Up the Sandbox

Starring:Barbra Streisand, David Selby, Ariane Heller, Terry Smith (VII), Gary Smith (VIII), Jane Hoffman, John C. Becher, Jacobo Morales, Paul Benedict, George S. Irving, Steven Britt, Ji-Tu Cumbuka, Caryn Matchinga, Juan Canos, Conrad Bain, Norman Fields, Beth Luzuka, Sully Boyar, EfraÃn LÃ³pez Neris, Lee Chamberlin
Director: Irvin Kershner
Studio: Warner Home Video
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

What's Up, Doc? (1972)
Director Peter Bogdanovich (The Last Picture Show) tipped his hat to the classic screwball comedies of the 1930s, and especially the most glorious of them all, Howard Hawks' Bringing Up Baby. Barbra Streisand plays a charming flake who distracts a self-absorbed musicologist (Ryan O'Neal). He's engaged to be married, but soon Streisand's character has him chasing after stolen jewelry and getting into one madcap fix after another. Bogdanovich, who is also a film critic, understands the engine of the screwball genre, and his loving revival of the form brings a smile, though it is not quite consistently inspired or funny. There are plenty of great moments, however, including a slap at O'Neal's own star-making vehicle, Love Story. --Tom Keogh

Up the Sandbox (1972)
Although not as successful as What's Up, Doc? or The Way We Were, Up the Sandbox springs from the early 1970s, when Barbra Streisand's career was in full stride. Streisand stars as Margaret, a stay-at-home mom in the middle of New York who's feeling the strain of her narrow life. Frustrated by her self-involved husband and the emotionally rewarding but mentally unstimulating tasks of motherhood, she escapes into fantasies--such as being hit on by a cross-gendered Fidel Castro, bombing the Statue of Liberty with black militants, and having a furious catfight with her overbearing mother. The movie's strength lies in these fantasies' slippery nature; some are over the top, but others are so subtle you're not always sure where they start and stop, making the portrait of Margaret's psyche intriguingly complex. Streisand fans should check out this sleeper. --Bret Fetzer

The Main Event (1979)
Comedic misfire from the mid-1970s in a futile attempt to bottle the same lightning that struck when Barbra Streisand teamed with Ryan O'Neal in What's Up, Doc? Here, Streisand plays a spoiled rich girl, the head of a bankrupt cosmetics company, who discovers she's lost everything--except her ownership of the contract of a washed-up boxer (O'Neal, known for his combative nature offscreen). So she tries to rally this dispirited pug into a comeback that will earn the kinds of purses that will put her back on her feet. Naturally, in the process romantic sparks are kindled. But despite a loud and energetic performance by Streisand, this Howard Zieff comedy doesn't add up to much. --Marshall Fine

Nuts (1987)
Barbra Streisand is a mad high-priced "escort" accused of murder, but whether she's mad as hell or mad as a hatter is the question in this courtroom drama, adapted from the play by Tom Topor. While her doting, willfully uncomprehending mother (Maureen Stapleton) and stepdad with a secret (Karl Malden) try to have her judged incompetent and sent to an asylum, she fights for her day in court with the help of a hapless legal aid attorney (a refreshingly understated Richard Dreyfuss). James Whitmore presides over the hearing with a compassion and sense of justice that gives one faith in a system and la Streisand (who developed and produced the project) sinks her teeth into the tempestuous role like a starving actress. The plot holds few surprised, but the drama lies in the characters and veteran director Martin Ritt (Hud) brings out the best in a top-flight cast. --Sean Axmaker

Customer Reviews:

Barbra Streisand's best comedy, "What's Up Doc.".......2006-03-18

Outstanding! This is one of the best comedies that I have seen. (I saw it in the theatre when it first came out.)

Terrific Set .......2005-05-13

In this whole boxset when i first got it i had only seen "Nuts" the most underrated Streisand film it has the quality OF A GREAT PERFORMANCE , The performance was superb this movie should have at least been nominated for an Acadamy Award for best actress The Supporting cast was also Great."Up The Sandbox" is another great movie it shows great things that Margret ( Streisand) went through its one of my favorite streisand films.The Main Event was good at some parts but not the greatest streisand film.Whats Up Doc is defenitly a great screwball comody. This movie really had some great and memorable moments. So if you like Barbra or any of these films its a good boxset to buy.

