Funny Girl (film) "funny girl" with her body, voice, gesture, and character, tying together her Jewishness and oddness. The film values women over men and portrays the men as dependent to their women; it reverses the gender roles. "Funny Girl" helped change the way women were viewed and used comedy to deflect Jewish mockery. Streisand was widely praised by critics, with "The New Yorker"s Pauline Kael calling it "A bravura performance ... As Fanny Brice, she has the wittiest comic inflections since the comediennes of the 30s; she makes written dialogue sound like inspired improvisation. ... Streisand's triumphant talent rides right over the
Ray Stark went on to produce many notable films from the 1970s to the early 2000s, including "The Owl and the Pussycat" (1970), "The Way We Were" (1973), "Murder By Death" (1976), "The Goodbye Girl" (1977), "Seems Like Old Times" (1980), "Annie" (1982), and "Steel Magnolias" (1989). In 1974, Rastar was acquired by Columbia Pictures, which included Rastar Productions, Rastar Pictures, Rastar Features, and Rastar Television. Ray Stark then founded Rastar Films, later selling it to Columbia Pictures in 1980. Although stage and film actress Anne Bancroft was the initial first choice to play Fanny Brice in "Funny Girl", (the biopic production