Heaven Can Wait

Rating:
Summary: Very entertaining and pleasing to all senses.
Review: Julie Christie is very believable and does an outstanding job, as well as Warren Beatty. Is very funny in parts and makes you think about life. Excellent movie for Baby Boomers!

Rating:
Summary: Theologically Suspect...
Review: Just kidding! I actually suspected I might find a killjoy review that might be along the very lines of my little "headline" above. There are always tut-tutters who'll utter, "God doesn't MAKE mistakes!" (I'm thinking of taking up hip-hop by the way).

But almost everyone seems to be in agreement that this is a charming fantasy with a lot of heart. And they're right. This is a sweet-natured movie, perhaps the lightest fare that Warren Beatty ever produced. And of course, GOD doesn't make mistakes, but bumbling newly promoted angels do, at least in fantasy land. In that, this movie pays homage to earlier classics like "It's A Wonderful Life" as well as its source film, "Here Comes Mr. Jordan."

Speaking of "Mr. Jordan," while many of the reviewers here duly praise Beatty, Julie Christie and comic villains, Dyan Cannon and Charles Grodin (perfect pairing), it also bears mentioning that James Mason is perfectly cast in what would have been the title role if they hadn't gone and changed the title. It's hardly a stretch for him, but like the rest of the cast he seems to be having a great time. In fact, that's one of the secondary pleasures of HEAVEN CAN WAIT. Sometimes, you slog through a particularly painful film, because it's a masterpiece(genuine or reputed), but you figure it had to be agony to make. HEAVEN CAN WAIT is not like that at all. They probably served angel food at the wrap party!

Rating:
Summary: Theologically Suspect...
Review: Just kidding! I actually suspected I might find a killjoy review that might be along the very lines of my little "headline" above. There are always tut-tutters who'll utter, "God doesn't MAKE mistakes!" (I'm thinking of taking up hip-hop by the way).

But almost everyone seems to be in agreement that this is a charming fantasy with a lot of heart. And they're right. This is a sweet-natured movie, perhaps the lightest fare that Warren Beatty ever produced. And of course, GOD doesn't make mistakes, but bumbling newly promoted angels do, at least in fantasy land. In that, this movie pays homage to earlier classics like "It's A Wonderful Life" as well as its source film, "Here Comes Mr. Jordan."

Speaking of "Mr. Jordan," while many of the reviewers here duly praise Beatty, Julie Christie and comic villains, Dyan Cannon and Charles Grodin (perfect pairing), it also bears mentioning that James Mason is perfectly cast in what would have been the title role if they hadn't gone and changed the title. It's hardly a stretch for him, but like the rest of the cast he seems to be having a great time. In fact, that's one of the secondary pleasures of HEAVEN CAN WAIT. Sometimes, you slog through a particularly painful film, because it's a masterpiece(genuine or reputed), but you figure it had to be agony to make. HEAVEN CAN WAIT is not like that at all. They probably served angel food at the wrap party!

Rating:
Summary: Theologically Suspect...
Review: Just kidding! I actually suspected I might find a killjoy review that might be along the very lines of my little "headline" above. There are always tut-tutters who'll utter, "God doesn't MAKE mistakes!" (I'm thinking of taking up hip-hop by the way).

But almost everyone seems to be in agreement that this is a charming fantasy with a lot of heart. And they're right. This is a sweet-natured movie, perhaps the lightest fare that Warren Beatty ever produced. And of course, GOD doesn't make mistakes, but bumbling newly promoted angels do, at least in fantasy land. In that, this movie pays homage to earlier classics like "It's A Wonderful Life" as well as its source film, "Here Comes Mr. Jordan."

Speaking of "Mr. Jordan," while many of the reviewers here duly praise Beatty, Julie Christie and comic villains, Dyan Cannon and Charles Grodin (perfect pairing), it also bears mentioning that James Mason is perfectly cast in what would have been the title role if they hadn't gone and changed the title. It's hardly a stretch for him, but like the rest of the cast he seems to be having a great time. In fact, that's one of the secondary pleasures of HEAVEN CAN WAIT. Sometimes, you slog through a particularly painful film, because it's a masterpiece(genuine or reputed), but you figure it had to be agony to make. HEAVEN CAN WAIT is not like that at all. They probably served angel food at the wrap party!

Rating:
Summary: DVD version has problems.
Review: One of the best movies ever. Problem is that the DVD seems to have some slight problems. Overall sound is not loud enough, it seems muted somehow and volume fluctuates slightly in places. Also, some of the scenes in the film are kind of blurry and fuzzy. Not a catastrophe but it is a little disturbing. Somehow the impact of the film is diminished. Anyway, the movie is great, so regardless of these minor problems, get it asap!

Rating:
Summary: 'You put me in a closet!!'
Review: Rarely has a story been this whimsical and fun. I own an old, OLD, VHS tape of this and am on the brink of replacing it with a DVD. I saw the original film a long time ago, and (not meaning to cast any negative opinions) remember nothing about it except that it felt heavier and more disjointed. This version is peerless- from the comic, slightly neurotic turn of angel (and co-writer) Buck Henry, to the extremely neurotic, over-the-top performance of socialite wife Dyan Cannon. Her scenes with Charles Grodin ("yes, Mr. Farnsworth") feebly trying to hide their affair are hysterical. The best moments are with the genteel, easygoing James Mason and trainer Jack Warden (a nice guy who I always felt got short-changed at the end of the film). There's also a certain magical quality felt when hearing the line (used several times throughout) "there's nothing to be afraid of." In fact, there isn't.

