For Pete's Sake

Barbra Streisand shines as a woman helping her husband (Michael Sarrazin) get through school, whatever it takes. What takes place is very funny because he has no idea what she does all day as he's working as a cab driver in New York City. She keeps all of her hilarious misdeeds from him, hoping to be able to make the money he needs for school. She'll do anything...all for Pete's sake. My rating: 8

Struggling financially, a young couple needs quick cash to invest in pork bellies, prompting the wife to concoct a series of wild schemes to raise the cash. This is basically a vehicle for Streisand to engage in some zaniness, trying to duplicate the success of "What's Up, Doc?" a couple of years earlier. Unlike the latter film, however, this one does not have a particularly inspired script. Babs tries hard, but is unable to raise the material beyond a level of mild amusement. To pay off loan sharks, she goes through a series of jobs, including prostitution (taken rather lightly), each meant to setup hilarious situations but the payoff isn't there.

This romantic comedy from 1974 features Barbra Streisand as she was reaching her stride as an acting and comedy talent. Her husband is 1970's star Michael Sarazzin as the tall, long-haired, bell bottomed jeans taxi driver who fills the role as the romantic interest. The other talent on display is Estelle Parsons as the social climbing sister-in-law who delivers a long list of catty remarks aimed at putting the couple down; no doubt resulting from jealousy over their hot sex life. The 1970's produced a lot of great movies, including comedies, and this is certainly one of them. It is full of belly laughs from start to finish. Streisand is the harried housewife trying to make ends meet in the inflationary 1970's. Her interactions with her friends and business people in her Brooklyn neighbourhood will delight viewers. When she gets involved in a crazy scheme to raise money for her husband's foray in the futures market, the gags come in rapid succession. Lots of fun, it's a look back at the 1970's with anxieties that now seem somewhat homespun by today's standards. I saw it when it first came out and seeing it again was well worth the time.

Although I have been aware of this film for a long time, it was only after watching its amusing theatrical trailer – on THE OWL AND THE PUSSYCAT (1970) DVD – that I became eager to watch it. The end result proved to be a patchy affair but, nevertheless, it does have its fair share of belly-laughs and, in any case, watching Streisand in kooky mode is always fun; Estelle Parsons and William Redfield are her hubby (Michael Sarrazin)’s well-to-do and snobbish relatives who particularly look down on Streisand.

It clearly emulates the screwball style of WHAT’S UP, DOC? (1972), parodies THE FRENCH CONNECTION (1971) – the underground station cat-and-mouse chase between Gene Hackman and Fernando Rey is performed here by a disguised Streisand and a persistent police dog! – and it also homages Buster Keaton’s GO WEST (1925) in the urban cow stampede sequence and Luis Bunuel’s BELLE DE JOUR (1967) in the role-playing encounters during Streisand’s disastrous stint as a call-girl! British action director Yates was surprisingly roped in for this, but he seems to have enjoyed the experience as his next project was on similarly zany lines – the black comedy MOTHER, JUGS AND SPEED (1976; which I’ll be watching presently).

Another notable sequence sees the heroine involved, unbeknownst to her, in terrorist activity (she’s asked to deliver a package in disguise to a similarly-dressed woman) – which eventually rebounds on her shady brother employers! Similarly, one of the best lines has Streisand’s nonchalant black maid (she hires a Hispanic woman to do her own cleaning-up!) who, admiring the former’s tenacity, tells her: “Girl, you could even sell a Confederate flag in Harlem!”

The first 30 minutes or so of "For Pete's Sake" are amusingly on-target: Brooklyn housewife Barbra Streisand drops her husband off at work on their motorcycle and then pops a wheelie; she proceeds to forge a battle of the bills with the grocery store cashier, the insurance company, the banker, and the telephone company exec (Anne Ramsey, pre-"Throw Momma From The Train"). All this time, Streisand is in terrific comedic form, her expressions more and more incredulous. A dinner with her husband's relatives is equally funny, but "Pete" starts to give out somewhere after this. Barbra can't pay back loan sharks and has to work as a prostitute, a bomb deliverer and a cattle rustler. This last job gives the movie its big slapstick scene, which was a groaner even in 1974. Clearly a rip-off of Streisand's "What's Up, Doc?", it features a stampede of cows down the Columbia backlot accompanied by some of the silliest "country" music I've ever heard. If the filmmakers had kept the movie on a grounded level--and kept Streisand as the perfect Everywoman--this might have been a dead-on satire of the ailing economy. As it is, it's passable fluff. **1/2 from ****