Sweet Charity (film)
Encyclopedia
Sweet Charity, full title of which is Sweet Charity: The Adventures of a Girl Who Wanted to Be Loved, is a 1969 American musical film
directed and choreographed by Bob Fosse
, written by Neil Simon
, and with music by Cy Coleman
and Dorothy Fields
. It stars Shirley MacLaine
and features John McMartin
, Sammy Davis, Jr.
, Ricardo Montalban
, Chita Rivera
, Paula Kelly
and Stubby Kaye
. It is based on the 1966 stage musical of the same name
– which Fosse had also directed and choreographed – which in turn is based on Federico Fellini
, Ennio Flaiano
and Tullio Pinelli
's screenplay for Fellini's film Le Notti di Cabiria
(Nights of Cabiria). However, where Fellini's black-and-white film concerns the romantic ups-and-downs of an ever-hopeful prostitute, the musical makes the central character a dancer-for-hire at a Times Square dance-hall.
The film is notable for its costumes by Edith Head
and its dance sequences, notably "Rich Man's Frug".
) works as a taxi dancer
along with her friends, Nickie (Chita Rivera
) and Helene (Paula Kelly
). She longs for love, but has bad luck with men, being robbed and pushed off a bridge in Central Park by one ex-boyfriend. She meets famous actor Vittorio Vidal (Ricardo Montalban
) and has a complicated, but pleasant evening with him.
After failing to find a new job through an employment agency, Charity meets shy Oscar Lindquist (John McMartin
) in a stuck elevator. They strike up a relationship, but Charity does not reveal what she does for a living. When she finally does tell Oscar, he initially seems to accept it, but finally tells Charity that he cannot marry her.
The optimistic Charity faces her future, alone for the time being, living hopefully ever after.
and DVD
versions picks up after Oscar leaves Charity. Oscar starts to go crazy in his apartment and, feeling suffocated, goes for a walk in the park. He sees Charity on their bridge in Central Park
and thinks she is going to jump. Racing to rescue her, he trips and falls in the water. Charity jumps in after him, but can't swim so Oscar rescues her. Oscar realizes Charity is the only breath of fresh air in his life, proposes again, and she accepts. Fosse thought the ending was too corny, but filmed it in apprehension that the studio would demand a happy ending. In the end, though, they agreed with Fosse and kept the original ending from the stage version.
.
(Alexander Golitzen
, George C. Webb
, Jack D. Moore
); Best Costume Design
; and Best Music, Score of a Musical Picture (Original or Adaptation)
. It received one Golden Globe nomination for Shirley MacLaine as Best Motion Picture Actress - Musical/Comedy
.
It was also screened at the 1969 Cannes Film Festival
, but outside of the main competition.
Musical film
The musical film is a film genre in which songs sung by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, though in some cases they serve merely as breaks in the storyline, often as elaborate...
directed and choreographed by Bob Fosse
Bob Fosse
Robert Louis “Bob” Fosse was an American actor, dancer, musical theater choreographer, director, screenwriter, film editor and film director. He won an unprecedented eight Tony Awards for choreography, as well as one for direction...
, written by Neil Simon
Neil Simon
Neil Simon is an American playwright and screenwriter. He has written numerous Broadway plays, including Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues, and The Odd Couple. He won the 1991 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play Lost In Yonkers. He has written the screenplays for several of his plays that...
, and with music by Cy Coleman
Cy Coleman
Cy Coleman was an American composer, songwriter, and jazz pianist.-Life and career:He was born Seymour Kaufman on June 14, 1929, in New York City to Eastern European Jewish parents, and was raised in the Bronx. His mother, Ida was an apartment landlady and his father was a brickmason...
and Dorothy Fields
Dorothy Fields
Dorothy Fields was an American librettist and lyricist.She wrote over 400 songs for Broadway musicals and films...
. It stars Shirley MacLaine
Shirley MacLaine
Shirley MacLaine is an American film and theater actress, singer, dancer, activist and author, well-known for her beliefs in new age spirituality and reincarnation. She has written a large number of autobiographical works, many dealing with her spiritual beliefs as well as her Hollywood career...
and features John McMartin
John McMartin
John McMartin is an American actor of stage, film and television.-Early life and career:McMartin was born in Warsaw, Indiana and raised in Minnesota. He attended college in Illinois and New York. He made his off-Broadway debut in Little Mary Sunshine in 1959, playing opposite Eileen Brennan...
, Sammy Davis, Jr.
Sammy Davis, Jr.
Samuel George "Sammy" Davis Jr. was an American entertainer and was also known for his impersonations of actors and other celebrities....
, Ricardo Montalban
Ricardo Montalbán
Ricardo Gonzalo Pedro Montalbán y Merino, KSG was a Mexican radio, television, theatre and film actor. He had a career spanning six decades and many notable roles...
, Chita Rivera
Chita Rivera
Chita Rivera is an American actress, dancer, and singer best known for her roles in musical theater. She is the first Hispanic woman to receive a Kennedy Center Honors award...
