Product Description
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Barbra Streisand box set. In Peter Bogdanovich's screwball
comedy 'What's Up Doc?' (1972) Streisand stars as Judy Maxwell, a
carefree young lady who becomes involved with earnest music
theorist Professor Howard Bannister (Ryan O'Neal). When
Bannister's plaid suitcase, containing geological specimens, is
confused for an identical case containing diamonds, a madcap
chase across San Francisco ensues - with gangsters attempting to
steal back the jewels! In 'Up The Sandbox' (1972) Streisand stars
as Margaret Reynolds, a young New York wife and mother with an
active fantasy life. As she grows increasingly estranged from her
husband (David Selby), she fills her days with various daydreams,
including one in which she joins terrorists in an attack upon the
Statue of Liberty. In 'Nuts' (1987) high-class prostitute
Streisand is arrested and charged with the murder of one of her
clients; her parents want her committed rather than face a public
trial, but the feisty woman has other ideas in this courtroom
drama. Richard Dreyfuss plays the lawyer who works with her to
ensure she gets a fair trial. In 'The Main Event' (1979)
Streisand is a businesswoman on the brink of ruin. Her one asset
is a boxer, played by Ryan O'Neal, who is close to retirement.
She decides to personally manage the boxer so that she can
manipulate him into making a comeback, and with the money she
makes she reckons she can save her perfume business.
.co.uk Review
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The Barbra Streisand Collection consists of four movies: What's
Up, Doc? (1972), Up the Sandbox (1972), The Main Event (1979) and
Nuts (1987)
In What's Up, Doc?, director Peter Bogdanovich tipped his hat to
the classic screwball comedies of the 1930s, and especially the
most glorious of them all, Howard Hawks' Bringing Up Baby. Barbra
Streisand plays a charming flake who distracts a self-absorbed
musicologist (Ryan O'Neal). He's engaged to be married, but soon
Streisand's character has him chasing after stolen jewellery and
getting into one madcap fix after another. --Tom Keogh
Up the Sandbox springs from the early 1970s, when Streisand's
career was in full stride. She stars as Margaret, a stay-at-home
mum in the middle of New York who's feeling the strain of her
narrow life. Frustrated by her self-involved husband and the
mentally unstimulating tasks of motherhood, she escapes into
fantasies--such as being chatted up by a cross-gendered Fidel
Castro, bombing the Statue of Liberty with black militants and
having a furious catfight with her overbearing mother. The
movie's strength lies in these fantasies' slippery nature; some
are over the top, but others are so subtle you're not always sure
where they start and stop, making the portrait of Margaret's
psyche intriguingly complex. --Bret Fetzer
The Main Event is a comedic misfire from the mid-1970s, a futile
attempt to bottle the same lightning that struck when Streisand
teamed with Ryan O'Neal in What's Up, Doc? Here, Streisand plays
a spoiled rich girl, the head of a bankrupt cosmetics company,
who discovers she's lost everything--except her ownership of the
contract of a washed-up boxer (O'Neal). So she tries to rally
this dispirited pug into a comeback that will earn the kinds of
purses that will put her back on her feet. Naturally, in the
process, romantic sparks are kindled. But despite a loud and
energetic performance by Streisand, the comedy doesn't add up to
much. --Marshall Fine
In Nuts Streisand is a mad high-priced "escort" accused of
murder, but whether she's mad as hell or mad as a hatter is the
question in this courtroom drama, adapted from the play by Tom
Topor. While her doting, wilfully uncomprehending mother (Maureen
Steton) and stepdad with a secret (Karl Malden) try to have
her judged incompetent and sent to an asylum, she fights for her
day in court with the help of a hess legal aid attorney (a
refreshingly understated Richard Dreyfuss). James Whitmore
presides over the hearing with a compassion and sense of justice
that gives one faith in the system, and la Streisand (who
developed and produced the project) sinks her teeth into the
tempestuous role like a starving actress. The plot holds few
surprises, but the drama lies in the characters; veteran director
Martin Ritt brings out the best in a top-flight cast. --Sean
Axmaker