Remembering: The Rose

Remembering: The Rose

American rock and roll drama directed by Mark Rydell

Starring Bette Midler, Alan Bates, Frederic Forrest

Released November 1979

by Live Music Head

Some say love, it is a river that drowns the tender reed.
Some say love, it is a razor that leaves your soul to bleed.
Some say love, it is a hunger, an endless aching need.
I say love it is a flower, and you its only seed.
It's the heart afraid of breaking that never learns to dance.
It's the dream afraid of waking that never takes the chance.
It's the one who won't be taken, who cannot seem to give,
and the soul afraid of dying that never learns to live.
When the night has been too lonely 

and the road has been too long,
and you think that love is only for

the lucky and the strong,
just remember in the winter 
far beneath the bitter snows,
lies the seed that with the sun's love
in the spring becomes

the rose.

~ Amanda McBroom

 

"That love is only for the lucky and the strong.”

There are a handful of films from the 1970s

that I feel deeply connected to,

that I’ve seen so many times 
I can recite every word,

yet I have not written about them.

It’s harder for me to write about a film I really like

immediately,

or even a few years after seeing,

as opposed to living with the story for a few decades.

And even then, 
sometimes it’s still very hard to write about.

And that has certainly been the case with this film,

this story,

one that had enormous impact on me
when I first saw it

thirty-four years ago this month.

I have a deep connection to The Rose

because it’s a film about a woman I identify with 
emotionally,

like no other.

I was sixteen-years-old when 
Bette Midler first stole my heart

as Mary Rose Foster,

an out-of-control rock and roll singer

on a desperate search for approval, 
acceptance and love.

And I often wondered if 
perhaps I was so emotionally impacted

because I could somehow see in Rose’s story,

the heartbreak 
that would be revealed in my own.

And like her, unable to avoid.

Many thought The Rose was a film 
based on the life of Janis Joplin,

for the similarities are obvious:

Rose is an American singer 
born in a southern united state,

whose rise to fame like Joplin

also took place during the tumultuous 60s.

But Rose’s is a fictional story.

Yet, when you realize that Rose’s story 
is geared toward facing her humiliation 
in her hometown of Florida,

it’s hard not to compare it to 
Janis’ return to Port Arthur, Texas

when she tried to impress those 
at her high school reunion,

dressed up in feather boas 

that did nothing to mask her insecurities.

Like Marilyn Monroe,

another one of my favourite women of all-time,

Janis and Rose wore their hearts on their sleeves;

tragic souls who only ever felt alone,

always alone.
"If you don't have a sense of community 
or a higher power, 
then you blame yourself,
think bad of yourself,
struggle, and try to divert.
One form of diversion is entertaining.
If you can make thousands love you,
you'll be alright.
But in fact,
it makes no fucking difference.
It's a kick when you're on stage,
but an hour and a half later, 
it starts all over."
~ Peter Tork
Like so many women,

I too opened up my lovin’ arms 
and my lovin’ legs

for all the wrong men.

For I didn’t want to give up the dream either;

the dream of meeting a man,

a real man,

the likes of which was Houston Dyer.

Played by Frederic Forrest,

Dyer is the only decent fella in Rose’s story.

Well,

except for Mal (David Keith) 
whom she rescued from the army

to be her personal bodyguard and masseur, 

and who, 
as it turned out,

was the only man still standing up for her

in the end.

By the time you and I, 
and Dyer, 
meet Rose

a lifetime of being misunderstood, 
used, rejected, and dismissed 
had already passed.

Considered by “men” as only good enough

to use for their own gratification,

threatened as they are 
by such a genuine, quick-witted,

foul-mouthed fireball of fearlessness,

Rose became a weary, worn-out woman,

spiralling out of control 
with the emotions of a child,

trying in vain to win their hearts.

She did win Houston’s heart

and he tried to save her,

but Rose was still 
under the control of Rudge Campell,

her manipulating manager 
(Alan Bates).

For Campbell,

Rose represented the almighty dollar,

which meant more to him 
than anything else.

And it was Campbell that drove 
the final nail into her coffin.

Sure, Rudge helped Rose 
in her rise to fame,

but ever since she took on 
her high school football team,

Rose’s only real desire was 
to win approval and acceptance

from the people in her hometown.

So Campell set up 
an enourmous homecoming show for Rose,

and ultimately used it against her.

He is an opportunist after all.

