The Rose (Criterion Collection) (DVD)

Bette Midler exploded onto the screen with her take-no-prisoners performance in this quintessential film about fame and addiction from director Mark Rydell (On Golden Pond). Midler is the rock-and-roll singer Mary Rose Foster (known as the Rose to her legions of fans), whose romantic relationships and mental health are continuously imperiled by the demands of life on the road. Incisively scripted by Bo Goldman (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest) and beautifully shot by Blow Out's Vilmos Zsigmond (with assistance on the dazzling concert scenes by a host of other world-class cinematographers, including Conrad L. Hall, Laszlo Kovacs, Owen Roizman, and Haskell Wexler), this is a sensitively drawn and emotionally overwhelming melodrama that made the popular singer into a movie star as well.

Starring: Bette Midler, Alan Bates, Frederic Forrest, Harry Dean Stanton, Barry Primus, David Keith, Sandra McCabe, Will Hare, Rudy Bond, Don Calfa, James Keane, Michael Greer, Doris Roberts, Sandy Ward, Claude Sacha, Michael St Laurent, Sylvester Heart, Pearl Heart, Butch Ellis, Richard Dioguardi, Luke Andreas, Seamon Glass, John Dennis Johnston, Jonathan Banks, Jack O'Leary, Harry Northup, Cherie Latimer, Pat Corley, Dennis Erdman, Hugh Gillin, Joyce Roth, Constance Cawlfield, Dimo Condos, Lorrie Davis, David Garfield, Kathryn Grody, Jack Hollander, Frank Speiser, Sandra Seacat, Chip Zien, Ted Harris, Annie McGuire, Hildy Brooks, Jack Starrett, Victor Argo, Kelly Boyd, L D Frazier, Lawrence Guardino, Thomas Kubiak, Phil Rubenstein, Charles McCarthy, Danny Weiss, Steve Hunter, Robbie Louis Buchanan, Jerome Noel Jumonville, Norton Buffalo, Mark Leonard, Mark Underwood, Pentti Glan (Whitey), Rodney Dillard, Douglas Dillard, Byron Berline, Mark Jordan, Fred Backmeier, David Kalish, Gary Ferguson, Greg Prestopino, Bill Elliot, Jon Sholle, Scott Chambers, Harry Stinson, Daniel Weiss