with a role in the wildly acclaimed Get Shorty, and had even greater success the following year co-starring with Diane Keaton and Goldie Hawn in The First Wives Club. In 1999, Midler played herself in two films: the TV mockumentary Jackie's Back and Get Bruce!, a big-screen documentary about legendary comic writer Bruce Vilanch.
In addition to her film work, Midler still performs live concerts to sold-out crowds and continues to release albums, including Bathouse Bette, a tribute to her early singing days. In 1993, she scored an enormous success in a superb TV adaptation of the Broadway musical Gypsy. And, in 2000, Midler extended her talents to television, starring as herself in the aptly-named sitcom Bette. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 2005
- Add From the Big Apple to the Big Easy: The Concert for New Orleans to QueueAdd From the Big Apple to the Big Easy: The Concert for New Orleans to top of Queue
The biggest names in modern music all come together on one stage for this landmark concert organized to raise funds for the relief and rebuilding efforts following Hurricane Katrina and featuring special appearances by a number of New Orleans legends. Featured performers include Aaron Neville, Simon & Garfunkel, Jimmy Buffet, John Fogerty, Elvis Costello, Dave Matthews, Irma Thomas, Buckwheat Zydeco, and Lenny Kravitz. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- 1998
In the first part of Murphy Brown's series finale (originally telecast as a single 60-minute episode along with Part Two), Murphy's plans to retire from "FYI" are sidetracked when another mammogram shows a possible malignancy. Wishing that the late tavernkeeper Phil (Pat Corley) were around to provide comfort and support, Murphy is astonished when he shows up in ghostly form--and even more astonished by the ghost's advice. Meanwhile, the rest of the "FYIers" decide to follow Murphy's example by moving on with her lives. Among those making cameo appearances are Bette Midler as Murphy's 93rd and final secretary, Candice Bergen's real-life mother Frances Bergen, an actress who goes by the name of Julia Roberts, and even a computer-generated Edward R. Murrow. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1993
The citizens of Springfield are being inundated with advertisements heralding the arrival of something called "Gabbo," raising curiosity to a fever pitch. One day, it is revealed that Gabbo is the irrepressible wooden sidekick of ventriloquist Arthur Crandall (voice of Hank Azaria), and that they are to star in a new television show. However, much to the dismay of Bart (voice of Nancy Cartwright) and Lisa (voice of Yeardley Smith), Gabbo's show is scheduled to air opposite that of their favorite entertainer, Krusty the Clown (voice of Dan Castellaneta), and soon Krusty's ratings sink through the floorboards as Gabbo leaps to unprecedented success. Krusty's show is dropped from the schedule, and after his career as a professional gambler hits the skids, Krusty is left with nowhere to go. Eager to help their fallen hero, Bart and Lisa suggest that Krusty stage a comeback special, featuring some of the big-name stars he's become friendly with during his years in show business. Krusty hands his address book to Bart and Lisa and asks them to get to work rounding up talent, while he attempts to lose the weight he put on with a steady diet of milkshakes. Appearing on Krusty's TV special are Bette Midler, Johnny Carson, Hugh Hefner, Luke Perry, and The Red Hot Chili Peppers, all of whom perform their own voices; Barry White and Elizabeth Taylor also provide voice cameos for the episode. "Krusty Gets Kancelled" first aired on May 13, 1993. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Based on a Broadway play and featuring the Jule Styne and Stephen Sondheim score, this is a remake of the 1962 movie which was based on the memoirs of Gypsy Rose Lee, a stripper, depicting her life growing up in "show biz." ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bette Midler, Cynthia Gibb, (more)
- 1992
Duvall's Emmy- and ACE award-winning animated bedtime stories, narrated by celebrities. Each tape contains two stories and are available individually. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1990
An informative presentation that includes a guide to recycling. Includes an information booklet and stars a large group of celebrities. Bugs Bunny, B.B. King, Kenny Loggins, Bette Midler and many others are here to spread the word. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1990
A cast of celebrities gathered to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Earth Day. It is an entertaining special that points out the crisis state of our planet's environment. It provides scientific facts and detailed analysis. The show provides ways in which everyone can participate in saving the planet. There are ways we can do this everyday with the choices we make. It strives to make us all take responsibility for the condition of the environment. The cast entertains and teaches through comedy, singing, and storytelling. The Earth Day Special is an entertaining motivational tool that encourages everyone to do their part in saving the earth. ~ Beth Deki, All Movie Guide
Based on a novel by Iris Rainer Dart, Beaches traces the 30-year oil-and-water friendship between free-spirited Bronx Jew CC Bloom (Bette Midler) and uptight San Francisco WASP Hillary Essex (Barbara Hershey). The two meet as children in Atlantic City (played by Mayim Bialik and Marcie Leeds) and are reunited in the 1960s, when CC is a struggling singer and Hillary is trying to break free from her staid upbringing by becoming an activist. The two ladies room together, then fall out when both are attracted to off-Broadway producer John Pierce (John Heard). CC wins John, but she quickly outgrows him as she matriculates into a bawdy performer. The recently patched-up friendship between CC and Hillary is torn asunder again when Hillary and her new husband express distaste for CC's performing style. Comes the 1970s, and CC and Hillary are reunited after shedding their respective spouses. Broke again, they once more become Manhattan roommates. Their bond strengthens, but there is tragedy in store for the duo. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bette Midler, Barbara Hershey, (more)