, Paula Kelly
Paula Kelly (actress/dancer)
Paula Kelly is a dancer and actress in motion pictures, television and theatre.-Early life and career:...
and Stubby Kaye
Stubby Kaye
Stubby Kaye was an American comic actor. He was born Bernard Kotzin in New York City on the last day of the First World War, at West 114th Street in the Morningside Heights section of Manhattan to first generation Jewish-Americans originally from Russia and Austria...
. It is based on the 1966 stage musical of the same name
Sweet Charity
Sweet Charity is a musical with music by Cy Coleman, lyrics by Dorothy Fields and book by Neil Simon. It was directed and choreographed for Broadway by Bob Fosse starring his wife and muse Gwen Verdon. It is based on Federico Fellini's screenplay for Nights of Cabiria...
– which Fosse had also directed and choreographed – which in turn is based on Federico Fellini
Federico Fellini
Federico Fellini, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI , was an Italian film director and scriptwriter. Known for a distinct style that blends fantasy and baroque images, he is considered one of the most influential and widely revered filmmakers of the 20th century...
, Ennio Flaiano
Ennio Flaiano
Ennio Flaiano , was an Italian screenwriter, playwright, novelist, journalist and drama critic...
and Tullio Pinelli
Tullio Pinelli
Tullio Pinelli was an Italian screenwriter best known for his work on the Federico Fellini classics I Vitelloni, La strada, La Dolce Vita and 8½.-Biography:...
's screenplay for Fellini's film Le Notti di Cabiria
Nights of Cabiria
Nights of Cabiria is a 1957 Italian film directed by Federico Fellini. Fellini's wife, Giulietta Masina, plays Cabiria Ceccarelli, a feisty but naive prostitute in Ostia, then a seedy section of Rome...
(Nights of Cabiria). However, where Fellini's black-and-white film concerns the romantic ups-and-downs of an ever-hopeful prostitute, the musical makes the central character a dancer-for-hire at a Times Square dance-hall.
The film is notable for its costumes by Edith Head
Edith Head
Edith Head was an American costume designer who won eight Academy Awards, more than any other woman.-Early life and career:...
and its dance sequences, notably "Rich Man's Frug".
Plot
Charity Hope Valentine (Shirley MacLaineShirley MacLaine
Shirley MacLaine is an American film and theater actress, singer, dancer, activist and author, well-known for her beliefs in new age spirituality and reincarnation. She has written a large number of autobiographical works, many dealing with her spiritual beliefs as well as her Hollywood career...
) works as a taxi dancer
Taxi dancer
A taxi dancer, or taxi for short , is a paid dance partner in a partner dance. For official purposes in the US, their occupation was referred to as "dancer", when they worked in taxi-dance halls that had all the necessary business permits...
along with her friends, Nickie (Chita Rivera
Chita Rivera
Chita Rivera is an American actress, dancer, and singer best known for her roles in musical theater. She is the first Hispanic woman to receive a Kennedy Center Honors award...
) and Helene (Paula Kelly
Paula Kelly (actress/dancer)
Paula Kelly is a dancer and actress in motion pictures, television and theatre.-Early life and career:...
). She longs for love, but has bad luck with men, being robbed and pushed off a bridge in Central Park by one ex-boyfriend. She meets famous actor Vittorio Vidal (Ricardo Montalban
Ricardo Montalbán
Ricardo Gonzalo Pedro Montalbán y Merino, KSG was a Mexican radio, television, theatre and film actor. He had a career spanning six decades and many notable roles...
) and has a complicated, but pleasant evening with him.
After failing to find a new job through an employment agency, Charity meets shy Oscar Lindquist (John McMartin
John McMartin
John McMartin is an American actor of stage, film and television.-Early life and career:McMartin was born in Warsaw, Indiana and raised in Minnesota. He attended college in Illinois and New York. He made his off-Broadway debut in Little Mary Sunshine in 1959, playing opposite Eileen Brennan...
) in a stuck elevator. They strike up a relationship, but Charity does not reveal what she does for a living. When she finally does tell Oscar, he initially seems to accept it, but finally tells Charity that he cannot marry her.
The optimistic Charity faces her future, alone for the time being, living hopefully ever after.
Alternate ending
An alternate ending found on the LaserdiscLaserdisc
LaserDisc was a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium. Initially licensed, sold, and marketed as MCA DiscoVision in North America in 1978, the technology was previously referred to interally as Optical Videodisc System, Reflective Optical Videodisc, Laser Optical...
and DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
versions picks up after Oscar leaves Charity. Oscar starts to go crazy in his apartment and, feeling suffocated, goes for a walk in the park. He sees Charity on their bridge in Central Park
Central Park
Central Park is a public park in the center of Manhattan in New York City, United States. The park initially opened in 1857, on of city-owned land. In 1858, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux won a design competition to improve and expand the park with a plan they entitled the Greensward Plan...
and thinks she is going to jump. Racing to rescue her, he trips and falls in the water. Charity jumps in after him, but can't swim so Oscar rescues her. Oscar realizes Charity is the only breath of fresh air in his life, proposes again, and she accepts. Fosse thought the ending was too corny, but filmed it in apprehension that the studio would demand a happy ending. In the end, though, they agreed with Fosse and kept the original ending from the stage version.
