Gaily, Gaily (1969)

To escape sinful impulses, Ben Harvey, a callow youth, leaves his small town for Chicago in 1910. A pickpocket promptly relieves him of his money, and he nearly starves before Queen Lil ... See full summary »

Director:

Norman Jewison

Writers:

Abram S. Ginnes (screenplay), Ben Hecht (novel)

Stars:

Beau Bridges, Melina Mercouri, Brian Keith

Nominated for 3 Oscars. Another 1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Beau Bridges	...	Ben Harvey
Melina Mercouri	...	Lil
Brian Keith	...	Sullivan
George Kennedy	...	Johanson
Hume Cronyn	...	Grogan
Margot Kidder	...	Adeline
Roy Poole	...	Dunne
Wilfrid Hyde-White	...	The Governor
Melodie Johnson	...	Lilah
John Randolph	...	Father
Charles Tyner	...	Dr. Lazarus
Joan Huntington	...	Kitty
Merie Earle	...	Granny
Claudia Bryar	...	Mother
Eric Shea	...	Younger Brother

Storyline

To escape sinful impulses, Ben Harvey, a callow youth, leaves his small town for Chicago in 1910. A pickpocket promptly relieves him of his money, and he nearly starves before Queen Lil takes him under her wing, gives him a room in her high-class bordello, and gets him a job at a newspaper. He's so sweet and dumb, he thinks Lil's is a boarding house. He's soon caught up in an electoral struggle between a secretly corrupt reformer and an openly corrupt councilman. Can Ben expose corruption or will he be caught up in allure of power? An alcoholic investigative reporter and the bordello's ingénue try to help him grow up.

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Plot Keywords:

1910s | newspaper | pants falling down | man naked under covers | falling off a bridge | 

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Taglines:

Ben Harvey's juices are all dammed up.

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Genres:

Comedy

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for brief nudity/sexual content

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

23 March 1970 (Denmark)

Also Known As:

Chicago, Chicago

Filming Locations:

Dubuque, Iowa, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$8,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Mirisch Production Company, The

Technical Specs

Runtime:

107 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Film debut of Margot Kidder.

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Quotes

Ben Harvey: It all sex and money! Sex and money!

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Connections

Referenced in The Directors: The Films of Norman Jewison (1999)

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Soundtracks

"Tomorrow Is My Friend"
Sung by Jimmie Rodgers
Lyrics by Alan Bergman & Marilyn Bergman
Music by Henry Mancini

User Reviews

Slowly, slowly

The first 15 minutes or so are wonderful, a rose-colored reminiscence of small-town America at the turn of the last century that suggests "Ah, Wilderness!" Then the Ben Hecht prototype, played by Beau Bridges with such innocence as to border on retardation, lights out for Chicago, and the narrative loses traction. It's quite a gorgeous, expensive production, and Melina Mercouri helps out as the madam who takes him under her wing (this was right toward the end of the movie era when prostitutes and bordellos were considered automatically titillating and hilarious, hence neither Mercouri nor any of her girls are fleshed out as characters). The always-good Brian Keith is Ben's alcoholic newspaper mentor, and other good actors mill about (Hume Cronyn, George Kennedy), but it's all color and very little forward thrust. Chicago 1910 had to be more interesting than this, and there must be more compelling stories to tell about it.