Since 1979,

Midler’s talents as a singer 
and as an actress 
have won her Golden Globes, 
Emmys, a Tony,

and Grammy’s for tens of millions of albums sold 
worldwide.

But The Rose was 
Bette Midler’s motion picture debut.

Her debut!

Mark Rydell, 
the film’s director,

has said that the songs performed in the movie

were well-rehearsed before
presented to a live audience;

a live studio audience that Rydell instructed 
to be completely honest 
in their response to Bette Midler.

Midler of course won them over 
instantaneously.

The Rose won me over 
the moment she stormed the stage

and addressed her audience as motherfuckers!

Glorious she is 
in all her rebellious rock and roll honesty.

Midler has many hilarious lines in the film,

but it’s the dialogue leading up to her rendition of

When A Man Loves A Woman,

that gives the first real glimpse into 
who The Rose is.

Whenever asked to cite what I think is

the best ever female performance of all time,

The Rose singing 
When A Man Loves A Woman 
is it.

Midler turned herself inside out 
for this performance.

It's the most passionate, most soulful, 
and most heartfelt performance of the song 
I’ve ever heard in my life.
"When a man loves a woman,
can't keep his mind on nothing else.
He'll trade the world
for the good thing he's found.
If she's bad, he can't see it.
She can do no wrong.
Turn his back on his best friend
if he put her down."

Rydell was so impressed with 
Bette’s performance

that he kept shooting 
for the length of a normal concert

after which he took the best bits 
for inclusion in the film.

The scene that follows 
Rose’s riveting performance

of the Percy Sledge hit song 
is when we get to meet 
the first real asshole in the story,

second to Rudge.

You see, 
Campbell needs another act to sign

and unbeknownst to Rose,

uses her as bait to try and get 
country singer Billy Ray

(Harry Dean Stanton) 
on his roster.

Rose is a big fan of Ray’s,

but unbeknownst to her,

he is no fan of The Rose.

After being herded 
directly from the concert stage

to Rudge’s helicopter

without time to even change her clothes,

Rose arrives at the trailer of Ray

only to be insulted, hurt and humiliated 
by the hillbilly.

In fact,

Stanton was so good at his put-down

that Bette Midler found herself reacting to him 
like it was really her he was insulting.

Perhaps this is why the emotion that spilled forth

in the scene that followed

was completely believable.

Out in the parking lot,

Rose confronts Rudge 
with understandable rage,

which gets interrupted by asshole number three

who pulls up in a pick-up truck

and asks Rose to sit on his face.

Rose responds by 
cracking a bottle of booze over his head.

I stood up,

saluted, and applauded.

Because you can bet 
Rudge didn’t stand up for her.
"What hurts the victim most
is not the cruelty of the oppressor,
but the silence of the bystander."
~ Eli Wiesel
This film may be about a rock and roll singer,

but it does an outstanding eight-star job 
at depicting assholes,

otherwise known as “men”.
Rose runs away, an emotional mess. 
When she spots a limousine up ahead,
she opens the rear door and slides in.

The driver of the limousine is Houston Dyer,

an army sergeant gone awol

and moonlighting as 
Billy Ray’s chauffeur.

Taking one look at the pain on Rose’s face

Dyer peels out,

leaving Rudge, Billy Ray,

and that lowlife truck driver in his dust.

This is the first time Dyer comes to Rose’s rescue.

The second time is when 
they stop at The Bronx Diner

and are faced with discrimination by 
three more assholes.

Dyer punches one of ‘em out,

making a bowl of hot soup out of his face.

And in the limousine afterward,

Rose beams with joy!

Excited as a little schoolgirl is she,

that a guy, any guy,

would stand up for her like that.

I stood up,

applauded,

and saluted 
again,

times ten!

Rose found her hero,

and I fell in love with him,

completely.

Frederic Forrest was 
Academy Award-nominated for it.

Interestingly, Forrest played the role 
of the mango-loving Chef

in Apocalypse “never get out of the boat!” Now,

which was released a short time before The Rose.

Despite seeing both films 
about nine hundred million times,

from the cinema to pay tv, vhs, 
dvd, and Youtube,

I only recently noticed that 
Forrest utters “Fuckin’ A!” to injustices

in both movies!

Just goes to show, 
there’s always something new every time.

From their hotel bed, 
Rose tests Houston

by revealing her deep dark secret;

a secret that would see most men walk.

Dyer passes her test with flying colours,

proving he could handle her past,

her brashness and her flirtatiousness,

unthreatened by her career or success.