Cast
- Shirley MacLaineShirley MacLaineShirley MacLaine is an American film and theater actress, singer, dancer, activist and author, well-known for her beliefs in new age spirituality and reincarnation. She has written a large number of autobiographical works, many dealing with her spiritual beliefs as well as her Hollywood career...
as Charity Hope Valentine - John McMartinJohn McMartinJohn McMartin is an American actor of stage, film and television.-Early life and career:McMartin was born in Warsaw, Indiana and raised in Minnesota. He attended college in Illinois and New York. He made his off-Broadway debut in Little Mary Sunshine in 1959, playing opposite Eileen Brennan...
as Oscar Lindquist - Ricardo MontalbanRicardo MontalbánRicardo Gonzalo Pedro Montalbán y Merino, KSG was a Mexican radio, television, theatre and film actor. He had a career spanning six decades and many notable roles...
as Vittorio Vitale - Chita RiveraChita RiveraChita Rivera is an American actress, dancer, and singer best known for her roles in musical theater. She is the first Hispanic woman to receive a Kennedy Center Honors award...
as Nickie - Paula KellyPaula Kelly (actress/dancer)Paula Kelly is a dancer and actress in motion pictures, television and theatre.-Early life and career:...
as Helene - Stubby KayeStubby KayeStubby Kaye was an American comic actor. He was born Bernard Kotzin in New York City on the last day of the First World War, at West 114th Street in the Morningside Heights section of Manhattan to first generation Jewish-Americans originally from Russia and Austria...
as Herman - Barbara BouchetBarbara BouchetBarbara Bouchet, is a German-American actress and entrepreneur.She has acted in more than 80 films and television episodes and founded a production company that has produced fitness videos and books as well as owning a fitness studio...
as Ursula - Sammy Davis, Jr.Sammy Davis, Jr.Samuel George "Sammy" Davis Jr. was an American entertainer and was also known for his impersonations of actors and other celebrities....
as Big Daddy Brubeck - Ben VereenBen VereenBen Vereen is an American actor, dancer, and singer who has appeared in numerous Broadway theatre shows. Vereen graduated from Manhattan's High School of Performing Arts.- Early years :...
as "Rich Man's Frug" dancer
Musical numbers
- "My Personal Property"
- "(Hey,) Big SpenderBig Spender"Big Spender" is a song written by Cy Coleman and Dorothy Fields for the musical Sweet Charity, first performed in 1966. It is sung, in the musical, by the dance hostess "girls"; it was choreographed by Bob Fosse for the Broadway musical and the film...
" - "The Pompeii Club"
- "Rich Man's Frug"
- "If They Could See Me Now"
- "The Hustle"
- "There's Got to Be Something Better Than This"
- "It's a Nice Face"
- "The Rhythm of Life"
- "Sweet Charity"
- "I'm a Brass Band"
- "I Love to Cry at Weddings"
- "Where Am I Going?"
Box office
The film cost $20 million to make, but only made $4 million at the box office. The terrible box office nearly sank Universal PicturesUniversal Studios
Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....
.
Awards and honors
The film received three Academy Award nominations: Best Art Direction-Set DecorationAcademy Award for Best Art Direction
The Academy Awards are the oldest awards ceremony for achievements in motion pictures. The Academy Award for Best Art Direction recognizes achievement in art direction on a film. The films below are listed with their production year, so the Oscar 2000 for best art direction went to a film from 1999...
(Alexander Golitzen
Alexander Golitzen
Alexander Golitzen, oversaw art direction on more than 300 movies.Prince Alexander Golitzen was born in Moscow, but fled the country with his family during the Russian Revolution. Travelling via Siberia and China, they arrived in Seattle, where Alexander graduated from high school...
, George C. Webb
George C. Webb
George C. Webb was an American art director. He was nominated for four Academy Awards in the category Best Art Direction.-Selected filmography:Webb was nominated for four Academy Awards for Best Art Direction:* Gambit...
, Jack D. Moore
Jack D. Moore
Jack D. Moore was an American set decorator. He won an Academy Award and was nominated six times in the category Best Art Direction.-Selected filmography:...
); Best Costume Design
Academy Award for Costume Design
The Academy Award for Best Costume Design is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for achievement in film costume design....
; and Best Music, Score of a Musical Picture (Original or Adaptation)
Academy Award for Original Music Score
The Academy Award for Original Score is presented to the best substantial body of music in the form of dramatic underscoring written specifically for the film by the submitting composer.-Superlatives:...
. It received one Golden Globe nomination for Shirley MacLaine as Best Motion Picture Actress - Musical/Comedy
Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
The Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy was first awarded by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association as a separate category in 1950...
.
It was also screened at the 1969 Cannes Film Festival
1969 Cannes Film Festival
The 22nd Cannes Film Festival was held on May 8 - 23, 1969. At this festival a new non-competitive section called "Directors' Fortnight" is added, in response to the cancellation of the 1968 festival.-Jury:*Luchino Visconti...
, but outside of the main competition.