Ep. 146 – Barbra Streisand (feat. Chris Feil)

Welcome to The B-Side, from The Film Stage. Here we talk about movie stars! Not the movies that made them famous or kept them famous, but the ones that they made in between. Today is Barbra Streisand day! And what a day it is. Just one day after Babs herself announced the start to production of her approved documentary film, in which she plans to unveil the creative contents of her quite famous vault, we here at The B-Side tackle some of the legend’s lesser-seen films. They include The Owl and the Pussycat, Up the Sandbox, For Pete’s Sake, Nuts, and The Guilt Trip. Our guest on this long-in-the-making journey is Chris Feil, co-host of the incredible This Had Oscar Buzz podcast.  We talk about the autobiography in all of its glory. We talk about Barbra’s early years, Barbra’s late years, her passion for design, her complicated history with movie directors, and her best albums. There’s also hefty discussion about A-side Yentl, and why it’s funnier and sexier than you remember. It’s also a masterpiece.  There’s debate about how much The Guilt Trip ultimately worked, how exactly Barbra mastered playing a “regular person” by the time The Prince of Tides comes around, and how Nuts would’ve been better if Barbra had directed it. Additional highlights include mistaking Philip Bosco for Karl Malden, celebrating Richard Dreyfuss playing bothered to perfection, and Chris’ post-TIFF takes. Mike Leigh and Marianne Jean-Baptiste save us! And just to note, if you’re in NYC for NYFF62, come on out to one (or all!) of our four Cinephile Game Nights, on 9/28. 9/29, 9/30, and 10/8! You can win festival tickets among a bunch of other cool prizes. AND if you’re looking for more B-Side adjacent fun, we’re taking part in Vulture’s Movies Fantasy League: The Podcaster Division throughout awards season! You can join our min-league The Bsiders, or make a team of your own! Be sure to give us a follow on Twitter and Facebook at @TFSBSide. Also enter our giveaways, get access to our private Slack channel, and support new episodes by becoming a Patreon contributor.