One of my all time favorites.

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

"Heaven Can Wait" is a remake of the 1941 fantasy/comedy classic "Here Comes Mr. Jordan", starring Robert Montgomery as pugilist Joe Pendleton along with Claude Rains as the titular Mr. Jordan. This time around, Warren Beatty takes on the Joe Pendleton role, now a Los Angeles Rams quarterback instead of a boxer.The story is put in motion when Pendleton is yanked out of his body by an overzealous angel before he's meant to die. By the time the error is discovered it's too late for Pendleton to be placed back into his own body so he must accept an alternate host among individuals who are about to die. When he does finally settle on a body he quickly resumes his goal of attempting to become the starting quarterback for the Rams but he must also contend with his predecessor's murderous wife and shady business dealings.Being pretty faithfully based on "Here Comes Mr. Jordan", it's no surprise that "Heaven Can Wait" has a somewhat old-fashioned feel. However, that's a good thing. The clever plot of the original was kept mostly intact while bringing the characters and the comedy up to date. Overall, I find the remake to be funnier and just different enough from the original to keep it fresh. I still give the original a slight edge in narrative construction, though.The cast of the original made for a high standard to match but I think that the remake met and possibly even exceeded it. Beatty made an engaging lead of a totally different sort than Robert Montgomery and being teamed with Julie Christie again was the icing on the cake. The supporting cast was also superb with multiple standouts including James Mason, Jack Warden, Charles Grodin, Dyan Cannon & Buck Henry.Lavished with nine Oscar nominations, "Heaven Can Wait" is a movie that shows attention to detail in all areas. In the end, the film's only Oscar win was for art direction/set decoration, though the tight writing and jaunty musical score could have just as easily been honoured as well (not to mention one or more of the actors).I'm a bit surprised at the movie's somewhat middling rating on this site but I suspect that's probably because it represents a throwback to an earlier era of film-making. If that sounds appealing to you, by all means check this movie out.

HEAVEN CAN WAIT is a very promising film. From the moment that the Ram coaches appear on the screen in their Bermuda shorts, it promises to be a funny film. From the moment that Julie Christie enters and begins her angry and persuasive plea on behalf of the people of Pagglesham, it promises to be a serious film. In fact, it promises to be more ambitious than its predecessor, HERE COMES MISTER JORDAN (1941), and most other Hollywood movies not only in its political commitment to some fairly liberal causes, but also in allowing a strong woman character to verbalise that commitment. That most of these promises are unfulfilled or betrayed is unfortunate; the film's reputation as an expression of American liberalism is well deserved.Today this film seems a very decently thoughtful film, for the late 70's it was, at the time, one of the best comedies to come out of Hollywood in a long time. It is the product of some remarkable comic talents — Elaine May, who wrote most of the script; Warren Beatty, who wrote, directed, and produced the film; and Buck Henry, who co-directed. They have expertly exploited the comic situation of the athlete who returns to life as a millionaire, adding scenes and sequences suggested by but omitted from the original, such as the search for a suitable body. The dialogue demonstrates a skill for verbal humour, from Dyan Cannon's explosive pun (Mrs. Farnsworth, on the murder of her husband: "I should be canonised") to Charles Grodin's corporate double talk (Mr. Abbott, on the possibility that a company plant could stimulate seismic action in the San Andreas fault sufficient to destroy Southern California: "I think you'd have to define 'destroy.'"). Some old comic formulae reappear: Julia Farnsworth screams on cue following Farnsworth's line, "Miss Logan, I don't frighten anyone"; and Joe Pendleton interrupts his escort's explanation of the afterlife with an old coin trick. Then there are the visual gags — push-ups in the clouds, the flag ceremony, and others — and a musical score that contributes to the whole effect. Moreover, the humour succeeds due to the talents of several fine comic actors — Beatty, Cannon, Grodin, Henry, Jack Warden as Corkle, Joseph Mayer as Sisk, and Arthur Malet as his cocoa-toting assistant.The audience is led to believe in Joe/Farnsworth as the champion of the ordinary individual. We are not allowed to consider that his earnings as a professional football player probably put him closer to Farnsworth's tax bracket than the average citizen's. Joe's heart seems to be in the right place: "Don't you think you could do something legal and still be wrong?" He is appalled to learn that merger rumours are leaked by the corporation in order to drive up the cost of stock: "But isn't that dishonest?" He is concerned about accusations made against the corporation — that its plants are environmentally unsafe; that its tuna canneries are killing and canning porpoises; that it has acquired property by bribery.But the crucial scene is the board meeting. In a speech that usually evokes applause and cheers from the movie audience, Joe/ Farnsworth argues for a new company policy, modelled on the strategy of a winning football team at mid-season. If the company is making money, why not protect those profits by safeguarding against mistakes? Why not start "a good-guy tuna company that's on the porpoise team"? Why not, in short, institute a new policy of corporate responsibility? Such a policy would cost more, he admits: "But we don't care how much it costs, we just care how much it makes." This line is the real key to the film's political statement. We can't have our tuna and eat it too without paying for the privilege. By the end of the speech, in fact, the new advertising campaign is already under way: "Would you pay a penny extra to save a fish that thinks?"

