So I just completed a marathon of all 4 “A Star is Born” movies. Here is my assessment of each in oder from Best to Least good. In all 4, a young, talented woman is discovered by an older, declining male star. They fall in love, marry, and her career rises while his falls due to addiction. Tragedy strikes when he dies by suicide, prompting her emotional tribute at the end. 2018 – The best version starring Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper. Deals with the modern music industry. The music is really good in this one. Not sure I really buy the chemistry of the two actors. Cooper plays his role as a complete mess really well. 1954 – This could have been the best had it now been for some minor flaws. Stars Judy Garland and James Mason. Very good production and both actors do a great job. Seems overly long and the musical numbers are dated by today’s standard. Had they not committed so much to the musical numbers, I would have rated it the best version. Also, minor annoyance comes from having the longer restored scenes added as some of the video is lost and replaced with still photos while the audio continues which is very annoying. 1937 – Stars Janet Gaynor and Fredric March. This is the shorter of the group. They could have made it longer and developed the characters more but, hey, it was 1937. 1976 – Stars Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson. Kristofferson does a good job in his role. However, I wish they had got a really Outlaw Country or Rock artist to portray the female lead. Streisand’s music just doesn’t cut it for what they were trying to pull off. As a result, it’s a little hard to watch. Also, does he commit suicide in the end or just have an accident?

This film, though not perfect, perfectly showcases Streisand and Kristofferson at their artistic peak. This is also the film where Streisand cements herself as the greatest popular vocalist of the 20th century.

I had the vinyl soundtrack for six years and have never heard any singer before or since with the otherworldly control and pitch perfection of Streisand. I’ve also never seen a movie which is worse than it’s soundtrack. Quite a feat! Just buy the soundtrack. It’s so much better than the movie.

Best movie ever! My all time favorite! The music is fantastic and Kris and Barbra are amaizing. I have watched this movie over 200 times easily.

Chemistry, music , acting are top-notch. Such a great movie.

One of my favorite love story. Chris and Barbra are the best "a star is born" couple.

My favorite movie to remind me how great the 70s were!

I was a small child when the movie came out and I was able to watch it for the first time recently. Great movie! Hats off to Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson for their performances.

I’m usually close to agreeing with audience view but seldom with critics. I fell in love with this movie in 1976 and keep loving it. Kris Kristofferson was at his sexiest and the chemistry with Barbra Streisand was real. The songs are mostly memorable but Kris was what dreams are made of.

I was 14 when this movie came out and I thought it was the greatest love story. I’ve watched it several times as an adult and the music and that 70’s vibe is still the best!

Worst of the remakes. Egotistical actors who think tgey are better than a rotten script but are not. Original still tge best.

Although the story is obviously timeless, having been filmed multiple times over the last 80 years, this version feely incredibly dated to me in almost every aspect. From the music to the fashion to the hairstyles and everything in between, this is definitely a 1970s film - and there's nothing wrong with that. I praise 80s movies all the time. It just stuck out to me more than the other versions. Not unlinked the 1954 version, this has Streisand written all over it, and unfortunately Kristofferson is not a strong enough actor to keep up with her. I did not believe that these two were in love, which makes the ultimate decision made by one of the characters at the end totally meaningless and without any emotional depth. I love Streisand - one could reasonably argue she is the greatest female vocalist ever - but I've always had a bit of an issue with her dramatic acting. It's hard to explain, but it's almost like she's afraid to break a nail - the words and actions are there, but there's a bit of a disconnect. A fight between the two leads after an infidelity by Kristofferson feels particularly awkward and badly acted. But criticism aside, I still found this very watchable and an interesting time capsule of the 1970s. And it's utterly fascinating to see Gary Busey seemingly human.

I appreciate the attempt to make something that's truly different that the other two, but it doesn't really work. The Garland one is often a shameless showcase, but at least its one that meshes with its star's talents in a realistic way. Streisand, while obviously a fantastic performer, isn't really the right choice for a film set in the pop-rock world. She's got the voice, but she always looks out of place in the film (especially when she sings a "funk" number). It doesn't help that once Kristofferson and her become lovers it gets really boring.

Streisands voice is exquisite but the movie is dated and messy.

The story of a hard partying rock star who stumbles across the talented Barbara Streisand at a dive seemed interesting enough, however, the numerous full length bad songs were such that I found myself fast forwarding through them.

ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT. The story is so engaging and romantic. LOVED IT, the performances are great!!

I found this film a bit cold to start with, in as much as I couldn't quite figure out what the initial plot was supposed to be. Its very music centric, with the first scene being a concert performance and given there was no dialogue between the characters, I'd like to think its perfectly reasonable to be a bit confused. I felt the plot became a bit more clear and a bit more credible after a while - ok, perhaps credible isnt quite the best term but I felt interested enough in what would become of the washed out singer/performer and the young hopeful, to keep watching. There are some certainly entertaining musical numbers provided by Streisand and some interesting draam centric scenes but I wouldn't say its the kind of film that really kept me glued to the screen and desperate to find out what happened. Its a fairly enjoyable watch, its not awful, although there are certainly some cliches present in the script, as well as the obvious cheesiness but then if you watch a film such as this, the target audience possibly hopes/expects it, to an extent. I admit I struggled to feel particularly sorry for the down-and-out'er (played by Kris Kristofferson). Overall I felt this was an ok watch - not especially good and certainly not great, it didn't strike me as having a great deal of substance, which is what I didn't like but if you can hang around for the first 40 minutes or so, it does get a bit better compared to the start and is an alright watch, so I'm going for a 3 star rating overall.

I loved it when it first came out in 1976 and still one of my all time favorites! I don't understand who anyone could not love this movie as I do!

Really terrible. Saw this when I was young person- age 22, just re-watched at age 68. First of all, Streisand and Kristofferson are utterly mismatched- zero chemistry and the acting is stiff, wooden and just bad. I think this was made at the zenith of Streisand's egotistical ride up the career ladder. Next came, Yentl- another megaton bomb. Even the music sucks- Evergreen- a pretty song is also utterly out of place.

It's been very interesting watching the same basic story told 4 (or 5, really) different ways as each movie has had its own set of strengths and weaknesses, with this one probably being the oddest of them all. Perhaps tastes were different in '76 but to me they chose a guy near the top of the heap of dudes I'd enjoy looking like with the excellent beard, mop of hair and semi-permanent look of inebriation, then paired him with the most bizarrely unattractive leading lady I think I've ever seen in a movie. I've never been a Streisand stan and I disliked her Meet the Fockers role intensely, so there's probably some bias showing, but my goodness it's like they weren't even trying to make the love story believable here as the two don't seem remotely compatible with each other. She obviously sings quite good but the genre is jarringly different from Kristofferson's to the point where instead of appreciating her talent I found myself imagining having paid for a rock concert and having her be put on the stage instead. I like this story regardless what they did with it and Kristofferson's entire section of it was very well-done, but the nail in the coffin for me is that from my understanding there are roughly three million Grammy categories as I've never clicked on a musician's Wiki page and not seen them at least nominated for one, leaving the stakes of the movie incredibly low when compared to the ones where the main character wins an Oscar. I didn't mind the running time and they wrapped things up pretty quickly when Kris's character arc was finished, so it ends up not being the worst iteration of this story!