Cinema Revisited: Heaven Can Wait (1978)

Written and Directed by Warren Beatty. Co-written by Elaine May. Co-directed by Buck Henry. With Warren Beatty, Julie Christie, James Mason, Jack Warden, Charles Grodin, Dyan Cannon, Buck Henry, Vincent Gardenia, Jospeh Maher. Released June 28, 1978. Running tie: 101 minutes.

I am drawn to the auteurist approach to cinema and after seeing Bullworth recently I wanted to screen Heaven Can Wait, which I haven't seen since its initial release.

Warren Beatty took an older movie -- Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941) -- and remade it with a few alternations. First, the central character is a football quarterback, not a boxer. Second, the story was updated and revamped from the perspective of Beatty and Elaine May's screenplay. It is really a different movie with the same premise.

Beatty plays Joe Pendelton, a Rams quarterback who is headed for the Super Bowl. He is in an accident and an overzealous angel plucks him from the wreckage and brings him to heaven. When it is determined he did not die, and it was not his time to die anyway, they try to send him back, but his funeral has happened and his body has been cremated. So, they stick him into the body of the wealthy Mr Farnsworth just after he has been murdered by his wife and a business associate.

Most of the humor comes from Farnsworth suddenly going from a ruthless business tycoon to an open hearted philanthropist, along with Farnsworth training to become a football quarterback so Joe doesn't miss playing in the big game. It's far-fetched and fantastic, but comes off as a pleasant little diversion.

It is surprising that this film was such a big hit in its time. Coming along during a decade that gave us such landmark films as The Godfather, Taxi Driver, Annie Hall, Dirty Harry, One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, et al, it seems odd that a pleasant trifle like Heaven Can Wait would stand out. But it was a major box office hit and was nominated for many awards. On a 15 million dollar budget, Heaven Can Wait made over 80 million at the box office. It is a assumed that during a year that offered such heady cinema as Coming Home, Midnight Express, and Halloween, films like Animal House, Every Which Way But Loose, and Grease showed producers that lighter entertainment was selling.

The original film had Claude Raines as Jordan, the head angel who supervises everything. Beatty replaces him in this movie with James Mason, very effectively as both men had such distinctive speaking voices. Beatty badly wanted Cary Grant for the role, even to the point of having his co-star, Grant's ex-wife Dyan Cannon, attempt to talk him into it. Grant liked the script and was seriously considering a return to movies this one time. But he ultimately refused, never to make another movie after Walk Don't Run (1966).

While this is Beatty's project, it is Jack Warden who steals the film as his confused coach. James Gleason had played this role to perfection in the original, and Warden matches him. It is historically significant that both men were nominated for an Oscar for the same role (neither won).

While it is by no means an enduring classic and can't be considered one of the best movies of its strong decade, Heaven Can Wait remains amusing enough over 40 years after its release.