Heaven Can Wait (1978)

Overrated

An Exercise In Nonsense

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

A Los Angeles Rams quarterback, accidentally taken away from his body by an overanxious angel before he was meant to die, returns to life in the body of a recently murdered millionaire. The insane plot and the good and talent cast can't make Heaven Can Wait work since it's jokes and it's characters are more than boring and bland and the whole package fails to work in the end. (0/10)

"Heaven Can Wait" is one of the most original movies from the 1970s that I have ever seen and is one of the best sports movies ever made with such a heartbreaking story and intelligent romance. The movie stars Warren Beatty in his first movie as a director as the Los Angeles Rams quarterback Joe Pendleton who has the admiration of his teammates and coaches and it is almost super-bowl time in the beginning of the movie. Then Pendleton gives his coach Max Corkle (Jack Warden) a birthday cake and wishes him a happy birthday and then gets to talking about super-bowl game plans, after that scene we see Pendleton go bike riding in the street and he dies in an accident and then goes to heaven while not even knowing he was dead. When he comes into heaven he meets the escort to heaven (Buck Henry who also directed the movie) who is trying to convince Pendleton that he is dead when he really thinks that this is some sort of dream when it really isn't. Then the escort calls over Mr. Jordan (James Mason) to tell him to get on the bus to get into the gates of heaven when they find out that Pendleton isn't supposed to be dead for another 50 years. After that scene it is a race against time in order for Joe Pendleton to get back into his original body before it's too late and it is because he was already cremated so they come up with another idea which is that he would be in the body of a rich businessman named Mr. Farnsworth that was already murdered. Then what happens is that the two plotters of the crime Tony Abbott(Charles Grodin), and his wife Julia Farnsworth (Dyan Cannon). Then as the movie progresses Pendleton (who's in Farnsworth's body) holds a business meeting in the form of a press conference and then meets an environmental activist named Betty Logan (Julie Christie) who he really starts to have a crush on and she still has the same feelings for him. The romance scenes between Beatty's and Christie's respective characters are the most tender and authentic scenes that I have seen in years and their chemistry couldn't be any better. So back to the movie Farnsworth calls Corkle to his house to tell him that he wants to try out for the Los Angeles Rams as a quarterback in time for the super-bowl in which even if you didn't see this movie you'd know why this is happening and which from here I won't spoil anything else. The movie has a lot of good things about it, such as the screenplay by Warren Beatty and Elaine May, and the beautiful cinematography by William Fraker which was Oscar nominated is amazing. The movie also happens to be one of the most well acted movies that I have seen Beatty in and out of all of the movies that I saw him there wasn't one that I disliked. Also the Oscar winning art direction is fantastic. This movie is a treasure to experience and is an unforgettable one. It is one of 1978's best films.

Every ten years or so I dust this movie off and watch it again, always with someone new. Nobody's ever disliked it. Many have asked why they didn't remember it or know of it before. Look, I get the drift of other reviews, and that the 1970s were movie-making's golden age. I happen to agree that "Days of Heaven" is a better movie. "Days of Heaven" is a ten-star movie, absolute required viewing for any serious movie fan. Maybe nine academy award nominations were excessive, too. But, when younger viewers three decades on love the movie as well as I did, one must concede that "Heaven Can Wait" is something special.If there were an Academy Award for CASTING, this would be a shoo-in, and that's even more true if Cary Grant had been persuaded to play Mr. Jordan.

In general for the most part I'm not a fan of remakes. But considering that this is a remake of "Here Comes Mr.Jordan" which is one of my all time favorites I like this movie a lot. Both movies are quite wonderful in their own ways. In this movie they chose to update it and made him a football player instead of a fighter and that works very well. They also expanded more showing him with the board and taking an active role in that and his simple comparisons to football are quite charming and have a certain wisdom to them. The casting in both movies are wonderful. But this movie some of the lesser roles were made bigger and cast better. Julie Christie really steals my heart in this movie. Evelyn Keyes was very good in the original movie but Julie Christie really took the role much deeper and is quite wonderful. Charles Groden and Diane Cannon as Tony Abbott and Mrs Farnsworth were also much funnier and stronger than the original actors. Both movies are quite excellent and I recommend watching both of them. I still prefer Here Comes Mr Jordan for it's light touch, charm and innocence, plus I love Robert Mongomery. But this is by far one of the best remakes of a great movie that I've seen. It's really worth seeing and goes beyond just being a remake and became it's own movie.