- Sep 22, 2013
- 4,956
- 250
- 85
The very unusual but crafted American 1970s film Heaven Can Wait (Warren Beatty) features a very unusual storyline about an American football QB (Joe Pendleton) who's killed in an accident and is brought back from heaven by his spirit-guide to take the body/identity of a wealthy man named Leo Farnsworth and must prevent a terrible conspiracy carried out by Farnsworth's unscrupulous wife, all the while continuing to court his 'undying' love of football, seeking to buy the Rams team as Farnsworth!
====
Warren Beatty is perfect as Joe and Leo, the dead QB and the resurrected Joe inside the body of Leo Farnsworth. The story is sensitive and humorous, and the cast (Julie Christie, Charles Grodin, others) is really ideal.
While the film is typically or cliched-like in its 'American' proportions, the storyline is actually very touching and humorous and reminiscent of what makes American ideas very romantic or appealing socially.
Joe/Farnsworth is charming and humorous and the resurrected spirit has to deal with his newfound wealthy-life while seeking to 'buy' the Rams football organization.
When Joe/Farnsworth meets a beautiful 'damsel' (Julie Christie), he finds his immortality ambitions becoming slowly more human.
Meanwhile, Farnsworth (Leo) must deal with the conspiracy involving the theft of his wealth/estate, and the cast once again is perfect for this deceptively complex if typically 'American' storyline.
In the closing scenes, after Joe/Farnsworth has resolved his complexities with Julie Christie's character, his unscrupulous estate-corruption conspiracy, and his undying love of the Rams football-team, his spirit might be 'absorbed' into the infinite stream of identity transfer when Joe's consciousness is 'shifted' over to a hot new Rams-QB named Tom.
Overall, this very romantic film about American imagination can be considered the 'opposite' of sports or culture 'grit' films like Any Given Sunday (Al Pacino) or The Longest Yard (Burt Reynolds) or Born on the 4th of July (Tom Cruise), making this portrait of American intuition a rather offbeat but satisfying Valentine's Day cinematic experience. Plus, it's a very nice Blu-ray HD-media.
====
"Money is everything" (Ecclesiastes)
====
Warren Beatty is perfect as Joe and Leo, the dead QB and the resurrected Joe inside the body of Leo Farnsworth. The story is sensitive and humorous, and the cast (Julie Christie, Charles Grodin, others) is really ideal.
While the film is typically or cliched-like in its 'American' proportions, the storyline is actually very touching and humorous and reminiscent of what makes American ideas very romantic or appealing socially.
Joe/Farnsworth is charming and humorous and the resurrected spirit has to deal with his newfound wealthy-life while seeking to 'buy' the Rams football organization.
When Joe/Farnsworth meets a beautiful 'damsel' (Julie Christie), he finds his immortality ambitions becoming slowly more human.
Meanwhile, Farnsworth (Leo) must deal with the conspiracy involving the theft of his wealth/estate, and the cast once again is perfect for this deceptively complex if typically 'American' storyline.
In the closing scenes, after Joe/Farnsworth has resolved his complexities with Julie Christie's character, his unscrupulous estate-corruption conspiracy, and his undying love of the Rams football-team, his spirit might be 'absorbed' into the infinite stream of identity transfer when Joe's consciousness is 'shifted' over to a hot new Rams-QB named Tom.
Overall, this very romantic film about American imagination can be considered the 'opposite' of sports or culture 'grit' films like Any Given Sunday (Al Pacino) or The Longest Yard (Burt Reynolds) or Born on the 4th of July (Tom Cruise), making this portrait of American intuition a rather offbeat but satisfying Valentine's Day cinematic experience. Plus, it's a very nice Blu-ray HD-media.
====
"Money is everything" (Ecclesiastes)
