"Sweet Charity" is about the adventures of a terminally optimistic 'woman of easy virtue' (Shirley MacLaine) who seems to be happy no matter what horrible things are thrown her way. While the prostitution angle is highly de-emphasized (which is odd, given it was made in the later part of the swinging 60s and in the original she was CLEARLY a prostitute), she is a 'dance hall hostess'. But she also is very dumb--a terrible judge of character and some one who always seems to be bouncing from one problem to another. Through the course of this film, you hope that somehow things will finally work out for this sweet but ditsy lady.
"Sweet Charity" is a hard sell for me. This is because the musical is based on Fellini's film "Nights of Cabiria"--a technically well made but incredibly unpleasant film that I saw twice. Why twice? Because it is very, very highly touted as one of his best films but one that left me so depressed that I couldn't understand why anyone would want to actually watch it. Imagine--the film is about a sweet prostitute who is constantly being abused, disappointed and degraded. Not pleasant stuff, that's for sure.
It's also a hard-sell because it's a movie so deeply entrenched in the late 60s that it has not aged well. The best example is the bizarre dance numbers that occur when the Italian actor (a miscast Mexican-born Ricardo Montalban) takes her to a trendy club. The dance numbers look almost like a combination of Italian high fashion of the day which is performed by a bunch of Twiggy-like models and was designed by Andy Warhol and Richard Avedon!! It may have seemed really cool in the day, but now it just comes off as bizarre...very, very bizarre. And, very slow...as the dancers keep blank expressions while they move in a manner that requires the minimum of energy! It's just strange and goes on, seemingly, forever.
Now I did not thoroughly dislike the movie--but I did dislike it. MacLaine was cute in the lead (though, oddly, her singing sounded very tinny and canned--but she could sing well so I don't blame her for this). And, if you love modern dance, then you'll most likely like the film--it just wasn't my taste but I could respect the effort it took to make this. Overall, not a particularly enjoyable film...at least for me.
"Sweet Charity" is a hard sell for me. This is because the musical is based on Fellini's film "Nights of Cabiria"--a technically well made but incredibly unpleasant film that I saw twice. Why twice? Because it is very, very highly touted as one of his best films but one that left me so depressed that I couldn't understand why anyone would want to actually watch it. Imagine--the film is about a sweet prostitute who is constantly being abused, disappointed and degraded. Not pleasant stuff, that's for sure.
It's also a hard-sell because it's a movie so deeply entrenched in the late 60s that it has not aged well. The best example is the bizarre dance numbers that occur when the Italian actor (a miscast Mexican-born Ricardo Montalban) takes her to a trendy club. The dance numbers look almost like a combination of Italian high fashion of the day which is performed by a bunch of Twiggy-like models and was designed by Andy Warhol and Richard Avedon!! It may have seemed really cool in the day, but now it just comes off as bizarre...very, very bizarre. And, very slow...as the dancers keep blank expressions while they move in a manner that requires the minimum of energy! It's just strange and goes on, seemingly, forever.
Now I did not thoroughly dislike the movie--but I did dislike it. MacLaine was cute in the lead (though, oddly, her singing sounded very tinny and canned--but she could sing well so I don't blame her for this). And, if you love modern dance, then you'll most likely like the film--it just wasn't my taste but I could respect the effort it took to make this. Overall, not a particularly enjoyable film...at least for me.