I wanted to fall in love with “Sweet Charity” very badly. Every time it turns up on television, I patiently sit through it hoping that this will be the time when the film will seduce me and fill me with adoration. But every time, I leave unhappy that I could not give my heart to the film – I desperately want to embrace the film, but it always winds up clobbering me with its cumbersome production.
This is not to say that I hate the film. But I feel that “Sweet Charity” is a work that is best in isolated segments rather than as a cohesive whole – it provides glimmers of innovation that are smothered by the heavy weight of multiple bad choices.
Part of the problem is the source material – a Broadway musical where Neil Simon took Fellini’s earthy 1957 film “Nights of Cabiria” and wrote a bowdlerized, Americanized work that pales in comparison to its source. I know, Fellini and Neil Simon – two names that should never be mentioned in the same breath. Of course, the show wasn’t meant to be a tribute to Fellini, but rather it was a star vehicle for Gwen Verdon, who shined under the direction and choreography of her then-husband Bob Fosse while belting out an old-school Cy Coleman-Dorothy Fields score.
Although Verdon’s performance fueled the show’s commercial success, Universal Pictures felt it needed a movie star to sell a big screen adaptation – Verdon’s only starring film role was the 1958 version of “Damn Yankees.” When the film of “Sweet Charity” came out in 1969, many New York critics complained that the new leading lady Shirley MacLaine offered a weak carbon copy of Verdon’s performance – which was no surprise since the Broadway star coached her cinematic replacement on the character’s choreography, but she obviously couldn’t give a talent infusion.
Still, without first-hand knowledge of the Verdon performance as a reference, MacLaine’s efforts are disappointing on their own terms. Quite frankly, she’s not the best singer and her dancing is mostly adequate when it should be excellent. As for her dramatic interpretation of the chronically unlucky taxi dancer trying and failing to find a lover, MacLaine’s Charity Hope Valentine (in Peter Stone’s adaptation of the Neil Simon book) is a whiney bore – she comes across like a synthetic imitation of the heartbreaking characters she played in “Some Came Running” and “The Apartment.”
Bob Fosse was allowed to make his film directing debut in “Sweet Charity,” and in retrospect that was a mistake. He was obsessionally in love with the material, which resulted in several of the musical numbers dragging on endlessly – try sitting through the painfully dull “Rich Man’s Frug” or the travelogue-dreary “I’m a Brass Band” segments without losing your temper. Fosse also erroneously believed that each dance number needed to be a showstopper, creating a weird imbalance when the so-so sour comic story abruptly explodes with dozens of dancers gyrating in theatrically surreal motions – it’s a shame that the XL-sized numbers couldn’t be released as separate shorts while the rest of “Sweet Charity” went out as a modest non-musical melodrama. It also doesn’t help that Fosse fills the screen with a surplus of camera and editing tricks that calls attention to his direction, if only to make it seem like an overly ambitious Film School 101 project.
But there are some saving graces in “Sweet Charity.” The one dance number that clicks is the self-liberation rally “There’s Gotta Be Something Better Than This” with MacLaine working hard (and succeeding) to meet the song and dance skills of co-stars Chita Rivera and Paula Kelly. Sammy Davis Jr. turns up in a funny little song-and-dance role as a charlatan cult leader, and Stubby Kaye is a jolly sight (as usual) as MacLaine’s boss. Then-unknowns Ben Vereen and Bud Cort pop up in bit parts and Shelley Graham – who would gain notoriety a few years later adult film actress under the name Georgina Spelvin – can be spotted among the dancers.
I am sure I will give “Sweet Charity” another chance the next time it turns up on television. Wish me luck – maybe next time will the charm when I can finally fall under its spell.