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| Date | Area | Gross |
|---|---|---|
| USA | USD 4,000,000 | |
| January 1970 | Worldwide | USD 10,000,000 |
In the number "Burlington Bertie" the banana skin thrown onstage by Gertie disappears.
| Date | Area | Gross |
|---|---|---|
| USA | USD 4,000,000 | |
| January 1970 | Worldwide | USD 10,000,000 |
Over the years, this big budgeted elephantine musical biography of British stage legend Gertrude Lawrence has gotten a rather smeared reputation thanks to its lack of box-office success. Even a much edited down version of the film ("These Were the Good Old Days") failed to attract viewers, and I can't recommend that version at all, having seen it originally on T.
Forty-five years have passed since this film debuted! A notorious flop in its day, the film looks better all the time.
Even as The Sound of Music was winning its Academy Award, someone asked Julie Andrews what she would most wish for next. She said she'd like a re-make of the previous year's winner, My Fair Lady, but with herself in Audrey Hepburn's role as flower-girl turned aristocrat, which of course, Andrews had made famous on Broadway in the Fifties.
As a cohesive film, I would have rated this film a 4. As a showcase for the phenomenal Julie Andrews, then at the peak of her powers, I would give it a 10.
American movies got big in the 1960's in every genre. Those that crashed and burned did so spectacularly.
Given that STAR! was cruelly dismissed by critics and public in 1968, I was surprised to find that despite its length, it does entertain with a fine performance by JULIE ANDREWS as the famous stage performer (who did occasional films) and by RICHARD CRENNA and DANIEL MASSEY in good supporting roles.
I just finished watching "Star!" and I must say, reading its history (it was a major flop) and some of the IMDb user reviews, I thought it would be unwatchable.
Star! (1968)Directed by Robert WiseStarring Julie AndrewsMusical biography of actress Gertrude Lawrence tries to be entertaining but it's sometimes unnecessary lenght makes it sometimes yawning, but the main problem is the lost focus of the plot.
Like it or not, you can't really argue with Robert Wise. As a director, even the films he made I didn't personally like (such as "The Sound of Music") weren't bad.
