BEACHES
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1989 Mark R. Leeper
Capsule review: Tear-jerking story of the life-long
friendship of a low-brow New York Jewish singer/actress and a
WASP lawyer who met at age eleven on the beach at Atlantic
City. Soap opera all the way and the real acting honors so
to Mayin Bialik as an eleven-year-old Bette Midler. Rating:
high 0.
BEACHES is the latest (presumably) of a number of somewhat similar films about pairs of women who share each other's lives and develop together. They share each other's good times and bad. They share joys and tragedies. Usually there are scenes where they turn bitchy to each other and break up their friendship in hatred only to come back to each other. Usually there is emphasis on the women's sex lives. This sort of film is always, deep down, a tribute to friendship and platonic love. Example include OLD ACQUAINTANCE, ENTRE NOUS, TERMS OF ENDEARMENT, RICH AND FAMOUS, and perhaps THE TURNING POINT. Gary Marshall has directed a new film along these lines, BEACHES (is that title a pun perhaps?). BEACHES is similar in a lot of ways to George Cukor's RICH AND FAMOUS, right down to a score by George Delerue. (Though not as good a score--I do not like RICH AND FAMOUS, but I confess I find the title theme a stunningly beautiful piece of music and very probably the best piece of music in Delerue's distinguished career.)
BEACHES is the story of two women and, of course, their long friendship. C. C. Bloom is a brash singer/actress who has lived her whole life in show business. Hilary Whitney is a very upperclass Anglo-Saxon Protestant from the "right kind" of family. This is a most unlikely friendship that begins when the two are each eleven. C.C. is played by Mayin Bialik as a child and by Bette Midler as an adult. In fact, of the two Bialik is the more memorable. Midler plays Bette Midler and does an okay job, but Bialik playing Bette Midler is a wonder to behold. It is hard to believe that Bialik herself is not going to grow up to be Bette Midler, so perfectly does she personify Midler's looks and mannerisms. On the other hand, Marcie Leeds as the young Hilary does not really resemble Barbara Hershey. But then even as an adult, Hilary looks only like Barbara Hershey with bad taste in lipstick.
Through most of the film Midler upstages Hershey and director Gary Marshall (who works for co-producer Midler) lets her do it. The result is that while Hershey is less noticeable than Midler, she also does a better job of acting. Midler is much more of a caricature. It is Midler who sings "You've got to give a little, take a little," the film's theme song and moral. BEACHES is a decent weepy film for those who like to cry in movies, but it is less than ideal as a piece of sincere filmmaking. Rate it a high 0 on the -4 to +4 scale.
Mark R. Leeper
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