Movie · 1979 · Drama, Music, Romance · 2h 5m · R · English
Curator score: 5.3/10 (14.6K ratings)
She gave and gave, until she had nothing left to give
Overview
Rock-and-roll singer Mary Rose Foster's romantic relationships and mental health are continuously imperilled by the demands of life on the road.
Ratings
Curator score: 5.3/10
IMDb: 7.0/10
Letterboxd: 3.60/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 73%
Metacritic: 67
TMDB: 6.7/10
Director
Mark Rydell
Production
20th Century Fox
Cast
Bette Midler, Alan Bates, Frederic Forrest, Harry Dean Stanton, Barry Primus, David Keith, Sandra McCabe, Will Hare, Rudy Bond, Don Calfa, James Keane, Doris Roberts, Sandy Ward, Michael Greer, Kenny Sacha, Michael St. Laurent, Sylvester, Pearl Heart, Butch Ellis, Richard Dioguardi
Curator Review
Verdict
A raw, performance-driven rock drama with a bruised emotional core. It’s uneven and occasionally overblown, but Bette Midler’s volcanic lead turn, the concert energy, and the tragic showbiz pressure-cooker make it a standout for fans of music movies and self-destructive character studies.
Best for
Bette Midler fans
music-drama viewers
1970s character studies
tragic diva stories
fans of concert-performance filmmaking
Skip if
you want a tightly paced plot
you dislike melodramatic 70s filmmaking
you prefer polished modern music biopics
you’re put off by abrasive, self-destructive protagonists
Overview
The Rose is less a conventional rock biopic than a feverish portrait of a performer burning herself out in public. It leans hard into excess, but that excess is the point: the film treats fame, appetite, and loneliness as forces that feed on each other until there’s nothing left but noise and fallout.
Worth noting
Bette Midler is the reason to see it. She gives the movie its voltage, its humor, and its ache, making Mary Rose Foster feel larger than life without losing the damage underneath. The concert scenes have real snap, and the film’s best stretches capture the thrill of performance colliding with emotional collapse.
Bottom line
It can feel dated and a little shapeless, and the supporting material doesn’t always match the force of the central performance. Still, as a 1970s showbiz tragedy with real bite, it earns its reputation. If you like your music movies messy, mournful, and driven by a star turn, this is worth the ride.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Kylo (3.5★) · 108 likes
I have to wonder how Bette Milder didn’t take the Oscar this year. She was phenomenal. It’s crazy to see how talented she was as an actress and a singer during this time. Overall, it’s a little long and dated but worth it for Bette and the music.
EnteredTheVoid (5★) · 91 likes
At the time of writing this, 681 people on Letterboxd have seen this film. Either there's a lot of people who have seen but haven't logged or the world has completely gone mad? A complete and utter travesty. Bette Midler kills it.
Sam (3★) · 76 likes
Although this is primarily an acting showcase and the tone is fairy one note, it’s hard to truly dislike when Bette Midler does THAT. The specificity and commanding attitude that she inhabits is completely transformative and exceptionally believable, especially considering it was her debut performance. It’s easy to see why this was the start of her iconic status as she is nearly impossible to dislike.
And that’s a wrap! I’ve now seen every Best Actress nominee of the 70s. I hope you enjoy my ranking HERE!
MJsays (4.5★) · 70 likes
Even if it's a complete work of fiction loosely inspired by Janis Joplin’s legacy, The Rose still feels a hundred times more truthful than the endless array of half-assed music ‘biopics’ out there. It’s virtually impossible not to get caught up in this vortex of gleeful rebellion when there’s so much genuine emotion driving it from beginning to end. Rydell keeps his direction is simple but strong, the soundtrack is an absolute cracker featuring one toe-tapping hit after another, and to top it all off, Midler’s ferociously passionate performance blows the absolute lid off this thing. Definitely a must-see for diehard music lovers.
mike5577 (4.5★) · 64 likes
Bette Midler plays Mary Rose Foster, A.K.A The Rose, a talented but self destructive rock and roll singer. Rose is exhausted and lonely but agrees to one last tour. She is determined to return to her hometown in Florida but is forced to continue working by her demanding and ruthless manager, Rudge Campbell (Alan Bates). Rose meets a limousine driver, Huston Dyer (Frederic Forrest), who is secretly an AWOL sergeant from the Army. They begin a romance but Rose, with… more Bette Midler plays Mary Rose Foster, A.K.A The Rose, a talented but self destructive rock and roll singer. Rose is exhausted and lonely but agrees to one last tour. She is determined to return to her hometown in Florida but is forced to continue working by her demanding and ruthless manager, Rudge Campbell (Alan Bates). Rose meets a limousine driver, Huston Dyer (Frederic Forrest), who is secretly an AWOL sergeant from the Army. They begin a romance but Rose, with… more