Pluskylang Great Film overall

FirstWitch A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Donald Seymour This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Zandra The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

HotToastyRag Heaven Can Wait is not a remake of the 1943 Heaven Can Wait, but it is a remake of 1941's Here Comes Mr. Jordan, starring Robert Montgomery and Claude Rains, so if you want to see the original, make sure you rent the right movie. Both films have the same story: a young man is taken prematurely up to Heaven, but since it was a mistake and he wasn't supposed to die for decades, the angel Mr. Jordan sends him back to Earth in another man's body. For the sake of the audience's confusion, the actor stays the same, but it's made clear that everyone else in the movie sees him as the other "new" man. If you think about it, it's really not fair. He may have an extension of life, but he's placed in another man's surroundings, with another man's reputation, house, and wife.Warren Beatty stars in the remake, and while he's more likable and gorgeous than Robert Montgomery, there's still the question hanging above everyone's heads in the movie: Why was this remade? Since the changes are so minimal from the original, and since there are so many other "God made a mistake" movies out there, why was it necessary to make such a direct remake? The two women in Warren's "new" life are Dyan Cannon and Julie Christie, but neither are very easy to root for. Dyan is clearly the villain, and Julie is an outrageous, obnoxious protester, but if you're only in it for the eye candy, you could do a lot worse. James Mason plays the angel Mr. Jordan, and while he adds enormous class and maturity to the film, he's not sufficiently different from Claude Rains to have justified a remake.

Ross622 "Heaven Can Wait" is one of the most original movies from the 1970s that I have ever seen and is one of the best sports movies ever made with such a heartbreaking story and intelligent romance. The movie stars Warren Beatty in his first movie as a director as the Los Angeles Rams quarterback Joe Pendleton who has the admiration of his teammates and coaches and it is almost super-bowl time in the beginning of the movie. Then Pendleton gives his coach Max Corkle (Jack Warden) a birthday cake and wishes him a happy birthday and then gets to talking about super-bowl game plans, after that scene we see Pendleton go bike riding in the street and he dies in an accident and then goes to heaven while not even knowing he was dead. When he comes into heaven he meets the escort to heaven (Buck Henry who also directed the movie) who is trying to convince Pendleton that he is dead when he really thinks that this is some sort of dream when it really isn't. Then the escort calls over Mr. Jordan (James Mason) to tell him to get on the bus to get into the gates of heaven when they find out that Pendleton isn't supposed to be dead for another 50 years. After that scene it is a race against time in order for Joe Pendleton to get back into his original body before it's too late and it is because he was already cremated so they come up with another idea which is that he would be in the body of a rich businessman named Mr. Farnsworth that was already murdered. Then what happens is that the two plotters of the crime Tony Abbott(Charles Grodin), and his wife Julia Farnsworth (Dyan Cannon). Then as the movie progresses Pendleton (who's in Farnsworth's body) holds a business meeting in the form of a press conference and then meets an environmental activist named Betty Logan (Julie Christie) who he really starts to have a crush on and she still has the same feelings for him. The romance scenes between Beatty's and Christie's respective characters are the most tender and authentic scenes that I have seen in years and their chemistry couldn't be any better. So back to the movie Farnsworth calls Corkle to his house to tell him that he wants to try out for the Los Angeles Rams as a quarterback in time for the super-bowl in which even if you didn't see this movie you'd know why this is happening and which from here I won't spoil anything else. The movie has a lot of good things about it, such as the screenplay by Warren Beatty and Elaine May, and the beautiful cinematography by William Fraker which was Oscar nominated is amazing. The movie also happens to be one of the most well acted movies that I have seen Beatty in and out of all of the movies that I saw him there wasn't one that I disliked. Also the Oscar winning art direction is fantastic. This movie is a treasure to experience and is an unforgettable one. It is one of 1978's best films.

mark.waltz The Paramount mountain was certainly busy and flowing with cash in the late spring-summer months of 1978 with three box-office smashes: The Oscar Nominated Best Film "Heaven Can Wait", the screwball comedy "Foul Play" ("Kojak, Bang Bang!") and the musical blockbuster "Grease". I saw each of these films more than once during that summer, a transition time for me, and the memories come flooding back each time I see even a movie still or quick clip from any of those films. "Heaven Can Wait" is an excellent remake of an equally excellent 1940's classic, "Here Comes Mr. Jordan", changing the dead character from boxer to football player but pretty much keeping everything else the same.Robert Montgomery's boxer was killed in an airplane crash, coming back to earth due to the fact that an overzealous angel took him before waiting for the outcome. Warren Beatty's football player is bicycling through the Hollywood Hills and killed by speeding automobiles going through a tunnel. Escorted into heaven's waiting station by the same overzealous angel (Buck Henry), he insists that he doesn't belong there. Head angel Mr. Jordan (James Mason) discovers that indeed, he was supposed to arrive years later, and now they must find another body for him to return to earth in. More concerned with getting to the super bowl, Beatty turns down the variety of bodies he is given, and finally settles for a murdered millionaire whose wife (a hysterically funny Dyan Cannon) and assistant (Charles Grodin) conspired against. Now Beatty must not only get himself ready for the superbowl, he must also prevent his second demise which he tries with heavenly guidance.Julie Christie, Beatty's oft 1970's co-star, gives a light-hearted performance as a British activist out to prevent a nuclear plant from being put into her home town. Of course, that becomes a major plot point to get them together romantically and gives Beatty something more to do than just turn millionaire Farnsworth's mansion into a football training camp. In great support, there's Jack Warden as Beatty's former coach stumped by his "return", Arthur Malet and Joseph Maher as eccentric servants (having an amusing conversation concerning Beatty's constant meeting with the invisible angel James Mason in a closet) and Vincent Gardenia as the police investigator who exposes the crimes at Farnsworth Mansion.A great screenplay by Beatty, Elaine May and Robert Towne makes this delightful fantasy flow with witty dialog, and the co-direction by Beatty and Buck Henry keeps things at a light-hearted pace. This is a film definitely worth sharing with family, and one you will want to see again and again.