The chauffeur’s cap is discarded

and Houston goes on the road with Rose.

Her only hope now is 
that Dyer stays by her side

at least until she hears that approving applause

from her hometown.

But Dyer’s devotion is tested 
again and again.

One night after finding her alone with 
an old friend,

Houston mistakes compassion for betrayal 

and reacts badly,

abandoning Rose.

And Rose is left heartbroken, 
yet again.

From the very beginning of the film 
and throughout,

it is clear that the road has been too long,

and the night’s too lonely.

Now she’s lost Houston!

And her constant begging of Campbell 
to give her time off

is absolutely pointless.

She’s been on tour forever,

and Campell will never let her stop.

Too much money would be lost!

When Rose finally does arrive in Florida,

she stops by Leonard’s Grocery

where she used to go as a kid

for a moon pie and a Dr Pepper.

Now she goes there for an ego boost.

Mr Leonard remembers her as a kid,

but has no idea 
who she’s grown up to become.

This infuriates Rose.

After all, 
she came back a somebody!

A star!

When Rose shows up at the stadium

on the verge of a nervous breakdown,

Rudge sets his final game plan into play,

telling her 
he’s no longer interested in managing her,

and he’s cancelling the hometown show.

He doesn’t really intend on cancelling

the most important show of her life of course,

for he would lose waaaaay too much money.

Rudge deploys these tactics

to gain complete control of her life.

With no manager,

no homecoming show 
to wash away the guilt,

and no love in her life,

Rose is a heartbeat away 
from complete collapse.

But then the cowboy comes back!

And oh, 
how you want it to work out for them.

But how can it?

Rose’s sense of self is so fucked up,

her emotions so unevolved,

her need for approval so infantile,

that she gets Houston to take her to Monte’s,

the first bar she ever sang.

For singing is the only thing she thinks 
she knows how to do.

It was a huge mistake.

(Love Me With A Feeling,

the blues song she performs at Monte’s

is included on the film’s soundtrack,

in its entirety,

unedited)

Stopping at Monte’s instead of driving

straight to Mexico for a vacation

pushes Houston over the line.

But not before he stands up for her 
one more time.

Enter asshole number seven,

a football player from 
her Florida high school team,

dead set on 
not letting her humiliation be forgotten.

Houston flattens him.

And just as the bar breaks out in a brawl,

Dyer rescues Rose from the stage

and carries her out 
kicking and screaming.

Rose resists because 
she’s still fighting for love

from all the wrong people.

Houston:

“They ain’t never gonna appreciate you!

They don’t know!”

But Rose can’t accept that.

Dyer may have tempted her into 
leaving it all behind

for a cozy Mexican sleeping bag,

but Rose simply can’t toss aside 
all she’s ever known

for something she doesn’t know anything about.

And when Rudge calls on the limo phone,

making her think he’s come crawling to her,

with a stadium full 
of devoted hometown fans waiting,

there’s no saving Rose.

Asshole number eight swoops in,

laying it on her for free.

With the high school football field 
as the backdrop,

Rose medicates inside a phone booth,

just before Rudge’s helicopter arrives

to pick her up 
and deliver her to the Florida stage.

Stay With Me,

the last song Rose sings in the film

is prob’ly the greatest performance 
of them all.

Even moreso than 
When A Man Loves A Woman,

for Rose not only turns herself inside out,

she gives it everything she’s got.

Bette Midler was Academy award-nominated 
for Best Actress in 1979.

So was Sally Field for Norma Rae.

Field was outstanding, yes absolutely, 
and I love her too,

but Midler really should have 
won the Oscar for The Rose,

times ten.

Times a hundred.

In 1983, 
four years after first seeing The Rose,

I saw The Divine Miss M in concert

at Kingswood Music Theatre in Toronto.

And I was ecstatic.

Two years after that,

I saw Bette Midler in Philadelphia

from my seat in the stands at JFK Stadium

when she introduced Madonna at Live Aid.

Of all the other great films Midler has made,

I would say Stella,
the one she made with 
Trini Alvarado and John Goodman  in 1990
is a definite stand-out.
And as a singer,
if you've never heard her version of
Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy
from the 1993 album Experience the Divine,
well, that's simply a must. 
But it's Bette Midler's performance as
The Rose
that long ago meshed with my dna.
Every nook and cranny. 
She'll always be a part of me.



The trailer for The Rose...

The official website for Bette Midler...
http://bettemidler.com/