This movie was nominated for several Oscars: Best Picture, Best Actor (Warren Beatty), Best Supporting Actor (Jack Warden), Best Supporting Actress (Dyan Cannon), Best Director (Warren Beatty & Buck Henry), Best Writing based on material from another medium (Elain May & Warren Beatty), Best Cinematography (William Fraker) and Best Original Score (Dave Grusin). Bottom line, Warren Beatty was involved with writing, directing, and acting in this very entertaining movie. This was a very good movie, should not to be confused with the 20th Century Fox movie, Heaven Can Wait (1943). The only similarity between these two movies, is that a man was called to a waiting station after dying. From there on, the stories are totally different. Without going into a complete recapping of the movie, the Beatty character seems to have been assumed to be dead in a bicycling accident when an over reactionary "angel" (Buck Henry) took his soul to a waiting station before he was really dead. Once done, it could not be undone and the Warren Beatty character had to take another man's body. It is at this point that the great comedy really starts to take hold, with Dyan Cannon and Charles Grodin knowing that they had killed the man to which Beatty's body is assigned. This is a great movie with a lot of comical overtones----but then so was Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941), the original movie from which this one was remade.................................. Now that Beatty has retired and I can look back over his movies, I have come to realize his really unique comedic talent: The characters he often did the best were actually fools who took themselves very seriously. Or, at least that is the way that I see him playing real characters like Jack Reed, Bugsy Siegel, and Clyde Barrow as well as fictitious character such as John McCab, George (in Shampoo) and Jay Billington Bulworth (in Bulworth). Note--This personal observation does not take into account those characters that he played who did not appear to be clownish fools, i,e, Bud in Splendor in the Grass.

This movie is a remake of another movie that was so dumb it should never have been made once, let alone twice. You might think the original version was "Heaven Can Wait" (1943), on account of the fact that it has the same title, but that is actually a different movie. Both movies with that title have something to do with dying and going to Heaven, and both movies are comedies that are not very funny, but that is about all they have in common. The present movie is actually a remake of "Here Comes Mr. Jordan" (1941).Now, all that one asks of a comedy is that it be funny. If it makes you laugh, that is all that counts, no matter how ridiculous the plot may be. But when a comedy is not funny, and yet it keeps insisting that you are supposed to be laughing at one silly scene after another, there is little one can do but think about the plot until it is finally over. In this case, the plot is exasperating. Joe Pendleton is a quarterback for the Los Angeles Rams. He is hit by a car and is mistakenly whisked away to Heaven. It is discovered by Mr. Jordan, an authority in Heaven, that Joe was not supposed to die. Unfortunately, his body has already been cremated, so they have to find him another one to take its place.When Joe realizes what is going on, his big concern is whether he will be able to play football again. Football? He has just found out that all that stuff about God and Heaven is true, and he's worried about football? How could you possibly care about worldly goods when you know the secret of Eternity? Now, if I had just found out that I was in Heaven, I would be thrilled to discover that my soul was immortal. But if I subsequently found out that I was going to have to go back to earth in another body, my question to Mr. Jordan would be, "Is there a Hell, and if so, what do I need to do to stay out of it?" There is no more important question in this world or the next than that one.Assuming that there is a Hell, then having been sent back to earth in whatever body I was given, I would not be worried about football. I would immediately give all my worldly goods to the poor, turn the other cheek if struck, and absolutely, positively never look at a woman with lust in my heart again. Yeah, I know. At the end of the movie, Joe's memory of dying and going to Heaven is erased. But for the better part of the movie, he does remember all that Heaven stuff, and yet all he cares about is football (and a woman named Betty, whom he probably lusts after).As I said, if the movie were funny, all would be forgiven. Or, if the movie had been worthy in other ways, one might overlook this absurdity of caring about something like football when you know that Eternity hangs in the balance. For example, in the movie "It's a Wonderful Life" (1946), George Bailey finds out that all that stuff about God and Heaven is true too. Right then George should have said, "Oh Wow! That takes all the pressure off. Wait till I tell Mary the good news. Even if I do go to jail, everything will be fine when Mary and I die and we go to Heaven." He doesn't say this to himself, but we are willing to overlook the way George seems oblivious to his newfound knowledge of Eternity, because it is otherwise such a good movie.But "Heaven Can Wait," just like the original version on which it was based, is not a good movie, is not funny, and thus its preposterous plot deserves the ridicule I have just subjected it to.