Sweet Charity (film)


Sweet Charity is a 1969 American musical comedy-drama film directed and choreographed by Bob Fosse, written by Peter Stone, and featuring music by Cy Coleman and Dorothy Fields.
It stars Shirley MacLaine and features John McMartin, Sammy Davis Jr., Ricardo Montalbán, 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 Nights of Cabiria. However, whereas Fellini's 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 has costumes by Edith Head.

Plot

Charity Hope Valentine works as a taxi dancer along with her friends, Nickie and Helene. She longs for love, but has bad luck with men, first seen when her married boyfriend, Charlie, pushes her off Gapstow Bridge in Central Park and steals her life savings of $427.
Charity meets famous movie star Vittorio Vitale, just as he breaks up with his girlfriend, Ursula. Charity has a promising, but ultimately humiliating, relationship with Vittorio that evening.
After failing to find a new job through an employment agency, Charity meets shy Oscar Lindquist 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, included on the Laserdisc, DVD and Blu-ray releases, 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 anticipating 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

Musical numbers

  1. "My Personal Property" *
  2. " Big Spender"
  3. "The Pompeii Club"
  4. "Rich Man's Frug"
  5. "If My Friends Could See Me Now"
  6. "The Hustle"
  7. "There's Got to Be Something Better Than This"
  8. "It's a Nice Face" *
  9. "The Rhythm of Life"
  10. "Sweet Charity"
  11. "I'm a Brass Band"
  12. "I Love to Cry at Weddings"
  13. "Where Am I Going?"
* New song written for the film

Reception

Box office

The film cost $20 million to make, but made only $8 million at the box office, which nearly sank Universal Pictures.
According to Variety, the film earned rentals of $4,025,000 in the US and Canada.

Awards and honors

The film received three Academy Award nominations: Best Art Direction-Set Decoration ; Best Costume Design; and Best Music, Score of a Musical Picture. 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.
The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists: