Sweet Charity (1969)

Taxi dancer Charity continues to have Faith in the human race despite apparently endless disappointments at its hands, and Hope that she will finally meet the nice young man to romance her ... See full summary »

Director:

Bob Fosse

Writers:

Neil Simon (from the New York stage production book by), Federico Fellini (based upon the screenplay by: "Nights of Cabiria"),

Stars:

Shirley MacLaine, John McMartin, Ricardo Montalban

Nominated for 3 Oscars. Another 2 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Shirley MacLaine	...	Charity
John McMartin	...	Oscar
Ricardo Montalban	...	Vittorio
Sammy Davis Jr.	...	Big Daddy
Chita Rivera	...	Nickie
Paula Kelly	...	Helene
Stubby Kaye	...	Herman
Barbara Bouchet	...	Ursula
Suzanne Charney	...	Dancer (as Suzanne Charny)
Alan Hewitt	...	Nicholsby
Dante DiPaolo	...	Charlie (as Dante D'Paulo)
Bud Vest	...	Dancer
Ben Vereen	...	Dancer
Lee Roy Reams	...	Dancer
Al Lanti	...	Dancer

Storyline

Taxi dancer Charity continues to have Faith in the human race despite apparently endless disappointments at its hands, and Hope that she will finally meet the nice young man to romance her away from her sleazy life. Maybe, just maybe, handsome Oscar will be the one to do it.

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Plot Keywords:

dancer | hope | charity | taxi dancer | depression | 

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Taglines:

..Spend a Wonderful Time with 'Sweet Charity'

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Music | Musical | Romance

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Certificate:

G

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

19 June 1969 (Mexico)

Also Known As:

Sweet Charity: The Adventures of a Girl Who Wanted to Be Loved

Filming Locations:

Central Park, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$20,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

149 min 154 min (TCM print)

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) Mono (Westrex Recording System) (35 mm prints)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Shirley MacLaine, Chita Rivera and Paula Kelly became very close during the filming. Shirley MacLaine wrote that when they danced together, it was like being between two disciplined and well-oiled steam rollers.

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Goofs

In the "Aloof" movement of "The Rich Man's Frug," two of the male principal dancers walk down the stairs to light a woman's cigarette, while the others dance behind them. The background choreography in this shot leads directly to the triangle formation of the next shot, and the two men are now in the middle of the group, although there was no time for them to reach that position.

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Quotes

Vittorio: Without love, life would have no purpose.

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Connections

Referenced in Just Shoot Me!: Sweet Charity (1997)

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Soundtracks

"My Personal Property"
(uncredited)
Music by Cy Coleman
Lyrics by Dorothy Fields
Performed by Shirley MacLaine

User Reviews

Fosse's first

Sure, Bob Fosse sometimes indulges in trendy late-60's stylistic touches like freeze-frames and crash-zooms. Some of the jokes by Neil Simon are corny, and Shirley MacLaine can be a little hard to take sometimes. The film also suffers from the bloated, over-produced quality that infected most 60's major studio musicals.

The dull non-musical scenes are a chore to sit through, but when one of Fosse's amazing production numbers begins, Sweet Charity soars into the sublime. Fosse was quite simply a genius, and the great showcase numbers such as "Hey Big Spender" and "Rich Man's Frug" are as brilliant as any dance numbers ever put on film.

Shifting configurations of dancers, contorted body poses, dance steps that are by turns awkward and graceful, a studied contrast between clustering dancers and separating dancers -- it is hard to describe the magic of the Pompeii Club sequence. I've always felt that Fosse's choreography has the same sense of space and volume as Cubist painting.

Fosse's camera placement and camera movement capture an ideal "in-the-round" feeling of choreographed numbers that one cannot experience in the theater. For a first-time film director, Fosse revealed an amazing facility for the form. Usually theater directors don't take to the medium of film as quickly as Fosse did. Usually, theater directors make visually unexciting films that feel stage-bound. Not Fosse -- Sweet Charity, despite some flaws, doesn't play like a filmed stage play, it has the visual panache of Fellini and Godard.

Sweet Charity was just a warm-up, Fosse's personal film school at Universal's expense, before he truly mastered the form of film-making with the classic Cabaret.