Beaches (also known as “Forever Friends”), is a 1988 Academy Award nominated movie adapted by Mary Agnes Donoghue from the novel Beaches by Iris Rainer Dart. It was directed by Garry Marshall, and stars Bette Midler, Barbara Hershey, John Heard, James Read, Spalding Gray, Lainie Kazan, Mayim Bialik and Marcie Leeds.
The film’s theme song “Wind Beneath My Wings” went on to win the best song Grammy in 1989.
Tagline: Friends come and go but there’s always one you’re stuck with for life.
Story
The film begins with Bette Midler’s character trying frantically to travel to her friend’s side, however, we are not told why at that point. She starts to remember how she met Hillary, and how their lives were interwoven.
Rich girl Hillary Whitney (Marcie Leeds) and child performer Cecilia Carol “CC” Bloom (Mayim Bialik) meet under the boardwalk on the beach at Atlantic City, New Jersey. Hillary is lost and CC is hiding from her overbearing stage mother (Lainie Kazan). They become fast friends, growing up and bonding through letters to support each other.
A grown up Hillary (Barbara Hershey) goes on to study law at Stanford Law School as is her family’s tradition and becomes a human rights lawyer. In the meantime, now-adult CC’s (Bette Midler) burlesque career starts to take off. They write to each other regularly and give updates on their lives.
Then one night, Hillary shows up at the dive bar where CC is performing, having travelled to New York on an impulse. She is tired of feeling trapped in her life and feels suffocated by her family’s expectations of her. She soon gets a job with the ACLU, whereas CC now makes money by performing birthday singing telegrams, usually dressed in a rabbit or chicken suit. While she’s staying with CC in her apartment, they become closer and even vie for the love of the same man (John Heard). But a cloud comes over Hillary’s life in the form of her father becoming ill, and she is forced to return to San Francisco to look after him.
After her father passes away, Hillary marries his lawyer, Michael Essex (James Read). CC marries John, her producer, and the bond between the two women starts to decline. Hillary and Michael return to New York to see CC on Broadway, by which time she has become a popular vaudeville act. CC finds out that Hillary has quit being a lawyer. The friends have an argument in Bloomingdales department store, with CC angry that Hillary has just given up on her dreams, and Hillary responding that CC has become no more than a “pretentious, social climber” who is obsessed with her career. The two women part ways, and unbeknownst to each other, they both feel incredible sadness over the loss of their friendship. CC tries to reconnect with Hillary, but Hillary throws herself into being a dutiful, but unchallenged wife.
Later, they reunite when Hillary divorces her husband. And they discover that they have been secretly jealous of each other for years, without realising it. Hillary is upset that she has none of the talent or charisma that makes CC be noticed, but as CC is quick to retaliate, Hillary stands out for reasons that CC has always been deeply envious of – she is both beautiful and intelligent! The two then realise that their feud could have been avoided by honest communication, and an appreciation of each others most recognised qualities. Hillary tells CC that she is pregnant, but also that she caught Michael cheating on her, and that he wants nothing to do with the child he has fathered, planning to marry his mistress instead. Hillary admits that she has already decided to keep the baby, and raise it as a single parent, a decision that wins her much admiration from the fiesty and always independent CC. CC promises she will stay and help her out. She leaves for a short time because she is promised a lead part in a new musical, but she does return for the birth and faints in the operating room, as usual stealing the attention from Hillary. Hillary has a daughter, whom she names Victoria Cecilia (Grace Johnston).
When Victoria is a young girl, Hillary finds herself easily exhausted and breathless; a state she contributes to her busy schedule as an attorney. But when she collapses at work and is rushed to hospital, she is diagnosed with viral cardiomyopathy, a debilitating cardiac illness. As she learns more about the illness, it becomes clear that she will most likely die as a result of it, and will not live to see her daughter grow up. This plunges her into a state of depression, which she inadvertently takes out on CC, who she sees as “having energy, and who is fun”, in comparison to her now debilitated state.
Eventually, Hillary moves out of the anger and depression, and begins to accept her prognosis bravely. When CC makes a comment to Hillary that she knows everything that there is to know about her, Hillary replies under her breath, that she’s “counting on it”.
Shortly after, Hillary collapses yet again. CC races to the hospital in San Francisco after driving all night from Los Angeles. Hillary, close to death, tells CC that her one last wish is for Victoria to not see her in that state. CC arranges to get Hillary discharged from hospital so that she can spend her last hours saying goodbye to Victoria. They return to the beach house where they spent their last summer, and CC does all she can to make the most of her best friend’s final moments of life. It is then assumed that Hillary dies, with CC by her side. After having met on a beach, the two friends are forced to say goodbye to each other on one as well.
After the funeral, CC reveals to Victoria that her mother wanted her to live with CC. CC admits that she has no idea what kind of a mother she will make, but she tells her, “there’s nothing in the world that I want more, than to be with you”. She then takes Victoria into her arms and the two console each other in their grief.
CC returns to the Hollywood Bowl to complete the concert that she was forced to postpone because of Hillary’s illness, and we learn that CC Bloom now enjoys almost iconic status as a performer. After the show, she leaves the stage with Victoria in hand, and begins reciting tales of when she first met Hillary. Just as Hillary had hoped she would.
Nominations and awards
Included on the soundtrack was Bette Midler’s performance of “Wind Beneath My Wings”, which became an immediate smash hit.
It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Art Direction (Albert Brenner and Garrett Lewis).
The beach house in the movie is located in Crystal Cove State Park.
Trivia
* In the Seinfeld episode “The Understudy”, Jerry’s girlfriend was watching Beaches on TV and began crying. She then got mad because Jerry refused to console her. The use of Beaches was an in-joke in that the episode guest-starred Bette Midler.
* On The Megan Mullally Show, Megan’s guests played a game “Beaches or JAG” in which they heard a line and had to decide whether it was from Beaches or JAG.
* In the episode “Death” in Absolutely Fabulous, Edina’s (Jennifer Saunders) ex-husband Marshall (Christopher Ryan) dates a therapist (Gwen Humble) who describes herself as having known great sadness in life, simply because she has “sat through Beaches twelve times”.
* CC Blooms is the name of the biggest gay nightclub in Edinburgh, capital city of Scotland, named after the Beaches character.
* In an episode of The Steve Harvey Show, Regina suggest that her and Steve watch Beaches, to which Steve cannot overcome the fact that Hilary dies.
The Soundtrack
Tracklist :
* 01 Under the Boardwalk
* 02 Wind Beneath My Wings
* 03 I’ve Still Got My Health
* 04 I Think it’s Going to Rain Today
* 05 Otto Titsling
* 06 I Know You By Heart
* 07 Glory of Love
* 08 Baby Mine
* 09 Oh, Industry!
* 10 The Friendship Theme
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