One great movie.......2004-11-24

'What's Up Doc?' is a five-star movie, no doubt about that. Streisand's best role probably, and a film that's so well made it will be watched for years to come. It's so good, people tend to learn half the script to quote in everyday life. But we knew that was good.
I wanted to have that on DVD, and thought I may as well, considering the price, have three other movies as a bonus.
The best of the rest is 'Nuts', and Barbra gives a truly compelling performance alongside an excellent Dreyfuss. It's a good pairing. The script is good, and the movie, whilst not exactly ground breaking, is pretty good.
'Up the Sandbox' is a curiosity, but not entirely a success. What I do like is Barbra's rather ordinary character Margaret, which she plays with understatement and compassion. What I don't like is when her fantasies are extended into fifteen minute epics, one like a very poor James Bond episode, and one tedious African jungle adventure. The director used poor judgement here. Still, it's an interesting period piece, and I love the bit when Barbra shoves her mother's head into her birthday cake...
'The Main Event' is dreadful. It's the clunker of the four. Our Barbra, sporting a hideous hairdo of tight red curls, plays a woman who coaches a boxer who dropped out after an earlier incident, and there are scenes of boxing, training, and guess what happens at the end? It's impossible to make it sound interesting. The plot is tedious, the script awful and the actors desperate-seeming. The only good thing about this DVD is that it props up the other ones in the box set.
But hey, you're still getting 'What's Up Doc?' so who's complaining?
The bonus is that there are good extra features on the DVDs: commentary by Barbra herself, then the director, and one or two ther bits and pieces, like a mini-documentary from US TV about the making of 'Up the Sandbox'. The commentary is from 2003, so it's nicely up to date and offers an interesting view of the past by actors and directors.

Wonderful Set.......2003-08-21

Every movie here is great, and very differnt from one another! Barbras Warner Years were very eclectic, Sandbox seems to get better with age, The Main Event has always been funny and entertaining, Nuts is drama at its best and then theres the gem of them all Whats Up Doc, Barbra is hysterical, Madeline Cahn is Hysterical, The whole Movie is one great laugh, a ride you want to go on time and time again!!!

Streisand DVD Set.......2003-07-21

It's really unfortunate that the first review posted on this site regarding this DVD set is by someone who is rude and disgusting. I don't ever want to read about someone deficating. Ok you didn't like it, but do you have to be so sick and cruel on top of it? Streisand is far from washed up. LOL

Amazon.com

Though not as successful as What's Up, Doc? or The Way We Were, Up the Sandbox springs from the early 1970s, when Barbra Streisand's career was in full stride. Streisand stars as Margaret, a stay-at-home mom in the middle of New York who's feeling the strain of her narrow life. Frustrated by her self-involved husband and the emotionally rewarding but mentally unstimulating tasks of motherhood, she escapes into fantasies--such as being hit on by a cross-gendered Fidel Castro, bombing the Statue of Liberty with black militants, and having a furious catfight with her overbearing mother. The movie's strength lies in these fantasies' slippery nature; some are over the top, but others are so subtle you're not always sure where they start and stop, making the portrait of Margaret's psyche intriguingly complex. Streisand fans should check out this sleeper. --Bret Fetzer

Description

A woman contemplates trying to tell her husband she is pregnant yet again, her attempts puncuated by her own fears and fantasies.

Customer Reviews:

Barbra's Worst.......2007-05-14

I love Barbra Streisand and I couldn't believe just how bad this movie was. I was very disappointed but would have bought it anyway to add to my collection.

Strange, Overlooked, Underrated, Controversial I Think.......2006-12-31

This is probarly one of Barbra's most underrated films she ever made. The movie is about a young wife & mother, living in New York (where Barbra was born & raised), raising her two children while her husband (David Selby) works day & night as a professor at some college. After Barbra finds out that she is pregnant for the third time, she starts to slip into outrageous fantasies, everything from Fidel Castro being a woman, (which I totally understand now, thanks to Barbra's commentary for the movie) to thinking her husband is having a affair with one of his co-workers at the college. It seems that watching this film I like it more & more each time, for the funny part I knew what was & was not a fantasy, for the reality part I didn't get what was behind the little things that you don't really understand or notice, until you listen to the commentary with Barbra. I really liked this film & up to this point this was Barbra's most dramatic role yet and she is great in it!, so check it out!.

