Amazon.com: Barbra Streisand returned to amped-up comedy form (following her work in Herbert Ross's sharp, unsentimental The Owl and the Pussycat and Peter Bogdanovich's screwball homage, What's Up, Doc?) in this nutty 1974 feature by Peter Yates (Bullitt, Breaking Away). Playing a Brooklyn housewife so dedicated to her cabdriver husband (Michael Sarrazin) she'll do anything to help him get ahead, Streisand's character--with the impossible name of Henry--secretly borrows three thousand dollars from a loan shark so hubby can play the stock market. When an expected windfall doesn't happen, Henry becomes frantically inventive trying to raise the money to pay the shark back. Originally called July Pork Bellies (a reference to commodities futures that makes sense in the context of this story), For Pete's Sake doesn't really measure up to the aforementioned Streisand comedies, but there are certainly solid moments and individual performances to single out for praise. (Among the latter is wonderful character work by Molly Picon, Estelle Parsons, and William Redfield.) Director Yates, as has often been the case, didn't quite get his head around this sort of broad material; as comedy goes, he has proven more adept with sweeter, droller films such as Breaking Away. Despite all that, true Streisand fans will not let this get away without a look. --Tom Keogh
On a night when you have nothing else to do.......... Personally, I wasn't impressed with the flow of the movie. Barbara, of course, was superior even in her early career.
I found the movie difficult to follow.
If you don't have anything to do...watch it and prove me wrong.
For Fun's Sake! Streisand fans have to have this film, in letterbox even. It's a fast paced, fitfully funny and fun, fun, fun movie with Streisand's Henrietta (Henry) playing a homemaker married to a NY cabbie played by Michael Sarrazin. Sure, it's dated--it's the 70s, but when you overlook that (easily) you see a sharp, wise-cracking, cute and energetic Streisand laughing it up all because she wants to help her man earn some bucks. She gets involved with organized crime, and ends up in some hilarious, ludicrous situations. It's silly. It's fun, and yet Yates, the director makes it a send up of all sorts of films, including *The French Connection* in which Henry/Streisand is chased through subways by a German shepherd. Everyone is comical in this piece of candy, and it may even make you wonder why we like such gross out movie comedies like *There's Something About Mary*. Buy it if you enjoy whimsical comedy.
Zany Barbra, In Underrated & Overlooked Farce Comedy! Barbra brings her magic to the screen as Henrietta ("Henry"), the devoted but zany wife of cabby Pete (Michael Sarrazin). Henry will stop at nothing to put Pete through school, so when pete gets a hot tip on the stock market. Henry raises $3,000, convincing him that the loan came from her rich uncle instead of the local loan shark! But as the stock tumbles, the interest rate rises and so does the pace as Henry gets herself into one wacky mess after another trying to earn the money back before Pete finds out. The film is a hilarious farce that is underrated, do to it's plot wholes, like Barbra having a maid even though they are suppose to be broke, but the true movie here is Barbra herself doing what she did in "What's Up, Doc?", "The Owl & The Pussycat" and "The Main Event", plus she looks great with that short haircut even though I think it's a wig. The DVD includes: Widescreen & Fullscereen versions, Theatrical Trailers, Director's Commentary, Talent Profiles, Production Notes and the film is available in English (Mono) & French with English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Korean and Thai subtitles, Interactive Menus and Scene Selections.
One star for Mrs. Cherry the pimp Only for true blue Barbara fans. Premise: Babs and Pete are supposed to be poor. But, #1 Babs has a maid to clean their apartment. #2 They had no children why can't Babs get a full time job? #3 Pete drives a cab in New York City and can't make any money? (We should all be that poor) No, logic dosen't work with this stinker. Enjoy!
"Don't let him down." In retrospect, it isn't hard to understand why Barbra chose to make this limp, embarrassingly unfunny farce. The arty UP THE SANDBOX had just flopped and the future prospects of the just completed THE WAY WE WERE were unknown. Deciding that her reputation as a movie superstar couldn't take another project that was a commercial risk, she agreed to star in FOR PETE'S SAKE, a woefully misguided attempt at modern screwball comedy. Basically, everything that WHAT'S UP, DOC? succeeded at brilliantly, FOR PETE'S SAKE fails at miserably. Not only are the characters annoying and the puns infantile, but FOR PETE'S SAKE commits the biggest crime known to comedy: it just ain't funny. Throughout all of the typical comedic mix-ups and chases, the viewer will find his or herself moaning rather than laughing.
Barbra tries her best to pump the film up with her undeniable comic gifts, but there's no inspiration in this sitcom-level script, so even her earnest portrayal gets lost amid the murk. Michael Sarrazin fares even worse due to his badly underwritten character, and he has no chemistry with Streisand. Unfortunately, the rest of the cast doesn't fare much better. True, veteran comedic actress Molly Picon has a few amusing bits as Ms. Cherry, but none of the other supporting players are able to break out of their one-note characters. However, when a screenplay is this labored and unfunny, you can't really blame any of the actors - they obviously did the best with what they were given. It's certain that Barbra wouldn't have made this film had she known that THE WAY WE WERE was going to be a blockbuster hit, however that is not a good enough reason to excuse the poor execution behind this picture.
There are fans who like to say that the contrived box office hit THE MAIN EVENT or the off-beat box office flop ALL NIGHT LONG are Barbra's weakest films, but I must strongly disagree. THE MAIN EVENT may have been tired and predictable, but at least it was funny overall, and Streisand did had chemistry with her leading man in that one. And though ALL NIGHT LONG may have not been a perfect film (the film's soggy mid-section is it's biggest flaw), but it had a charmingly odd-ball perspective that made the movie seem bizarrely endearing. FOR PETE'S SAKE has none of the things that make THE MAIN EVENT or ALL NIGHT LONG entertaining. It just stumbles on to the finale, getting progressively worse as it goes. While FOR PETE'S SAKE was actually a box office hit in it's day, in the end it no doubt had a more damaging effect on Barbra's career. It did nothing but provide fodder for the people who never liked her to begin with.
About the DVD: The picture quality is great, much better than I expected, and the sound is also fine. Yates' commentary track isn't very interesting (and has some long silences), but it's still a nice addition.
Anything Goes Trivia
Last Kiss
Megaton Man
Trevor
