Sweet Charity (1969)

Overrated and overhyped

Brilliant and touching

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

In Sweet Charity, Shirley MacLaine plays Charity, the original hooker with a heart of gold. Well, that's not entirely true; Sweet Charity is a remake of the Italian film The Nights of Cabiria, which won the Oscar for Best Foreign Film of 1957. In any case, the hooker with a heart of gold archetype is embodied by the protagonist in this story.While the Italian film is depressing beyond belief—Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love the movie and have seen it many times—the musical is slightly different. There are many dramatic, depressing musicals, and this isn't one of them. It's fun and colorful with uplifting songs, a lighter title, and a generally sunny disposition. I won't spoil anything, but if you're looking for a downer, try Oliver instead.Shirley MacLaine is darling! I know, it seems like I'm always talking about how cute she is, but she is particularly adorable and charming as Charity. Shirley got her start as a dancer, and in this movie, she's able to really show off her skills (and her legs). It's a Bob Fosse musical, so if you've never seen his choreography before, prepare yourself for a very different type of dancing. Dancers will stand perfectly still for several beats, breaking the stillness by a single shoulder shrug or finger flick. It's a very controlled, intense, stylized kind of dancing, one that uses a Hollywood camera to its advantage. The dance numbers are beautifully directed and framed in each shot. Usually, you'll either love Bob Fosse or hate him, so it might be a determining factor in your enjoyment of the film.It's difficult to pull off the heart of gold hooker role convincingly. In my opinion, Giulietta Masina conveys the "seedy hooker" aspect of the character a little better in the original version, but it's also a darker, sadder film, so that makes sense. In Sweet Charity, Shirley MacLaine chews gum and sports a heart tattoo on her shoulder, but that's about it. Still, she nails the hopeful, utter faith in human nature aspect, which delights audiences and draws them into her story.When I first watched the movie, I wasn't really too impressed with the songs. Now that I'm older and have written three musicals myself, I actually like Cy Coleman's and Dorothy Fields' creations better. For me, part of what makes an effective musical song is if the melody conveys the words of the song, even if the words are hidden. In "Big Spender", the famous song all the streetwalkers sing to a potential customer, the melody captures the boredom they feel, as well as the frustration simmering underneath. You can really feel it's a song that's been sung a hundred times a night. In "If They Could See Me Now", another famous song that Shirley MacLaine sings with a top hat and cane, it actually sounds like it's being sung on her tiptoes, while she's excited and afraid if she shouts it'll echo off the walls. And finally, one of my favorites, "There's Gotta be Something Better Than This": you can truly feel the frustration boiling over as the girls finally declare they've had enough of their terrible lives. To see what I mean, watch the YouTube clip of the song, and if you like it, rent the movie!

Shirley MacLaine tries very hard to keep this overly long chapter of love-seeking alive but somehow doesn't reach a productive synergy with Bob Fosse whose creativity seems to oddly slip whenever he has to concentrate on her quirky performance. She has no chemistry with John McMartin either, and their on-screen characters are so totally unsuitable for each other that watching their attempt at relationship unravel for the sake of their mere mutual unsuitability is not very interesting.The few masterful dance numbers are among the most spectacular ever seen on the screen, but they come during the first half an hour after which there's still two hours to sit through, with every scene and most later musical numbers having the feeling that cutting a third off might have made them all better.

Shirley MacLaine is excellent in this underrated, brassy musical based on the Italian classic film, NIGHTS OF CABIRIA.MacLaine plays Charity Hope Valentine, a sweet but rather clueless woman who works in a dance hall but yearns for love. She's constantly linking up with men who use her, take her money, dump her. The film opens with Charity in Central Park with her "boyfriend." Sitting on a bridge, she chirps about making a wish and throwing something off the bridge. The creep shoves her into the water.She has two wiser-but-cynical pals, played by Chita Rivera and Paula Kelly. They seem resigned to their fates as dance hall girls but there's still an ember of hope for a better life.Charity meets an Italian film star (Ricardo Montalban) and spend the night with him ... in his closet. She then meets a repressed man (John McMartin) in a stalled elevator and seems to have found happiness at last..... But is happiness in the cards for Charity? MacLaine seems to channel Gwen Verdon (who starred in the show on Broadway and who worked with MacLaine on the dance numbers) and excels in the many productions numbers, especially "If They Could See Me Now" and "Somebody Loves Me at Last." MacLaine also has a spirited rooftop dance number with Rivera and Kelly as they opine "There's Gotta Be Something Better Than This." The show-stopper is probably the "Big Spender" number which features MacLaine, Rivera, and Kelly with a line of dance hall girls who try to lure men to be their partners. It's a sensational number that shows Bob Fosse's choreographic skills and also demonstrates the cynical life of a dance hall girl.Other great numbers include MacLaine and Montalban's visit to the Pompeii Club where the dancers go through a series of landmark Fosse dances. The lead dancer here is the sensational Suzanne Charny. Among the dancers are also Ben Vereen, Lee Roy Reams, and Chelsea Brown.Sammy Davis turns up the heat with the "River of Life" number which shows Charity and Oscar (McMartin)seeking meaning and discovering the 60s counter culture. Then there's Stubby Kaye as the dance hall manager who throws Charity a wedding party and sings "I Love to Cry at Weddings." This is a hugely underrated musical filled with great music and production numbers. Big, bright, brassy, and brazen, what's not to love? MacLaine won a Golden Globe nomination.

This zany "tart-with-a-heart" story is something of an undiscovered gem. I'd never seen it on TV, before catching it recently on TCM.Made in 1969, the action takes place at tail-end of the 60's flower power era, though the anachronistic situation and predicament of the Charity, the "dancer-for-hire" and her associates comes direct from the 1950's. In fact, the constrained lives and world-weariness of the dancers and their poignant attempts to escape their hum-drum lives contrasts sharply with the fast-developing and affluent culture all around them.The musical numbers by Cy Coleman and Dorothy Fields, including "If My Friends Could See Me Now", "I'm a Brass Band" and "Hey, Big Spender", are simply stupendous and would grace any top-quality musical score. The "pièce de resistance" is, however, Sammy Davis Jr's astonishing cameo in "Rhythm of life", which made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up and has had a new lease of life lately after being used in commercials.As for the dancing, I'm not usually a big fan outside of Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly, but I found the dance routines entertaining, inventive and startlingly original, if not to say witty. It's certainly given me a whole new appreciation of Bob Fosse.It's a long film and there are times when it seems to drag a little, but MacLaine exudes a certain bruised charm which keeps us interested in the story and it's characters. In fact, at it's heart, the plot concerns a dilemma that all of us should be familiar with: when things aren't going well, is it possible take stock of our life and change it for the better?