The Main Event
Opened June 1979
The Main Event was conceived as a star vehicle that would reunite Streisand and her What's Up Doc? costar, Ryan O'Neal. Streisand summed it up in her DVD commentary by saying, "It was my third picture for First Artists— I had a three picture deal. It was a funny script and Ryan [O'Neal] and I wanted to work together again."
Ryan O'Neal trained for the role of the boxer. "I had to box 150 rounds just to prepare for this movie."
The Main Event started filming in October 1978 around Los Angeles. Since the script wasn't finished as filming began, Streisand constantly worked on it with writers Gail Parent and Andrew Smith. "We used to have lunches and work on the script," Barbra confessed. Often, director Howard Zieff, Streisand, O'Neal and the writers would do a rewrite just before lensing a particular scene.
(Above: Streisand takes a look through the camera eyepiece on set.)
The script drew its conflict from the battle of the sexes. Gail Parent explained that "in order to have a good male-female comedy, they have to be equal."
Streisand elaborated, "What is exciting is not for one person to be stronger than the other, not for the man to be stronger than the woman, and not for the woman to be stronger than the man, but for two people to have met their match. And yet, they are equally as stubborn, as obstinate, as passionate, as crazy as the other."
Director Howard Zieff shot most of the film in Los Angeles. "I like shooting at real locations instead of studio sets," said Zieff. "Our first day's shooting took place outside the famed Main Street Gym in downtown Los Angeles," he recalled. "There's nothing like setting up the cameras at the actual site, especially when you realize that such boxers as Joe Louis worked out there."
(Photo above) Jon Peters and Barbra on the set of “The Main Event.”
Next stop was another female-oriented gym. Gilda's Gym was an exercise salon in Beverly Hills. "Streisand is a regular at the gym during off-screen hours," Howard Zieff shared, "and here she is, before the cameras, performing sexy 'body tucks' as Paul Sand, who plays her ex-husband, struggles to tell her that she's been swindled of all her assets."
The Knockout Driving Academy, shaped like a boxing glove, was an interesting set to build. "We were supposed to shoot the scene in Long Beach," said Zieff. "But instead we constructed the driving school on a residential Los Angeles street—in the shape of a two-story high boxing glove!"
(Above: Director Zieff works with O'Neal and Streisand on the set in Long Beach, Calif. Below: Two of the “Kid Natural” costumes from the film which were auctioned by Barbra.)
Other locations utilized by the film crew were a hot dog stand on the corner of La Cienega and Beverly Boulevards, and the mountains near Big Bear Lake (for the wintry training scenes). "The major fight sequences were shot at the legendary Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles," said Zieff. "It was a very real situation —with cheering and booing fight fans—perfect for the climactic encounters between Streisand and O'Neal, both inside and outside the ring."
(Above) Barbra posed with the documentary crew from Kaleidoscope Films, who put together the featurette, "Getting In Shape For the Main Event".
Mario Tosi photographed The Main Event and had the job of making Streisand look her best in the film. During early tests and the first week of shooting, Tosi said Streisand “was trying to tell me where to put the lights and suggesting that we do things a certain way.” Tosi went on to tell authors Schaefer and Salvato (in their book Masters of Light: Conversations With Contemporary Cinematographers) that he was eventually able to “sneak in a few more elements of cinematography that I felt were necessary such as filters or a certain way of lighting. Gradually I was able to photograph her in different key [lighting]; she later told me she had never been photographed that way before.”
Tosi explained how Streisand originally wanted “these big, enormous, old fashioned scoop lights sitting on top of the lens. So we started with that but slowly I started bringing in my white cards and bounching the light at an angle. She got used to it and, in fact, enjoyed it.”
“With a lady expecially,” Tosi stated, “you cannot use hard lights. The quality of the bounce light enhances beauty.” Tosi also confessed that he employed diffusion nets on the camera lens when he photographed women. “I started using nets a little bit on Barbra Streisand on The Main Event.”
Warner Brothers released The Main Event DVD in 2003. The bonus featurette ("Getting In Shape For the Main Event") was included on the DVD as a bonus feature. The featurette has lots of bloopers and behind-the-scenes shots, as well as a few cut scenes.
There was an early demo version of the “Main Event/Fight” song used in the original featurette. It sounds like the DVD people replaced the song with the single version that we all know and love.
Barbra's commentary on the DVD is scene-specific, meaning that when you select this option the DVD plays an edited version of scenes from the film with Barbra's audio commentary. It's short, but interesting. Barbra identifies her sister, Roslyn Kind, in the exercise class; she talks about getting ideas for the ending from the crew; also, a funny tidbit about a Donna Karan shirt she wore.
(Above) Francesco Scavullo Photographs ... Scavullo shot the promotional photographs for “The Main Event”. Streisand and O'Neal posed in various ways for the photographer. Streisand also posed solo in her film costumes. (Below) Streisand and O'Neal kibitz in the dressing room for the Scavullo session.
Cut Scenes
Below are a couple of cut scenes from The Main Event.
(Top): Hillary drinks orange juice on a card table after she's had to auction off all her furniture due to financial difficulties. (Bottom) Paul Sand, as Hillary's ex-husband, David, had a few extra scenes in The Main Event which were snipped short. Here, after that gorgeous scene in which Hillary faces the beach at sunrise, David comes up behind her.
End.
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