Goodbye Charlie

There was a lot of promise with 'Goodbye Charlie', this was not a case of it being a bad idea from the start. Namely that it was directed by the very capable Vincente Minnelli, who was very, very good when at his best. It is hard to resist actors of such likeability in Tony Curtis and Debbie Reynolds and Walter Matthau is also always well worth the while. The idea did intrigue somewhat.

Yet somehow, 'Goodbye Charlie' really didn't do an awful lot for me. Not a complete misfire of a film by all means, but considering the huge potential and how much talent there was involved it was disappointing by quite a big degree. It's not terrible and certainly not a must avoid, it's also not particularly good either and has its faults, for me 'Goodbye Charlie' was a mixed bag sort of film that's difficult to rate and review.

'Goodbye Charlie' looks good, there is an elegant glossy sheen to the cinematography and the settings and especially the costumes are beautiful to watch. The music is dynamic and easy on the ears. Minnelli directs stylishly.

Curtis has a tricky role that makes him less likeable than his usual persona, he brings charm and grit to it. Reynolds tries too hard at times but acts with enthusiasm and commitment. Pat Boone makes the most of his rather thankless role. The best performance, even with the questionable Hungarian accent, comes from Matthau having a whale of a time. There is some nice wit in the script, the best line from the whole film coming from Mattheau (concerning him being left speechless if he wasn't Hungarian) and Curtis and Reynolds's chemistry sparkles. Interesting seeing an early appearance from Ellen Burstyn and the opening is a delight.

However, the wit is very largely variable, sometimes it is there but at others (and too frequently so) it's not. There is a fair bit of smut here and it's not done in a snappy or sophisticated way and is not particularly funny. Instead it's not always in good taste, much of it actually vulgar, and likely to make one feel uncomfortable, it doesn't hold up particularly well.

The story does have issues with pacing, with some aimless dragging going on and the film doesn't really go very far as an overall whole. It does run out of steam and ideas too early and the initially good concept wears thin and gets silly and over-stretched, the story too thin for the overlong running time. The supporting cast generally are wasted, Boone deserved better, and some of the characters felt incidental completely to the story and like they were there for padding reasons. The ending does betray the running out of ideas, it felt very tacked on and anti-climactic almost like a cop-out.

Overall, good production values and cast but the script and story needed a lot of work. 5/10 Bethany Cox

GOODBYE CHARLIE was a slightly smarmy but very funny comedy from the 60's that I grew up with. This was the story of a womanizing cad named Charlie Sorel, who one night is partying on a yacht and romances a married woman. He is caught by her husband who shoots Charlie, who falls overboard into the ocean. Charlie's body is not immediately located but a memorial service is held, attended by his best friend George (Tony Curtis) and dozens of women Charlie romanced over the years. A couple of days later a woman (Debbie Reynolds) is found naked on the beach outside of Charlie's apartment, where George is sorting out Charlie's things. We soon learn that this woman is a female reincarnation of Charlie Sorel, apparently God's ironic way of punishing Charlie for the dreadful way he treated women all his life. Charlie initially freaks out at the idea of being a woman but soon shows he hasn't learned a thing and reverts to the old Charlie even though he is a woman now. I was just a kid when this film first hit theaters but I still thought it was pretty funny. Reynolds and Curtis are energetic in the lead roles and are well-supported by Walter Matthau as the guy who shot Charlie, Pat Boone as a schnook who found and falls in love with the reincarnated Charlie and Joanna Barnes and Ellen MacRae as two of the women in old Charlie's life. BTW, Ellen MacRae later changed her name to Ellen Burstyn. It's no cinematic masterpiece, but it will make you laugh. Remade many years later as SWITCH.

When the film begins, a notorious womanizer, Charlie, is caught with another man's wife and is shot to death. Soon there's a funeral and his friend, George (Tony Curtis) arrives to do the eulogy. However, almost no one shows up...because Charlie spent his life using people, not paying debts and bedding any woman who fell for his spiel. Good riddance seems to be the mood of the day.

Soon there's a knock on the door to Charlie's home and since George is the executor, he answers. A young man (Pat Boone) is there with a naked woman in a blanket. He isn't sure who she is but she gave this address but was otherwise delirious. When she later awakens, it becomes obvious that this IS Charlie--reincarnated as a woman (Debbie Reynolds). At first, it's pretty obvious that Charlie had nothing but contempt for women and hates his new body. However, soon an interesting change comes over him. Perhaps he can use and take advantage of people BETTER as a woman and Charlie begins using her wiles to get ahead in life. She shamelessly flirts and blackmails some of the rich married women Charlie used to sleep with in his male days. Why George hangs out with Charlie throughout much of the film is odd, as George doesn't seem like a total jerk. Charlie, on the other hand, is gosh-darn awful both as a man and as a woman.

So what you have is a racy 60s sex comedy...minus the sex. The idea is pretty cute, original and I generally enjoyed the movie. However, I did think the film went on a bit too long and the picture lost a bit of its momentum as a result. For the first half, I'd give this one a 7 or 8...for the final half, a 4 or 5.

By the way, Walter Matthau's accent was just awful and I assume he must have been really embarrassed by this performance.

Perhaps best known nowadays as the film that inspired Blake Edwards to write and direct the amusing 'Switch' with Ellen Barkin, this earlier comedy features the same idea of a shameless philanderer reincarnated in the body of a woman. Clocking in at close to two hours, 'Goodbye Charlie' takes an incredibly long time to warm up with over 25 minutes elapsing before the comedy really kicks in since the philanderer (in the woman's body) has amnesia at first. Once the film gets into the swing of things though, it is a decent ride. Debbie Reynolds does well acting tough and manly, casually ogling other women and so on. It is not as dynamic a performance as Barkin in 'Switch' (who nailed the mannerisms of her male self) as we never actually see much of Charlie before he is killed, but Reynolds is still dynamite. There are also several fascinating moments as he/she gets more used to being a woman, even allowing him/herself to be seduced. Additionally, in a daring move, he/she even tries to seduce his/her best friend, played by Tony Curtis. Speaking of which, Curtis does well with a tricky role here. At times, it seems like he is also about to fall for his macho best friend in a lady's body. The experience is let down by a tacked-on cop-out ending that fails to capitalise on all this sexual tension, but the film pokes enough at gender identity issues to remain interesting.

I remember this movie as a child when there were really funny and good movies shown on TV Sunday mornings. This was one of the "sixties" movies that I enjoyed watching even as a kid...I could get the jokes and the cast was of people I recognized and liked. I didn't get a chance to see this one until the early "seventies" for the first time, but I could enjoy some of the stars I grew to love in other movies. I would give it a solid "8" out of "10". I am very hard on movies that are comedies and have really good comedic actors. See it for yourself. I would also recommend "SWITCH (1991)" with Ellen Barkin and Jimmy Smits.