SparkMore
n my opinion it was a great movie with some interesting elements, even though having some plot holes and the ending probably was just too messy and crammed together, but still fun to watch and not your casual movie that is similar to all other ones.
Janis
One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.
rzajac
Just saw it, and I loved it! What struck me was the beauty of the writing; truly intelligent and exciting dialog, solidly worldly and then suddenly transcendent. There was this one moment near the end where Montand is giving Daisy his impassioned pep talk, leading to a capstone pronouncement. He pauses.... And I knew exactly what he was going to say before he said it; and not because it was melodramatically predictable, but rather because it was magnificently true.My only qualification is a "drat it" regret that not all the songs were great. Half were well crafted, and the other half are poor-to-middling, with one having truly cringe-inducing lyrics. That's too bad; dropped the ball there. But the blockbuster songs are excellent. I'd always wanted to hear more Montand, and there he was giving the songs the timing and smooth delivery one expects from a great entertainer.I can see why some folks think of this as a lesser period piece. But, like I said, I feel the writing lifts this out of the period and invites us to listen and watch with everything we have. And isn't that what art is supposed to do? Watch it.
Amy Adler
Daisy Gamble (Barbra Streisand), a young Manhattanite engaged to a stuffy businessman, needs to quit smoking in the worst way. Her fiancé, you see, is angling for a higher paying job and is hoping to make the best impression possible on his future bosses. A chain-puffing partner, therefore, might be a liability. To help her overcome her addiction, Daisy seeks out the aid of a psychology professor, Dr. Marc Chabot (Yves Montand) who specializes in hypnosis. But, once under Chabot's "spell", Daisy channels a former life, where she was a British rags-to-riches lady named Melinda. In a strange twist of fate, Chabot falls in love with Melinda and schedules sessions with Daisy, just to talk to her past self. Daisy, on the other hand, soon has her heart set on the doctor. In this unusual love triangle, what will be the result? And, what about Daisy's former stepbrother, Tad (Jack Nicholson), who may have deep affection for his once-upon-a-time sibling himself? This is a nice and very unusual story, set to fine music. The cast is wonderful and musically gifted, as Streisand and Montand can sing with the best of them and act up a storm. The supporting cast, including Nicholson, is mighty talented, also. The New York City setting is compelling and the costumes are very well selected, especially Streisand's more unusual outfits. The camera work is a bit dated but not really a distraction to the story's telling. About the only objection any viewer might voice would be the running time of the flick, for it is a bit long. Nevertheless, it is possible to watch a film in two settings, is it not? For fans of Ms. Streisand, musicals, or imaginative tales, here is clearly a film you will enjoy, either for a day or forever.
Maciste_Brother
I'm not a big Barbra Streisand fan. I've seen a couple of her films and I never liked them, so when I watched ON A CLEAR DAY YOU CAN SEE FOREVER, my expectations were low. After seeing ON A CLEAR DAY, I'm still not a Streisand fan but I have to say that it's the first time I enjoyed one of her films. It's not altogether successful and some of Streisand's usual shtick was annoying from time to time.The main problem with ON A CLEAR DAY was the structure of the story. It's very uneven and because there are several different timelines, one taking place in the present, and two or three during the past, plus the myriad of songs sung by Streisand and the great Yves Montand, sometimes in different styles, the whole thing just didn't jibe. To make matters worse, the movie is filled with an endless number of incongruous ideas and themes, many of them borrowed from other musicals of the 1960s (MY FAIR LADY, CAMELOT, OLIVER, etc), or original to this musical but still conflicting with each other, like ESP, reincarnation, hypnotism, regression, multiple personalities, making plants grow faster, blackmail, court cases, death penalty, Streisand's square boyfriend, smoking, etc, none which are fully explored and with everything ending up muddled for nothing.There are even more problems with ON A CLEAR DAY. The story is never clear over what we're supposed to feel for Streisand and Montand. Are they supposed to fall in love? Were they supposed to be lovers or were they always supposed to remain platonic because of the doctor - patient relationship? Does Montand only love Melinda? Where were they going with all the conflicts between the two? The resolution of their relationship is not satisfactory at all.Then there's the whole tedious part when Montand is in trouble with the university and he might lose his job. This plot point served no purpose at all and should have been left on the cutting room's floor. And the film is painfully dated during the contemporary scenes. There was just too much going on. Like DARLING LILI, another ill-fated musical released in 1970, ON A CLEAR DAY suffers from a clear case of multiple personalities. Unlike LILI, this Streisand musical is not a disaster. It's just that the story and direction were all over the place. There was no focus and if there was a story that needed focus, it's this one. With better direction, and without the dated set-up in the contemporary scenes, this film could have been amazing. There are still nuggets of greatest to be found here and there amidst the beautiful mess. My favorite scene is the one when we hear Streisand singing "Love With All The Trimmings" while Babs, as Melinda Tentrees, flirts with the ridiculously handsome John Richardson. It's so over-the-top in it's depiction of romance novel lushness that the only thing you can do is admire this bit of nonsense. In fact, if you don't think too much about ON A CLEAR DAY and follow it for what it is, the movie is pure escapism. You're sorta whisked away into an adventure that takes place in the mind. I just wished it knew what it wanted to be and that Streisand wasn't wearing those dated & scary 1960s clothes.
mrsastor
In a lot of ways this film points out exactly what is wrong with the musical genre in my opinion.Here we have a very entertaining story, the Daisy Gamble character is fascinating (although it is absolutely implausible that Daisy would have ever been engaged to a yutz like Warren), but the entire production would have been immensely better with all of the songs removed. Ms. Streisand's opening and closing songs are fine, but the majority of the songs within the movie are terrible and only disrupt and distract from what is otherwise a cute story. Yves Montand's songs are particularly dreadful, even his swear-word strewn finale' "Come Back To Me" is regrettable. Whoever told him he could sing?! If you can overlook the terribly annoying songs (just fast forward, when people stop flailing their arms about, they're usually through singing), it's really fun movie.
