Chicago, Chicago (1969)
"Gaily, Gaily" (original title)

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

Featured in The 80th Annual Academy Awards (2008)

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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

Uninvolving comedy about innocence lost.

Production values on this bit of fluff are stellar (it earned Oscar noms for Art Direction, Costume Design and Sound), but it is a curiously uninvolving comedy based on Ben Hecht's 1910 Chicago memoirs. Beau Bridges plays Ben with an innocence bordering on terminal stupidity. He becomes annoying after a short while. Mercouri's Madam Lil has potential but the role is not developed. After lumbering along for over an hour, it becomes a "chase" movie with corrupt politicians chasing after Ben thinking he possesses a little black book naming them all. This is one of those films that LOOKS wonderful but a few months after you see it, you can hardly remember a thing about it. Notable as Bridges and Kidder's first film.