Sweet Charity
Directed by Bob Fosse
Written by Peter Stone from the Broadway musical (book by Neil Simon) and the film “Nights of Cabiria” by Federico Fellini, Tullio Pinelli and Ennio Faiano
1969/US
IMDb link
Repeat viewing/Netflix rental
Vittorio: Without love, life would have no purpose.
Bob Fosse’s directorial debut is an entertaining way to spend a Lockdown afternoon.
The plot is borrowed from Fellini’s Nights of Cabiria (1957). Gulieta Massina’s plucky Roman prostitute is replaced with a New York taxi dancer named Charity Hope Valentine (Shirley MacLaine). Her name catalogs her general outlook. She is famous for her series of ill-chosen boyfriends who usually run away with her money.
As the movie begins, Charity is dumped (literally) by her worthless boyfriend Charlie, who also steals her purse. Charity returns to work at the dance hall, where she has to admit yet another failure to her cynical friends. Her life grows increasingly distasteful to her and she tries her luck getting an office job. This doesn’t go well either and she gets stuck in an elevator.
Fortunately, she is stuck with Oscar (John McMartin), a cute claustrophobic actuary. He is a complete square and Charity lets him think she works in a bank. Can this odd couple make a go of it? With Stubby Kaye as the dance hall owner, Chita Rivera and Paula Kelly as Charity’s chums, Ricardo Montalban as a film star, and Sammy Davis Jr. as Big Daddy, founder of a hippie church.
I worked on a junior college production of this and have a lot of affection for the songs and the story. Bob Fosse does an okay job with his debut directing effort. The dances are fabulous but other elements seem gimmicky and dated. For example the numerous examples of slow motion or stop action frolicking to indicate joy just scream late 60’s. The musical numbers are strong enough to overcome any such small niggles.
Sweet Charity was nominated for Academy Awards in the categories of Best Art Direction – Set Decoration; Best Costumes; and Best Music, Score of a Musical Pictures (Original or Adapted).
