For the Boys

For the Boys
Promotional poster
Directed by	Mark Rydell
Produced by	Bonnie Bruckheimer
Written by	Marshall Brickman Neal Jimenez Lindy Laub
Starring	Bette Midler James Caan George Segal
Music by	Dave Grusin
Cinematography	Stephen Goldblatt
Editing by	Gerald B. Greenberg (as Jerry Greenberg) Jere Huggins
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date(s)	November 22, 1991 (1991-11-22)
Running time	138 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$40,000,000
Box office	$23,202,444

For the Boys is a 1991 film which tells the story of Dixie Leonard, a 1940s actress/singer who teams up with Eddie Sparks, a famous performer to entertain American troops. The film traces her life through 50 years. The original music score was composed by Dave Grusin.

The film was adapted by Marshall Brickman, Neal Jimenez and Lindy Laub from a story by Jimenez and Laub. It was directed by Mark Rydell. It stars Bette Midler, James Caan, George Segal, Patrick O'Neal, Christopher Rydell, Arye Gross and Norman Fell.

Bette Midler was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance. The movie soundtrack features adaptations of many classic songs, including "Come Rain or Come Shine", "Baby, It's Cold Outside" by Frank Loesser, "P.S. I Love You", "I Remember You", "Every Road Leads Back To You" and the Beatles' "In My Life". Many of these have lyrics by Johnny Mercer.

Although the film is fiction, actress/singer Martha Raye believed that Midler's character was based on many widely-known facts about her life and career with the USO and pursued legal action based on that assumption, but ultimately lost the case. The Caan character was generally believed to be based on Bob Hope.

In 2011, the film was adapted for the musical stage by Aaron Thielen and Terry James and debuted at the Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire, Illinois.

Plot

In the early 1990s, retired entertainer Dixie Leonard (Midler) has a commitment to attend a Hollywood ceremony being televised live to honor her and longtime show-biz partner Eddie Sparks (Caan).

When a young man from the TV show comes to pick her up, Dixie balks. She explains what brought Eddie and her together and drove them apart. The bulk of the film is an extended flashback.

Dixie tells the story of how during World War II, she received an offer to go overseas and become a part of Eddie's act in entertaining the troops. Dixie is an immediate hit with the boys in uniform, but Eddie wants her gone, ostensibly because he finds her kind of humor too coarse, but really because she topped his jokes and stole the show. Dixie doesn't care for him much either, but fellow entertainers and her joke-writer uncle (Segal) persuade her to stay.

Eddie wins her over, particularly by reuniting Dixie with her soldier husband on stage. Later in the war, however, Dixie's husband is killed in action.

Despite her distaste for Eddie, she continues working with him back in the U.S. to support herself and her son. Eddie is married with daughters, but treats Dixie's son as if he were his own.

The two bickering performers go overseas twice more to entertain the troops in the Korean War and the Vietnam War. They endure the horrors of combat, the sin of temptation where they appeared to have slept together after seeing a soldier killed in action, the taint of McCarthyism and, ultimately, the death of Dixie's son in Vietnam.

Dixie has not forgiven Eddie for his part in all this. But, at the last minute, because he speaks of their joined loss in Vietnam, she consents to join him on stage for one last song and dance, before appearing to accept their mutual love for one another.

Cast

• Bette Midler as Dixie Leonard
• James Caan as Eddie Sparks
• George Segal as Art Silver
• Patrick O'Neal as Shephard
• Christopher Rydell as Danny Leonard
• Arye Gross as Jeff Brooks
• Norman Fell as Sam Schiff
• Rosemary Murphy as Luanna Trott
• Bud Yorkin as Phil
• Dori Brenner as Loretta
• Jack Sheldon as Wally Fields
• Karen Martin as Victoria Lee
• Shannon Wilcox as Margaret Sparks
• Michael Greene as Maj. Gen. Scott
• Melissa Manchester as Corrine
• Steven Kampmann as Stan Newman
• Richard Portnow as Milt, Recording Studio
• Pattie Darcy as Myra, Recording Studio
• Beau Dremann as Army Messenger, Recording Studio
• Jameson Rodgers as Danny Leonard (at 4), Recording Studio
• Gary Gershaw as Stage Manager, England
• Jim Raposa as Dancing Airman, England
• Patrick White as Audience Airman, England
• Christopher Kaufman as Band Person, England
• James Patrick as Captain, England
• Christopher Wilkinson as Niles LaGuardia, New York
• Andrew Bilgore as Nervous Production Assistant, New York
• Brandon Call as Danny Leonard (at 12), New York
• Hayley Carr as Ann Sparks, New York
• Kimberly Ann Evans as Kate Sparks, New York
• Kelly Noonan as Merry Sparks, New York
• John O'Leary as T.V. Censor, New York
• Stewart J. Zully as T.V. Stage Manager, New York
• Deborah Stern as Showgirl, New York
• Heidi Sorenson as Showgirl, New York
• Bruce Gray as Sponsor #1, New York
• Richardson Morse as Sponsor #2, New York
• Matthew Faison as Sponsor #3, New York

Many of the U.S. Marines from Camp Pendleton, California were going to be used as extras in some scenes. Unfortunately, Operation Desert Shield started and many of them had to be shipped to the Middle East. Producers had to hire clean-cut civilians to fill the ranks.

Awards and nominations

Awards

• Golden Globes: Best Actress - Musical/Comedy (Bette Midler)

Nominations

• Academy Awards: Best Actress (Bette Midler)
• Golden Globes: Best Original Score (Dave Grusin)

Bette Midler lost the Academy Award to Jodie Foster that year for her performance in the Best Picture-winning film The Silence of the Lambs.
Dave Grusin lost the Golden Globe to Alan Menken that year for his score for the Disney film The Beauty and the Beast.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack album is composed largely of standards popular from the era, although several were written after the time period the film takes place.

1. "Billy-a-Dick" (Bette Midler)
2. "Stuff Like That There" (Bette Midler)
3. "P.S. I Love You" (Bette Midler)
4. "The Girl Friend of the Whirling Dervish" (music by Harry Warren, lyrics by Al Dubin and Johnny Mercer)
5. "I Remember You/Dixie's Dream" (Bette Midler and James Caan)
6. "Baby, It's Cold Outside" (Bette Midler and James Caan)
7. "Dreamland" (score by Dave Grusin, Alan Bergman and Marilyn Bergman)
8. "Vickie and Mr. Valves" (written by Lenny La Croix)
9. "For All We Know" (Bette Midler)
10. "Come Rain or Come Shine" (Bette Midler)
11. "In My Life" (Bette Midler)
12. "I Remember You" (Bette Midler)
13. "Every Road Leads Back to You" (Gary Le Mel, Bette Midler)

Two Bette Midler singles were issued from the soundtrack, although neither performed particularly well on the U.S. singles charts. "Every Road Leads Back to You" peaked at #78 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #15 on the Adult Contemporary chart, while "In My Life" reached #20 on the AC chart while failing to register at all on the pop side.

Reception

Many reviewers noted that James Caan seemed miscast in the role of comedian Eddie Sparks (a caricature of Bob Hope) and wondered why co-star George Segal, who as an actor had proved equally adept at comedy and drama, wasn't cast in the role instead.

External links

• For the Boys at the Internet Movie Database
• For the Boys at Box Office Mojo
• For the Boys at AllRovi