Why This Will NEVER Be A Gay Iconic Movie!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                             Here I was, the other day, darlings, talking about one that should get more shrift-"Gigi!"--when I thought of the above, which, in theory, ought to be, but there are distinctive reasons why it is not!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                              You would think that with Barbra, Vincente Minnelli and Cecil Beaton (the last two also worked on "Gigi," you may recall!!!) at the helm,  "On A Clear Day You Can See Forever" would earn gay icon status!

                                               To be sure, Minnelli and Beaton still do some quality work here.  But, because it was based on a musical that was never a world beater to begin with, because the score was beloved only among New York Theater Queens (are there any other kind, darlings??????????), because, even more, much of the score is jettisoned in favor of it being a vehicle for BARBRA, and because, despite some good work, Minnelli and Beaton are tired, and at the end of their game, the film looks tired, too!

                                               Added to which I keep hearing there is a film out there that actually IS good, which we will never get to see, because Paramount, at some point during production, wrested creative control from Minnelli, edited it in their own, moronic, corporate way, which was not as Minnelli had envisaged it, so that the results, when released , were not Minnelli's but a bunch of corporate honchos'!  So the film emerged as a critical mess--not mass-- and tanked!!!!!!!!!!

                                                BARBRA is just too...well...BARBRA to be Daisy Gamble.  With this coming on the heels of "Hello, Dolly!" (which was released in 1969, while this came out in '70!!!!) people began to wonder why BARBRA was not living up to the promise, the brilliance, she had shown in "Funny Girl."  It took, from this point, to, I believe, "The Way We Were," to get her back on top again!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                                  You just cannot believe Jack Nicholson in a musical!!!!!!!!!!!  Jack Nicholson??????????  Yes, darlings, Jack Nicholson--the most non-musical actor out there, this side of De Niro!!!!!!!!!!  And Larry Blyden, who, while an adept performer of the New York musical and non stages, here comes off as blandly as on all those game shows on TV he once hosted!!!!!!!!!!

                                                    Even the recent Broadway revival of the show was better than this!
There is no way I could ever watch this again, but, if I were forced to, or if there are those of you out there compelled enough to do so, my advice is to watch it in sections, concentrating on the more well known songs in the score (though the title tune is ruined both by BARBRA's exaggerated singing of it, and the ridiculous image of her floating hallucenogenically through space!!!!), and fast forwarding beyond everything else!!!!!!!!!  Just like I do with "Finian's Rainbow", darlings; I watch it--but only up till the actor playing Woody, who is abominable, is about to enter, because that is when the film crashes!!!!!!!!  But the opening 25 minutes before are sheer MAGIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                                   Just because all the right ingredients are in place, not every movie is capable of becoming gay iconic, and 'On A Clear Day' proves it!  Clear this one out of your heads, or your DVD collections, girls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                                  Wonder how BARBRA now feels about it???????????????