Funny Girl

Fanny Brice's rise from vaudeville stages to the Ziegfeld Follies, and her marriage to the gambler Nicky Arnstein. Barbra Streisand had played the part on Broadway and came to the film with it. The result is unique in cinema history: she tied for Best Actress with Katharine Hepburn for The Lion in Winter, the only tie in the category's history. William Wyler had never made a musical and turned it down at first over hearing loss. Then he accepted, with the explanation that if Beethoven could compose symphonies he could direct a musical. Casting Omar Sharif as Nicky Arnstein became a crisis mid-shoot. When the Six-Day War broke out between Israel and Egypt, studio executives considered replacing him, and both Wyler and Streisand threatened to walk. The film's popularity in Egypt then triggered a campaign there to strip Sharif of his citizenship. On a 14.1 million dollar budget it grossed 58.7 million and was the highest-grossing film of 1968 in the United States, taking eight Oscar nominations. Who it is for: viewers who love classic Hollywood musicals and Streisand. Who it is not for: anyone sensitive to length. It runs 155 minutes and the second half slows noticeably.