Rating:
Summary: Heaven does wait...
Review: Recently I watched the new DVD release of a classic favorite Heaven Can Wait. Twenty-three years after it's screen release, the delightful Warren Beatty film still has the power to enchant and make me smile.

Beatty is superb. Julie Christie is wonderful. Dyan Cannon hasn't changed at all through the years and is as beautiful now as she was then. The entire cast brings the story of a brand new angel who wanted to "save" Joe from so much pain at his death that he brought him out of his body early. Yes, the angel killed him. This angel's first assignment shows the mistakes any beginner can make, of course the ramifications are larger. Joe would not have been between the crashing cars.

Joe refuses to go to heaven; he wants to be returned to his body -- but it has been cremated. Reviewing many body-replacement opportunities (of those who died, but the death was undiscovered) he ultimately sees Farnsworth. He wasn't that interested in being an out-of shape murder victim, until Julie Christie, who has come to demand that her small town be spared a refining plant that would destroy them, comes to the Farnsworth estate in her regal fury that Joe says, "Yes! I'll be Farnsworth. Temporarily." The screen sizzles with romance (rather than today's explicit scenes) as angel Joe is smitten.

To the delight of audiences, Beatty tries valiantly to be Farnsworth, but finds it impossible because he has a basic good-hearted nature while Farnsworth was more interested in making money. Follies and surprises follow Joe in his new life, but it was temporary and the murderers are still lurking.

I do believe a scene was cut, and perhaps several. There was a scene where's Joe's new idea to advertise his tuna canning never kills "thinking fish" or porpoises and charged one or two cents more per can. In the original movie I believe they showed the amazing results as grocery stores everywhere sold more of his tuna than any other brand.

Still, it is a feel-good five star movie, whether a scene was cut or not.

Rating:
Summary: Movie Making with All Cylinders Firing!
Review: Romantic comedy has rarely been served up as seamlessly as in this most under-appreciated film. The quality of the acting and direction have been described by numerous reviewers.

But little has been said about the superb soundtrack music by Dave Grusin, the composer for Tootsie, On Golden Pond, The Fabulous Baker Boys, The Firm, Racing with the Moon, Three Days of the Condor, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, and countless other films and television series.

Grusin's melodies and arrangements don't merely provide musical accompaniment. His total understanding of each scene combined with his command of orchestral nuance is evident as the film glides along on the rails of Grusin's compositions.

If you are building a library of great romantic comedies, it shall always be incomplete if you do not own "Heaven Can Wait."

The same can be said for the soundtrack CD. But, sadly, no such CD exists.....yet.



Rating:
Summary: Beatty Tour de Force
Review: This 1978 film qualifies as a Warren Beatty tour de force in that he starred, directed, and co-wrote the screenplay with Buck Henry, who also had a key supporting role in the film. Beatty picked a sound project, a remake of the popular Robert Montgomery film, "Here Comes Mr. Jordan."

"Heaven Can Wait" is a movie about a man who makes the most of a second chance after a mistake. The film reveals that anybody can make mistakes, even emissaries from on high. Just when Beatty had soared on planet earth to the level of receiving a start for the Los Angeles Rams at quarterback against the Dallas Cowboys he decides to go for a ride on his bicycle. He becomes an accident fatality and is then directed by Buck Henry to the airplane that will take him to the next level. When supervisor James Mason arrives it is learned that a mistake has been made and Beatty was not slated to arrive until well into the second decade of the twenty-first century. Instead of boarding, as planned, Henry instead escorts Beatty back down to earth to reassume his former role as a Ram quarterback. They arrive too late as graveside rites are being delivered.

Eventually Beatty is given a new life, that of a wealthy industrialist with an international reputation of polluting the environment and doing whatever else it takes to win. Charles Grodin, the industrialist's executive secretary, along with disloyal wife Dyan Cannon believe they have killed him, only to have Beatty emerge in the other man's persona. An immediate change is observed after Julie Christie arrives as a spokesperson from a small British town whose people stand to suffer from a factory the industrialist wishes to build. Rather than spurning her protest, Beatty shocks Grodin, Cannon, and the conglomerate's board of directors by siding with Christie.

Eventually Grodin kills off Beatty's second persona, after which he receives yet a third. The same Ram quarterback with whom Beatty competed goes down at a crucial moment in the Super Bowl at the Coliseum. Beatty assumes his persona and directs the Rams to a winning touchdown in overtime. In the meantime, while the game was being played, Ram trainer and Beatty friend Jack Warden help police to solve the murder of the industrialist, with Grodin and Christie being implicated. The film ends with a meeting between Christie and Beatty, after which they go out for coffee, appearing to have much in common.

Warren Beatty was on familiar ground playing quarterback in the film. He had been a good enough running back at his Virginia high school to merit scholarship offers from universities, which he spurned to seek a career in acting. Beatty handled his quarterback chores well enough in the film to prompt a quip from Pat Haden, an actual Ram quarterback of the period: "The Rams oughta give Warren a tryout."

Rating:
Summary: Heaven Can Wait
Review: This film is for anyone who doesn't think a movie needs to be depressing or degrading to be good. It has many funny moments that still make me laugh out loud, but it also has romance and sports, too! And there's just a sweetness to it that you rarely find in movies. If you are not generally a Warren Beatty fan, let me say that I'm not, either. In fact, this is the only movie of his I've seen where I enjoyed his performance, but I loved him in this. Julie Christie is beautiful, of course, and there are many stellar supporting performances headed up by Charles Grodin and Dyan Cannon. I've never seen the original version of this story, but if the remake is any indication, it must have been something out of this world. This movie is suitable for the whole family, but that doesn't mean it's simple-minded. It's just so good it doesn't need a lot of bad language or sexual situations to hold it together.