Beaches

A film about a friendship of more than thirty years. CC and Hillary meet as children on the beach at Atlantic City. One is a talkative girl from New York who wants to get into show business; the other is the daughter of a wealthy San Francisco family. After they part they write to each other for years. The film follows what comes next: CC becomes a singer and is recognised, Hillary works as a lawyer. They meet again and again, argue, fall out and reconcile. The real tension between them is envy: one is famous, the other looks happy, and each wants what the other has. In the final section Hillary is given a serious diagnosis. What the film is known for is its music. Bette Midler plays CC, and the closing song she sings went high in the charts and took on a life independent of the film. Barbara Hershey plays Hillary. Garry Marshall directed. One of the well-known examples of its kind for anyone who likes melodrama built on friendship and films with music. For a viewer looking for restraint, the film raises the feeling openly and the final section hides it not at all.