Underappreciated Dramedy With Streisand Superb as a Confused Wife and Mother.......2006-06-28

It's a shame that this 1972 dramedy is not better remembered because it holds up quite well and probably contains Barbra Streisand's most impressive performance in a contemporary setting. She portrays Margaret Reynolds, an ordinary New York City housewife and mother of two, who finds out she is pregnant again. Beset with a workaholic academic husband and a suffocating mother, she undergoes a major identity crisis and gets lost in periodic fantasies that provide an outlet for her deepest feelings. While the film has an undeniable 1970's "I'm-OK-You're-OK" tone about it, the story is a mature character study of its proto-feminist heroine thanks to Paul Zindel's perceptive screenplay based on the best-selling novel by Anne Richardson Roiphe.

Moreover, director Irvin Kershner brings a great deal of humanity to the film even as the fantasies escalate in scope and incredulousness. These include a revealing tango with Fidel Castro; a bomb planted inside the Statue of Liberty (deeply ironic that the World Trade Center is still under construction in the background); a disastrous confrontation at her parents' 33rd anniversary party; the fatalistic rituals of a female-dominated Samburu tribe in Kenya; and a dream-like sequence at an abortion critic. Sometimes, the transitions between real-life and fantasy are too subtle to be completely effective (for example, using incidental characters as major figures in the fantasy sequences), but Kershner shows an intimate understanding of the heroine's evolution even if the final resolution seems rather pat.

For once, Streisand is naturally radiant and blessedly life-sized with little of her chutzpah-driven mannerisms. She plays it so low-key that you wish she would do more indie films to show her vulnerable side. Smaller roles are ably filled with David Selby nicely underplaying her preoccupied husband Paul. The 2003 DVD is quite a treat with Streisand and Kershner providing insightful commentary on separate tracks. Unlike her brief track for "What's Up, Doc?", Streisand speaks throughout the film and still seems very passionate about it, articulating the various themes and explaining what kind of movie they were trying to make. Along with the original theatrical trailer (which seems quite confused as to what it is marketing), there is also an interesting ten-minute vintage making-of featurette that focuses mainly on Streisand's travels to Kenya to film the tribal fantasy sequence.

up the sandbox.......2006-03-14

Funny, enjoyed the new york scenery,this movie was reminscent of
the late 60s early 70s womens movement.

Slyly subtle art movie is sometimes alienating..........2005-06-29

Barbra Streisand is very good(very un-Streisandy)in this comedic drama about the exploration of an ordinary housewife and mother of two in N.Y.C. whose inner-fantasies explode after finding out she's pregnant for the third time. With a brilliant but busy husband, a harping mother, and a gaggle of girlfriends who mostly worship their men, Streisand's Margaret is confused and conflicted, but not hapless. She's a clever thinker, and the segues into fantasy are slyly done, with many takes on the sexes and role-reversal(the bit with Fidel Castro, and an abortion doctor who could be a man or a woman). I think we're so used to bombastic responses and crazy camera-tricks(from music videos and TV sitcoms)that something quiet and arty like "Up the Sandbox" can go over a lot of viewers' heads(it did in 1972 too). As Streisand's commentary will attest, some of the scenes could have been shaped differently or had more interesting dialogue, but it's a highly original vision, intriguingly directed. And Streisand amazingly slips right into this non-showy role; she's terrific imagining unseen things about a man in an elevator or battling with her domineering mama. She also looks fabulous as photographed by the incomparable Gordon Willis.

The Streisand Collection (What's Up Doc / Up The Sandbox / The Main Event / Nuts) [4 DVD Box Set]

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The Streisand Collection (What's Up Doc / Up The Sandbox / The Main Event / Nuts) [4 DVD Box Set]
Starring: Barbra Streisand
Manufacturer: Warner Brothers
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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