For the Boys

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For The Boys is also the name of a song by The Cardigans.

For the Boys
Promotional movie poster for the film
Directed by	Mark Rydell
Produced by	Bonnie Bruckheimer
Written by	Marshall Brickman Neal Jimenez Lindy Laub
Starring	Bette Midler James Caan
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
Running time	138 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
Gross revenue	$17,860,000
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

For the Boys is a 1991 feature film which tells the story of an 1940s actress/singer who teams with 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 movie 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 her. Raye threatened legal action. The Caan character was generally believed to be based on Bob Hope.

[edit] 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 because he finds her kind of humor too coarse. Dixie doesn't care for him much either, but fellow entertainers and her joke-writer uncle (Segal) convince 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 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, 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 Viet-nam, she consents to join him on stage for one last song and dance.

[edit] Main cast

Actor	Role
Bette Midler	Dixie Leonard
James Caan	Eddie Sparks
George Segal	Art Silver
Patrick O'Neal	Shephard
Christopher Rydell	Danny Leonard
Arye Gross	Jeff Brooks
Norman Fell	Sam Schiff
Rosemary Murphy	Luanna Trott
Bud Yorkin	Phil
Jack Sheldon	Wally Fields
Melissa Manchester	Corrine