The Paramount mountain was certainly busy and flowing with cash in the late spring-summer months of 1978 with three box-office smashes: The Oscar Nominated Best Film "Heaven Can Wait", the screwball comedy "Foul Play" ("Kojak, Bang Bang!") and the musical blockbuster "Grease". I saw each of these films more than once during that summer, a transition time for me, and the memories come flooding back each time I see even a movie still or quick clip from any of those films. "Heaven Can Wait" is an excellent remake of an equally excellent 1940's classic, "Here Comes Mr. Jordan", changing the dead character from boxer to football player but pretty much keeping everything else the same.
Robert Montgomery's boxer was killed in an airplane crash, coming back to earth due to the fact that an overzealous angel took him before waiting for the outcome. Warren Beatty's football player is bicycling through the Hollywood Hills and killed by speeding automobiles going through a tunnel. Escorted into heaven's waiting station by the same overzealous angel (Buck Henry), he insists that he doesn't belong there. Head angel Mr. Jordan (James Mason) discovers that indeed, he was supposed to arrive years later, and now they must find another body for him to return to earth in. More concerned with getting to the super bowl, Beatty turns down the variety of bodies he is given, and finally settles for a murdered millionaire whose wife (a hysterically funny Dyan Cannon) and assistant (Charles Grodin) conspired against. Now Beatty must not only get himself ready for the superbowl, he must also prevent his second demise which he tries with heavenly guidance.
Julie Christie, Beatty's oft 1970's co-star, gives a light-hearted performance as a British activist out to prevent a nuclear plant from being put into her home town. Of course, that becomes a major plot point to get them together romantically and gives Beatty something more to do than just turn millionaire Farnsworth's mansion into a football training camp. In great support, there's Jack Warden as Beatty's former coach stumped by his "return", Arthur Malet and Joseph Maher as eccentric servants (having an amusing conversation concerning Beatty's constant meeting with the invisible angel James Mason in a closet) and Vincent Gardenia as the police investigator who exposes the crimes at Farnsworth Mansion.
A great screenplay by Beatty, Elaine May and Robert Towne makes this delightful fantasy flow with witty dialog, and the co-direction by Beatty and Buck Henry keeps things at a light-hearted pace. This is a film definitely worth sharing with family, and one you will want to see again and again.
Robert Montgomery's boxer was killed in an airplane crash, coming back to earth due to the fact that an overzealous angel took him before waiting for the outcome. Warren Beatty's football player is bicycling through the Hollywood Hills and killed by speeding automobiles going through a tunnel. Escorted into heaven's waiting station by the same overzealous angel (Buck Henry), he insists that he doesn't belong there. Head angel Mr. Jordan (James Mason) discovers that indeed, he was supposed to arrive years later, and now they must find another body for him to return to earth in. More concerned with getting to the super bowl, Beatty turns down the variety of bodies he is given, and finally settles for a murdered millionaire whose wife (a hysterically funny Dyan Cannon) and assistant (Charles Grodin) conspired against. Now Beatty must not only get himself ready for the superbowl, he must also prevent his second demise which he tries with heavenly guidance.
Julie Christie, Beatty's oft 1970's co-star, gives a light-hearted performance as a British activist out to prevent a nuclear plant from being put into her home town. Of course, that becomes a major plot point to get them together romantically and gives Beatty something more to do than just turn millionaire Farnsworth's mansion into a football training camp. In great support, there's Jack Warden as Beatty's former coach stumped by his "return", Arthur Malet and Joseph Maher as eccentric servants (having an amusing conversation concerning Beatty's constant meeting with the invisible angel James Mason in a closet) and Vincent Gardenia as the police investigator who exposes the crimes at Farnsworth Mansion.
A great screenplay by Beatty, Elaine May and Robert Towne makes this delightful fantasy flow with witty dialog, and the co-direction by Beatty and Buck Henry keeps things at a light-hearted pace. This is a film definitely worth sharing with family, and one you will want to see again and again.