Goodbye Charlie (1964)

Director:

Vincente Minnelli

Writers:

George Axelrod (play)
Harry Kurnitz (screenplay)

Release Date:

18 November 1964 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Fantasy | Romance

Tagline:

They don't make girls like "Charlie" anymore -- they never did!

Plot:

Shot by a jealous husband, Charley falls out a porthole and is lost at sea only to find himself returned as an attractive blond woman...

Plot Keywords:

Reincarnation | Beautiful Woman | Sex Change | Based On Play | Character Name In Title

Cast

Tony Curtis	...	George Wellington Tracy
Debbie Reynolds	...	The Reincarnated Charlie Sorel / Virginia Mason
Pat Boone	...	Bruce Minton, the 3rd
Joanna Barnes	...	Janie Highland
Ellen Burstyn	...	Franny Salzman (as Ellen McRae)
Laura Devon	...	Rusty Sartori
Martin Gabel	...	Morton Craft
Roger C. Carmel	...	Inspector (as Roger Carmel)
Harry Madden	...	Charles Sorel
Myrna Hansen	...	Starlet
Michael Romanoff	...	Patron
Michael Jackson	...	Himself
Anthony Eustrel	...	Butler (as Antony Eustrel)
Donna Michelle	...	Girl doing the twist on yacht
Walter Matthau	...	Sir Leopold Sartori

Runtime:

116 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | USA:Approved (certificate #20731)

Company:

Venice Productions

Trivia:

The title role was offered to Marilyn Monroe shortly before her death. She rejected it judging the role as "not feminine at all".

Goofs:

Factual errors: Vincente Minnelli is credited as "Vincente Minelli"

Quotes:

Sir Leopold Sartori: If I were not Hungarian, I would be speechless.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "What's My Line?: (1964-03-01)" (1964)

Soundtrack:

Seven at once

Off-beat, Silly, Charming and Down-right Twisted

I saw this movie for the first time over twenty years ago but could never remember the title. I saw it again on AMC and recognized it immediately, but my memories of it have strayed quite a bit from what I thought it was. In fact, this movie takes an amusing idea, a man in a woman's body, throws in some funny lines, but misses the point and goes no where. Tony Curtis plays a very funny straight man to Debbie Reynolds, and while she may have been attractive for the time, the outdated values and generation gap haven't exactly endeared this movie to a whole new generation. While still more enjoyable than it's recent re-make, "Switch" with Ellen Barkin and Jimmy Smits, the movie almost immediately drags after the opening sequences and sets up a premise that really goes nowhere. Pat Boone's role is seemingly tagged on as is Roger C. Carmel's, but Walter Matthau is nearly unrecognizable as a worldly skirt-chaser giving Reynolds something to run from. While I can't in good conscience give this a ten, the movie is worth while a look as a seven.