ElMaruecan82 I finally saw the last of the five Oscar-nominated male leading performances from 1978, and although I'm still not sure about who deserved to win, and why Brad Davis wasn't even nominated for his performance in "Midnight Express", I admit that something deeply touched me in Warren Beatty's performance as Joe Pendleton, a Rams quarterback whose life was prematurely taken in a road accident. I don't know if it's in the eyes, or in the way he looked so young despite his 40's, but the sweetness and gentleness of his character made the film.Having only watched the remake with Robert Downey Jr., I thought Pendleton would reincarnate as a person and then realize who he was, while Beatty remains the same person, only using bodies as convenient media for his own personality, which is ethically acceptable, since all the bodies he takes would have been 'dead' otherwise. Joe only occupies bodies as settings for his own persona, illustrating the eternal philosophical connection between the body and the spirit. Now, I can't wait to see the original version by Ernst Lubitsch, with its evocative title : "Here Comes Mr. Jordan"."Heaven Can Wait" made me wonder: how I would react from the announcement of my own death? I guess more than from the loss of people I love, I would be sadder because of all the things I would never have the possibility to do again, to have totally annihilated my chances to be a specific person, to be whatever I wanted to be, and never having the chance to be something else. For Joe, it's the same disbelief tainted with a sort of child-like optimism, he's dead yet still believes he has a chance to achieve his only dream: playing in the Super Bowl. Joe's personality is the emotional core of the film as it embodies our personal vision of happiness: to be what we plan to be. It's all about our plans, and "Heaven Can Wait" tackles this issue with the constant idea that everything that is done is determined by fate, a plan made by an almighty entity.The film's most fascinating aspects lie between this incertitude of what is life and death, what is determined and what is natural, and Beatty's tactful direction never takes its message about life and death in a too depressing tone, keeping more in the tradition of Lubitch and Capra's films, and the hero's child-like attitude is compensated by the domineering presence of James Mason as a suave and comprehensive Head Executive aware of the bureaucratic mistakes that accidentally took his life. This point is crucial because it explains why I used the expression 'life was taken' instead of 'killed' and why Joe is given a second chance; he wasn't meant to be dead. And Joe is so good-hearted that he'll use this occasion to act positively, by taking the body of Mr. Farnsworth, an eccentric billionaire and controversial figure of the industrial world, a man whose life is targeted by his associate and wife, Charles Grodin and the Oscar-nominated Dyan Cannon, in irresistible comical performances.From a meaningful introspection in the concept of life and death, the film flirts with pure comedy through the switched-bodies formulas, and allows Beatty to shine as an altruistic person who'll almost redeem Fansworth for the sake of community, and whose only selfish motive would serve his dream to play on the Superbowl. This opens the gate to the two most poignant aspects of the story, the beautiful friendship with Corkle, Jack Warden as his coach and the growing romance with Julie Christie as one of Farnsworth's detractor, a British ecologist who'll be touched by the amount of generosity he'll suddenly display. Again, the on-screen chemistry between Beatty and Christie is perfect and the romantic bond growing between them is tactfully handled by a subtle and nuanced direction, combined with the villainous pair of Grodin and Cannon.But more than a romance, and a fantasy, the film also work as a great Sport film. In a interesting business meeting scene, Joe states his personal vision by comparing business with what he know best: football. This is crucial as it highlights his most endearing virtue: fair play. Joe doesn't do good actions because it's good but because it's fair, as it was fair that he would be allowed a second chance. Joe's second chance was also Mr. Farnsworth's second chance and then Tom Garrett's, one of his team-mates, if life is not to be taken for granted, neither is death. Fairness is the driver of the film, and something that elevate it beyond the level of a simple comedy, which makes us accept the idea that Farnsworth had to die, and that Joe couldn't live forever with his spirit in another body.This leads to a heartbreaking scene where the only one who knew Joe's secret, his buddy Corkle, realizes that Joe's spirit vanished, leaving him alone again with his souvenirs and his clarinet, Jack Warden almost made me cry and I'm glad his performance was recognized by the Academy. Then, Joe as Tom meets Julie Christie again, and he wonders if they haven't met. This very moment echoes a previous scene where he was aware that his days in Farnsworth's body were numbered, and then told her that she might find him somewhere in another form, and the ending gives a subtle idea of what the plan is about, and why sometimes, we can't help but having a feeling of déjà vu, or of having lived some situation in different eras.In a way, "Heaven Can Wait"'s ending is bittersweet because we must face the death of Joe's spirit, the only price for him to play in the Super Bowl. But I'm glad the film ended with the perfect touch, by leaving some hints that his gentle spirit didn't entirely disappear, in all fairness