Product Description

In an Oscar-nominated performance, Bette Midler portays a rock star whose success is laced with so much booze, drugs and hard-living, it eventually causes her downfall. Trapped in a self-created hell Rose begs her manager (Alan Bates) for time off from her concert tour. When he refuses, she seeks compfort and love in the arms of a handsome driffter (Frederic Forrest), but even he cannot handle her life of excess. Electrifying musical numbers, including the hit song "The Rose" make the film a pop culture classic.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5379 in DVD
• Brand: TCFHE
• Released on: 2003-08-19
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 125 minutes

Amazon.com essential video
Bette Midler plays a Janis Joplin-like singer overwhelmed by stardom and its excesses. Mark Rydell (On Golden Pond) directs what is a kind of hybrid showcase for Midler's concert talents and a standard pop biopic, with the usual rhythms of desire, success, betrayal, failure, and such. Alan Bates is the best thing about the movie as the Rose's ruthless manager, and Harry Dean Stanton and Frederic Forrest add some interesting seasoning. But as a whole, the film can't rise above its mixed purposes or clichés. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews

Bette As Janis
Those of us of a certain age well remember the ultra-talented and ultimately doomed 60s icon, Janis Joplin.

In this thinly disguised Joplin biography, Bette Midler outdoes herself as an out-of-control, incredibly talented, self-destructive singer who turns to the bottle, sex, and anything else she can to hide from her intense inner pain. It sounds like a cliche, and by now it is, but that was Janis--and Bette does her one better. Her angst shines through with great poignancy, even when she is belting out hit after hit, responding to her audience as though she is making love.

Hard living, hard boozing, and bent on destroying herself, the singer has us riveted to her story. Her tearful phone call to the father who never approved of her is one of the high points of the film: Bette pulls out the stops.

Alan Bates is divine as always as the singer's manager, but this film belongs to Bette. If you are not aware of Midler's incredibly wide-ranged talent, this is the perfect movie. It can make you a lifelong fan.

A Startling Movie
This 1979 film, for which star Bette Midler received an Oscar nomination, is a jolting, intense, and hypnotic portrayal of a famous rock star named The Rose. In this film, the viewer witnesses firsthand her life and death struggles with drugs, alcohol, and her vile manager, Rudge. (played by Alan Bates) This film in no way glamorizes the life of rock stars-it does precisely the opposite. It is a commentary on the sad life of someone who appears to have everything, but who in reality has nothing. The end will stun you, and Midler gives a stellar performance that you will NEVER forget. HIGHLY recommended.

bette midler is triumphant
Bette Midler is heartbreaking as the woman who becomes known to the world and herself as, The Rose. Her life takes many unexpected twists and turns before the unforgettable and shocking ending is revealed. Bette Midler pours her heart and soul out in her Oscar nominated performance, for Best Actress of 1979, and her dedication shines through, Enjoy! This film also won a Golden Globe for best song and best actress in a comedy/musical movie- Bette Midler, Congratulations! 11