Good Times (1967)

Undescribable Perfection

Please don't spend money on this.

Absolutely the worst movie.

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

I agreed to see this because it was the first film by William Friedkin (French Connection, Excorsist). And the big surprise is that it is not a bad film. (And kudos to Mr Friedkin to show such savvy in his parody of "High Noon" and other films.) Of course it's not a great film, either. Stylistically, it is rather of a kind with television movies of the same era, or a decade later. For better or worse, Friedkin decided not to go the route of "psychedlic trippy hippy film," but delivers a fairly staid, episodic musical comedy. That actually saves the film, in my opinion; I never felt, watching this, that it might have seemed better in its time and place with a hit of acid under the belt. It's a simple, middle-brow romantic comedy about a pair of singers wrestling with the very idea of making a movie for their fans.For me, the saving grace of the film is Cher; here she is all exuberance, innocent sexuality (a quality difficult to project), love-of-life - oh, she's just great.And through her, the film captures the romanticism of the 1960s that is largely forgotten today.Finally, a word on the music: Sonny Bono's songs are wretched just as songs, but he had a real ear for melody and the arrangements here make that very clear - he missed his calling, he should have been composing soundtracks all along.A bit of an oddity, but kind of fun.

Back in early 1967, when Good Times was released, someone must have had the grand notion that this would be entertaining. It's essentially a warm-up for what viewers later saw between 1971 and 1974 on the Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour. George "what am I doing in this film?" Sanders plays an egotistical filmmaker who makes a deal with Sonny & Cher to make a movie. Sonny fantasizes about playing a sheriff, Tarzan, and a private detective. In between the fantasy scenarios, songs by one or both of the duo are presented. The sheriff scenario and especially the Tarzan scenario are both pretty silly, yielding maybe a few chuckles. The private detective skit is laugh-out-loud funny. Cher shows early on the talent she had to play the comic foil, as well as disappear into any role she played. Sonny is pretty much out of place throughout most of the film, and this explains why he went into politics and left show business: he was never that talented to begin with. Guys will get a charge out of ogling Cher at 20 years old wearing some groovy fashions of the day. William Friedkin made his feature film directorial debut with this film. I suppose there are much worse ways to make a directorial debut, and Friedkin shows off with some good camera angles, especially in the detective scenario. Look fast for an ode to Cagney's Public Enemy at the beginning of the detective skit. Along with the earlier Beatles' film Help!, one of the earliest movies to film pop stars in a less than completely musical setting. It's a time capsule from 1967 to be sure, complete with psychedelic/kaleidoscopic transitions between scenes. ** of 4 stars.

The best parts of this movie are Cher singing, Cher berating future U.S. Congressman Sonny ("Why don't you take off that hat...you look like an idiot."), and Cher in a jungle suit lying on a tree (Great Gams, Sonnyman!).This movie is about Sonny and Cher making a movie. The script is awful -- both of them. And the "satirical" situations are ridiculous. Watch this, if you must, as a period piece of the freewheeling '60s. (Was the scriptwriter on LSD?) If you like stupid humor, then this movie's for you. Otherwise, this is a movie you can "watch" from another room with your ears.I recommend that you fast forward through all the dialog scenes and watch only the musical numbers, which are quite good (and the reason I bumped my rating up a point). Or buy the soundtrack, if you can find it, and listen to that while you do housework or something else productive.

This movie is a classic example of 60's camp.The main story,Sonny's desire to star in a movie and Cher's lack of interest,takes a back seat to the fantasy sequences which satirize various movie generas.The soundtrack is excellent.Sonny Bono was a musical genius and this film is the perfect showcase of this,and though Cher is talented,I think she did her best work with Sonny.If you are a fan of Sonny and/or Cher this is a movie you shouldn't miss.