For quite a few years, Bette Midler-who had originally wowed audiences with her singing and joking on stage before Johnny Carson got her national exposure on TV-was in hit movie after hit movie. So she formed her own production company of which the first hit from that was Beaches. This one she really wanted to make as it cast her as a singer-comedienne paired with a hot comic during World War II. James Caan played that comic who seemed partially based on Bob Hope. The Devine Miss M's character also had a husband who's a soldier and a son who became one during Vietnam. I'll stop there and just say there's both comedy and drama and plenty of singing from Miss M. She does her best with the material which is overwrought on some places. Mr. Caan isn't bad, either. There's also a nice turn by George Segal as Miss Midler's uncle and Caan's head writer. It's too bad it didn't do well, box office-wise but of you're a Midler fan, For the Boys is highly recommended.
Review of For the Boys