- 1988
Not a concert video as might be gathered by the title, Bette Midler: Mondo Beyondo is a zany hour-long parody of no-holds-barred cable TV shows. Bette impersonates an Italian sex bomb who hosts a raunchy variety hour. Many of the acts trotted out are blatantly phony (one, in fact, features Midler's husband as one of the members). Others are quite real, and the audience should have some fun determining whether or not these folks take themselves seriously. Bette Midler: Mondo Beyondo was directed by Thomas Schlamme, the perpetrator of the earlier musicfest Bette Midler: Art or Bust. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
This animated musical retells Dickens's Oliver Twist amongst animals in New York City, with Oliver as an innocent kitten who joins a gang of law-breaking dogs. When Oliver is adopted by a wealthy young woman, the gang's evil human owner hatches a kidnapping scheme to tap into the girl's fortune. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joey Lawrence, Billy Joel, (more)
- 1984
Anyone offended by the 82-minute concert tape Bette Midler: Art or Bust knew what they were in for when they saw the videocassette dust jacket: a shot of La Bette dressed in a hilariously hideous mermaid costume. The highlight of this collection of scenes from Midler's live presentations is a lengthy clip from her touring show. We also see a sampling of Midler's last bathhouse show before she went "mainstream." Though the tape is very raunchy at times, Midler's seemingly limitless talents as a performer should transcend all tongue-clucking for her more prudish fans (does she have any prudish fans left?). Art or Bust can't hope to match the exuberance of a live Bette Midler concert, but it certainly tries its best. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1979
This 1979 episode of Saturday Night Live is hosted by Buck Henry and features musical guest Bette Midler. ~ Skyler Miller, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Buck Henry, Bette Midler, (more)
- 1974
Bette Midler makes her third film appearance while trying to capitalize on her sudden popularity as the campy queen of New York's notorious Continental Baths. It was supposed to be a campy parody of the Gospels, but it was universally panned and even Midler doesn't like owning up to this turkey. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Hawaii hadn't even begun filming when director Fred Zinnemann was replaced by George Roy Hill; similarly, the role intended for Charlton Heston ended up being played by Richard Harris (though Heston would eventually star in the 1970 sequel, The Hawaiians). Based on James A. Michener's best-selling novel, the time frame of which was spread out over several centuries, the film concentrates only on the years 1820 to 1841. Still, Michener's basic point, that the virginal sanctity of the Hawaiian islands was forever shattered by the incursion of the white man, remains intact. Max Von Sydow stars as Abner Hale, an imperious minister who settles in Hawaii with his wife, Jerusha Bromley Hale (Julie Andrews). While Abner expects the islanders to adapt to him rather than the other way around, Jerusha goes out of her way to understand and appreciate her new neighbors. She eventually seeks comfort in the arms of her former lover Rafer Hoxworth (Richard Harris). Despite the lush location footage and such spectacular highlights as pagan ceremonies and an outsized typhoon, the scene most filmgoers remember is Julie Andrews' agonizingly convincing childbirth sequence. All told, it took seven years to translate Hawaii from script to screen -- and almost that long to make back its 15-million-dollar cost. In the early scenes of Hawaii (the 171-minute version, rather than the 151-minute reissue), Bette Midler plays a bit part as a ship passenger. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Julie Andrews, Max von Sydow, (more)
This holiday release pairs footage of a warm, crackling fireplace, with beloved Christmas music performed by singer Bette Midler. Some of the tracks featured include Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, I'll be Home for Christmas, Cool Yule, and more. ~ Cammila Albertson, All Movie Guide
Academy Award-winning actress Helen Hunt makes her feature directorial debut with this adaptation of Elinor Lipman's best-selling novel about a Philadelphia schoolteacher (Hunt) whose long-lost birth mother (Bette Midler) reappears at the very moment her daughter is careening into a midlife crisis. Abandoned by her husband (Matthew Broderick) and still grieving the death of her adoptive mother, the emotionally fragile teacher enters into a relationship with the father of one of her students just as her biological mother, an eccentric talk-show host, appears on her doorstep attempting a reconciliation. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Helen Hunt, Bette Midler, (more)
