Star! (1968)

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Touted by 20th Century-Fox as a follow-up to their enormously successful The Sound of Music, Star! reteams that earlier film's leading lady Julie Andrews and director Robert Wise. Andrews plays legendary musical comedy star Gertrude Lawrence, while Daniel Massey appears as Lawrence's friend,… More Touted by 20th Century-Fox as a follow-up to their enormously successful The Sound of Music, Star! reteams that earlier film's leading lady Julie Andrews and director Robert Wise. Andrews plays legendary musical comedy star Gertrude Lawrence, while Daniel Massey appears as Lawrence's friend, co-worker and severest critic Noel Coward (Massey's real-life godfather). The film jumps back and forth in continuity at times, its transitions bridged by fabricated newsreel footage; essentially, however, William Fairchild's script traces Lawrence's progress from ambitious bit actress to the toast of London and Broadway. Her success is offset by a stormy private life, which is given some ballast when she falls in love with an American financier (Richard Crenna). The film is way too long for its own good, though the musical set pieces -- especially the Andrews-Massey duets -- are superb. Julie Andrews welcomed the chance of playing a character as far removed from her goody-two-shoes heroine in Sound of Music as possible; Gertrude Lawrence was temperamental, sarcastic, profane and at times self-destructive, and Andrews makes a meal of the role. Unfortunately, Andrews' fans, conditioned by the Fox publicity machine to expect a continuation of Sound of Music, rejected her outright in this "new" characterization. Star! was a huge box-office bomb, so much so that Fox desperately attempted a shortened re-release under a misleading new title, Those Were The Happy Times. They weren't: it remained a financial disaster, though it has developed a loyal cult following in recent years. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: G, 2 hr. 52 min.
Directed By: Robert Wise
Genres: Musical & Performing Arts, Drama

In Theaters: Oct 22, 1968 Wide
On DVD: Apr 20, 2004

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Featured Audience Ratings

jay n

Julie's in fine form and some of the production numbers, especially Jenny, are eye popping but it's just too long.

Cast

            Julie Andrews as Gertrude Lawrence

            Richard Crenna as Richard Aldrich

            Michael Craig as Sir Anthony Spencer

            Daniel Massey as Noel Coward

            Robert Reed as Charles Fraser

            Bruce Forsyth as Arthur Lawrence

            Beryl Reid as Rose

            John Collin as Jack Roper

            Alan Oppenheimer as Andre Charlot

            Richard Karlan as David Holtzman

            Lynley Laurence as Billie Carleton

            Garrett Lewis as Jack Buchanan

            Jenny Agutter as Pamela

            Anthony Eisley as Ben Mitchell

            Jock Livingston as Alexander Woollcott

            J. Pat O'Malley as Dan

            Lester Matthews as Lord Chamberlain

            Bernard Fox as Assistant To Lord Chamberlain

            Murray Matheson as Bankruptcy Judge

            Robin Hughes as Hyde Park Speaker

            Barbara Sandland as Mavis

            Ellen Plasschaert as Moo

            Ann Hubbell as Beryl

            Richard Angarola as Cesare

            Conrad Bain as Salesman at Cartier's

            Don Crichton as Gertrude's "Limehouse Blues" Dance Partner

            Harvey Jason as Bert

            Anna Lee as Hostess

            Dinah Anne Rogers as Molly

            Roy Scheider as No credit

            Elizabeth St. Clair as Jeannie Banks

            Peter Church as Newsreel Narrator

            Matilda Calnan as Dorothy

            Jeanette Landis as Eph

            Damian London as Jerry Paul
See full cast