Heaven Can Wait
Heaven Can Wait is a romantic fantasy about Joe Pendleton (Warren Beatty), a Los Angeles Rams quarterback who is accidentally summoned to Heaven by an overly zealous celestial escort. Pendleton is returned to earth in the body of another man, who is a corporate giant. While practicing to once again play for the Rams, Pendleton must escape attempts on his life while romantically pursuing a beautiful Englishwoman (Julie Christie) who protects the destruction caused to her village by one of his many corporations.
Member Reviews
Great romantic fantasy with a major impact on industry - filmcmnt
While this romantic fantasy may seem simply fun and lightweight compared to some of Beatty's other major projects (and it's possible to argue that he did this mostly to finance Reds and to prove to the studio he could helm a picture as director), it's important to note that Beatty's comedy/romance really had a big impact on the major studios' attitudes toward romantic comedy in an age where big budget disaster pictures were the dominant moneymakers. This is the age of Jaws, Earthquake, Airport, The Towering Inferno, The Poseidon Adventure, etc, ad nasueum. Beatty proved that a heartfelt romantic comedy could command the same audience size, revenue, and oscar attention as these massive blockbusters. Beatty cleared the way for the romantic comedy to be as important a contender in the studio lineups as these other spectacles. Given how bad most of these are these days, it's not clear whether or not this is a good thing. At any rate, Heaven Can Wait is sheer pleasure, mostly for Beatty's energetic and big-hearted performance and for the great comic villain performances by Charles Grodin and Dyan Cannon.Entertaining, But It Fell Apart At The End - revsdd
The movie was moving along at a good pace and Warren Beatty was giving a good performance - and then the last twenty minutes threw in a plot twist that made no sense. That, along with some illogical parts to the storyline, really hurt this movie. Beatty played Joe Pendleton, a quarterback for the Los Angeles Rams who finally gets a chance to lead his team to the Super Bowl, except that heaven makes a mistake and he dies before his time, and to correct it, sends him back to earth in the body of the fabulously wealthy Mr. Farnsworth.
First problem. Everybody has a time to die. OK. It's bad that "The Escort" brought Pendleton to heaven before he was supposed to die. But isn't it equally bad that Pendleton gets to keep living through the lives of two people whose time was supposedly up? Seems to me that would throw everything off balance too. But the real problem for me was the ending.
Why is Pendleton suddenly told that he won't be allowed to remember anything and will simply live as the quarterback whose body he took over? I thought the point was that Pendleton wasn't supposed to have died. But, in effect, heaven's Mr. Jordan (James Mason) kills him anyway by wiping away his memory when everything in the movie to that point suggested that he could keep living as Pendleton in someone else's body. I don't mind a plot twist, but that just made no sense to me.
Still, the movie is entertaining in spite of those plot problems. I enjoyed Beatty's performance as Pendleton (knowing nothing about business) attending Farnsworth's company's Board meeting and completely changing everything the company had been about by convincing the directors to look at things "like a football game." That was quite humourous. Jack Warden was quite good as Rams' trainer Max Corkle, who tries to get Farnsworth's body into shape for the Super Bowl, and Charles Grodin, Dyan Cannon and Julie Christie also offered good performances here.I'm in Heaven! - PFHLTB
This is simply one of my favourite movies of all time! I love everything about it. It's funny, charming and touching! Dyan Cannon and Charles Grodin are wonderful! Warren Beatty, James Mason (as Mr. Jordan), Jack Warden and Julie Christie are all top-notch!
I happen to be a footbal fan, so that's another reason why I love it so much. However, this is not a football movie, but rather a movie about friendship, love and hope for the future. Sure, perhaps heaven can wait, but you shouldn't! Watch it tonight, and say hello to Mr. Jordan for me! :)
Member Reviews
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Great romantic fantasy with a major impact on industry - filmcmnt
While this romantic fantasy may seem simply fun and lightweight compared to some of Beatty's other major projects (and it's possible to argue that he did this mostly to finance Reds and to prove to the studio he could helm a picture as director), it's important ...Entertaining, But It Fell Apart At The End - revsdd
The movie was moving along at a good pace and Warren Beatty was giving a good performance - and then the last twenty minutes threw in a plot twist that made no sense. That, along with some illogical parts to the storyline, really hurt this movie. Beatty played ...I'm in Heaven! - PFHLTB
This is simply one of my favourite movies of all time! I love everything about it. It's funny, charming and touching! Dyan Cannon and Charles Grodin are wonderful! Warren Beatty, James Mason (as Mr. Jordan), Jack Warden and Julie Christie are all top-notch!
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