The first thing I had to do when I hit the IMDb board for this picture was to check the Award nominations for Bette Midler. Sally Field was pretty good in "Norma Rae" that year, but man, Midler's performance here was out and out classic. The comparisons to the life and times of Janis Joplin are pretty obvious if you lived through the era, and my preference would have been for an outright telling of the Joplin story as she remains to this day my favorite female vocalist. Even so, Midler evokes the spirit of Joplin in her tortured portrayal, a woman desperately looking for love but never quite finding it or coming to terms with the limitations of a life on the road that legislates against it. Instead she turns to alcohol, drugs and the next fling hoping that somewhere in all the turmoil a miracle blossoms from the maelstrom. Interestingly, no Joplin songs are part of the film, though a number of them parallel the kinds of songs that Bette Midler performed with heart wrenching emotion. The closest was 'Stay With Me, Baby', reminiscent of Joplin ballads like 'Maybe', 'Little Girl Blue', 'Cry Baby' and 'A Woman Left Lonely'. Oddly, this is the only movie in which I've seem Midler perform, as her real life persona has a tendency to rub me the wrong way whenever I've seen her on a late night talk show or in a similar venue. But here she WAS 'The Rose', and she was absolutely stunning.

The similarities to Janis Joplin are obvious in Bette Midler's performance as Rose, a rock star climbing up and falling just as quickly with an over-indulgence of drugs and alcohol, fame and folly, regret and romance. She had been around for over a decade with live performance, and in her first major motion picture, moved into the second phase of her career with power and passion, becoming a legend, and deserving super-stardom of the highest order.

She's a likable character, getting involved with the handsome Fredric Forrest but dooming that relationship thanks to her crazy lifestyle and a few secrets out of her past. Her tough agent (Alan Bates) tries to keep her in line, but can't even stop the independent Rose from swearing at a concert. When Bette encounters a group of drag queens in a nightclub (even one who looks like herself),she is in heaven, both as Rose and Bette, bringing a lot of herself and live interaction in performing with them. Look briefly for Doris Roberts in a silent cameo as Rose's mother.

Then, in live performances, Bette shows she is as adept as performing hard rock as she is with the standards which she has influxed her career with. By the time she breaks into the title song over the credits, you have probably missed the names of the people involved because your eyes were too blurry from crying. Bette went back to live performance for a short time after this but within a few years, would be back on top when she signed with Touchstone. But it all started with "The Rose", and she proves that both as a comic and dramatic actress (who sings!) that she is one tough act to follow.

The tragic life of a self-destructive female rock star (Bette Midler) who struggles to deal with the constant pressures of her career and the demands of her ruthless business manager.

So, this is sort of, kind of inspired by the life and death of Janis Joplin, though with enough things changed to make it not quite a biopic. And then, to guarantee no one will ever see it, Bette Midler is cast in the lead... in what is her defining role (which says a lot about Midler and how she has made few good films).

How this was picked up by the Criterion Collection is beyond me. The film suffers from an excess of music at the expense of the story. This would be alright if the music was good, but for the most part it is not. Heck, if you want a good music film, perhaps check out "Eddie and the Cruisers".