Sweet Charity
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Movie Reviews of Sweet Charity
Movie Review: Shirley Maclaine shines in Sweet Charity
Summary: 4 Stars
Enjoyed it but wondered if Gwen Verdon should have continued her stage role onto the screen. I remember a serious faux pas when Julie Andrews was bypassed for Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady.Movie Review: It's not complete.
Summary: 4 Stars
I wish the powers-that-be at Universal would go back and reinstate the exit music on the DVD. That would make this DVD perfect!Movie Review: Bob Fosse: Dance expresses joy better than anything else.
Summary: 3 Stars
My love and admiration for Federico Fellini/Guiletta Masina's film Nights of Cabiria had stopped me for long time from seeing Sweet Charity, the adaptation of the musical based on the same story which was made into a highly successful Broadway show directed and choreographed by a multitalented Bob Fosse. I am a fan of Bob Fosse. I love all his films, musicals and not, but I was hesitant to see Sweet Charity the movie and I never had a chance to see the Broadway musical. Well, I finally did and I can say that nothing is wrong with transporting the same story to the different time, place, language, medium, and to use the different artistic tools. The story is the same; the films are as different as Rome and NYC or as Federico Fellini and Bob Fosse. Fosse's film should be judged on its own terms, and it has a lot of breathtaking scenes to enjoy, bright colors, outrageously stunning costumes (the work of incredible Edith Head), adorable and unbelievably cute Shirley MacLaine, Sweet Charity Hope Valentine, and the best of all - the dancing sequences to die for. Among them, splendid The Big Spender is perfection and the real treasure. Fosse's staging of the musical numbers is outstanding. The most memorable moment in the movie for me was stolen from Shirley MacLaine by Chita Rivera in Big Spender. Just watch Rivera's seemingly boneless arms, the right one around her head and the left one behind her back, the left hand on her right hip as she sings, "do you want to have fun, fun, fun?" For this moment alone, I like the film even if I see very well that it has some minuses, too. The first act between two intermissions was really good, and it includes the best dancing and singing numbers: "Hey, Big Spender", "The Pompeii Club", "Rich Man's Frug", and "If They Could See Me Now". After the second intermission the movie went over the hill. I believe that it could do without both intermissions. We are not watching the show at the theater, and the intermissions only took time. The "hippiest" "Rhythm of Life" scene was overlong, did not make much sense, and made me want to fast-forward it. I take it that Fosse wanted to experience with the camera movements and different techniques in his very first feature film which was a screen transfer of his Broadway Musical. This is the only explanation of his multiple slow-motions, stills, color/black/white and back changes that did not add anything to the film, just paused it with no apparent reasons. His next screen adaptation was timeless Cabaret, and he had improved his directing style dramatically. As the result, Cabaret has stayed his greatest achievement along with All That Jazz.
Coming back to the original tragic comedy "Nights of Cabiria", of all the characters Fellini had given life on screen, by his own words, Cabiria was the only one he worried about many years after the film was made. Of all the characters, I've seen in films, Cabiria is the one I often think about - whatever happened to her? Did she survive? Was she able to find love? As much as I like Shirley MacLaine/Charity, I did not worry about her future. She lived happily ever after - in both movie endings, theatrical and alternative.
3.5/5
Movie Review: Pay better attention, Mr. Fine
Summary: 3 Stars
First off, the film version of "Sweet Charity" is, in no way, an essential video. It does preserve Bob Fosse's marvelous choreography from his original stage direction, including "Big Spender", which, on film, looks like an obvious template for many of the cabaret sequences in "Cabaret". Unfortunately, Fosse went a little nuts trying to pull out all the stops in his first filmic shot. What on stage was incredibly inventive and pioneering, appears merely overblown in the translation to film. Shirley MacLaine is fine, but she doesn't quite match the pizzazz that Gwen Verdon brought to the role. She was absolutely unique in the history of Broadway, a gifted comedienne, an adequate singer, and, possibly the best dancer ever to trod those Broadway boards. Mr. Fine, in his Amazon review, confuses Charity with her Fellini model Cabiria, who was, in fact, a prostitute with a heart of gold. Fosse chose to reinvent her as a dime-a-dance hostess, not because of any production code concerns, but because this better suited his conception. Charity, while offering her favors liberally to a plethora of loutish boyfriends, did not, and would never have turned tricks. Worth seeing and hearing, especially for the great Cy Coleman-Dorothy Fields score, but far from what it should have been. Try picking up the terrific Columbia cast album, and using your imagination. Fosse, of course, would do infinitely better in his next go behind the camera, "Cabaret".Movie Review: Sweet Charity - Picture 4, Sound 4, Surround Sound .5
Summary: 3 Stars
This is a favourite movie of mine. Considering the talent in the movie it has taken a remarkably long time to come onto DVD. Seeing the movie in widescreen again after 23 years was a thrill. The pictore on my 10' 'scope screen was bright clear and colourful. The sound quality was supurb.The only dissapointment for me was the lack of surround sound. The cover stated it was a 4.0 mix but listening to the rear channels you would not know it. In the production numbers such as The Rhythm of Life there were a large cast and lots of movement on screen yet during these numbers the surround channels stayed woefully silent.
A marvellous release but with that one sour note.