Jacqueline Susann spent a long career on the edges of show business as an actress and model, but it never really paid off until she quit acting to write her first novel. Valley of the Dolls was a proudly sleazy potboiler that sold 26 million copies and had readers wondering which characters matched up to which real-life show-biz figures. Susann wrote several other successful novels, but fame and fortune didn't make her life any less tumultuous; she had well-publicized problems with drugs and alcohol and a series of free-wheeling affairs, although she stayed with her husband Irving Mansfield until her death in 1974 at the age of 56. Isn't She Great is a screen biography that focuses on Susann's roller-coaster literary career, with Bette Midler as Susann and Nathan Lane as Mansfield; David Hyde Pierce, Stockard Channing, John Cleese, and Sarah Jessica Parker round out the supporting cast. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bette Midler, Nathan Lane, (more)
This is a documentary portrait of a Hollywood comedy writer cited by many of entertainment's biggest stars as their comedic "secret weapon." Bruce Vilanch is a rotund, hirsute New Jersey native who left a job at a Chicago newspaper in the 1970s to become a gag writer for singer and actress Bette Midler. After toiling for several years in the dying genre of television variety shows and celebrity roasts, Vilanch became a staple of awards shows, scripting one-liners and song parodies at the Oscars, Emmys, and Grammys, for such luminaries as Robin Williams, Billy Crystal, and Whoopi Goldberg. All three of those stars, and many others, are interviewed about Vilanch's contributions to their work. Of particular note is a national controversy sparked by Vilanch's "off-color" racial remarks written for Ted Danson and Goldberg at a Friar's Club event, and his memorable riffs for emcee Crystal on the one-armed push-ups of Jack Palance at an Oscar telecast. Get Bruce! made Vilanch a more recognizable figure to mainstream audiences, and he became a regular on the TV game show revival of Hollywood Squares. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bruce Vilanch, Bette Midler, (more)
A gangster is looking to get away from crooked deals and double-crossing people but ends up in the movie business anyway in this comic crime story. Chili Palmer (John Travolta) is a Miami-based loan collector for the mob trying to collect a gambling debt. His assignment takes him to Hollywood to collect money from Harry Zimm (Gene Hackman), a mildly sleazy producer of low-budget horror movies. Although Chili intends to hurt Harry if necessary, he takes a certain liking to him and an even keener interest in Karen (Rene Russo), Harry's girlfriend, whom Chili recognizes from Harry's grade-B monster epics. It seems Harry has a script that he feels is Academy Award material, and he could get the project off the ground if he could get the right actor for the lead -- say, the well-respected but egocentric (and diminutive) Martin Weir (Danny DeVito). Chili thinks he has a feel for the movie business and decides to see what he can do to persuade Weir to get behind the project. Chili soon finds himself hip deep in the film industry, which at least puts him in contact with a higher grade of scumbags than he's used to. But Chili isn't the only criminal Harry's been dealing with; he's been obtaining financing from Bo Catlett (Delroy Lindo), a drug dealer with a highly uncertain temperament. An intelligently constructed crime story and a hilarious look at the absurdities of the film business, Get Shorty was based on the novel of the same name by Elmore Leonard; Leonard based Chili on a real-life former gangster of his acquaintance, though Chili's model never worked in Hollywood. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Travolta, Gene Hackman, (more)
Bette Midler stars as a Martha Raye-type entertainer during the World War II era in this big-budget nostalgia piece. Midler plays big-band singer Dixie Leonard, who is chosen to perform at an overseas USO Christmas show by her uncle Art Silver (George Segal), a comedy writer for famed comedian Eddie Sparks (James Caan). Dixie is shuttled to London, where she is thrown on-stage with Eddie, who takes an immediate dislike to her. But her performance is a sensation, and the audience can't stop howling at Dixie's smart one-liner comebacks to Eddie. Dixie is catapulted to stardom, and the repartee between Eddie and Dixie becomes the stuff of legend. The two spar together through World War II, the McCarthy era, and Vietnam. But Dixie stops speaking to Eddie when he fires a writer for being a communist sympathizer and, later, she doesn't speak to him again after he arranges for a reunion between her and her son on the battlefields of Vietnam. Finally, Dixie, now an old woman, is cajoled to appear on a television awards show to reunite with a now decrepit Eddie, age 91. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bette Midler, James Caan, (more)
Woody Allen and Bette Midler star as a well-heeled couple who spend their 16th wedding anniversary at the mall shopping for a party that they're throwing that night. In the course of the shopping afternoon, they watch their marriage hit the rocks as serious problems develop when the guy admits to an earlier infidelity, and an out-and-out argument develops. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bette Midler, Woody Allen, (more)
Two women with serious differences are forced to look out for each other in this anarchic comedy. Sandy (Bette Midler) and Lauren (Shelley Long) are a pair of struggling actresses who don't get along especially well -- and are even less fond of each other when they discover that they're both dating the same man, Michael (Peter Coyote). However, when Michael suddenly goes missing, they discover that he's actually an espionage agent working with a foreign government, and as they set out to find him, they learn that he has implicated them in his schemes. Now Sandy and Lauren are stuck with each other as they look for Michael while trying to outrun the law. Outrageous Fortune also stars George Carlin as Frank, a burned-out '60s holdover who the women meet along the way. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Shelley Long, Bette Midler, (more)
