I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

In Sweet Charity, Shirley MacLaine plays Charity, the original hooker with a heart of gold. Well, that's not entirely true; Sweet Charity is a remake of the Italian film The Nights of Cabiria, which won the Oscar for Best Foreign Film of 1957. In any case, the hooker with a heart of gold archetype is embodied by the protagonist in this story.While the Italian film is depressing beyond belief—Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love the movie and have seen it many times—the musical is slightly different. There are many dramatic, depressing musicals, and this isn't one of them. It's fun and colorful with uplifting songs, a lighter title, and a generally sunny disposition. I won't spoil anything, but if you're looking for a downer, try Oliver instead.Shirley MacLaine is darling! I know, it seems like I'm always talking about how cute she is, but she is particularly adorable and charming as Charity. Shirley got her start as a dancer, and in this movie, she's able to really show off her skills (and her legs). It's a Bob Fosse musical, so if you've never seen his choreography before, prepare yourself for a very different type of dancing. Dancers will stand perfectly still for several beats, breaking the stillness by a single shoulder shrug or finger flick. It's a very controlled, intense, stylized kind of dancing, one that uses a Hollywood camera to its advantage. The dance numbers are beautifully directed and framed in each shot. Usually, you'll either love Bob Fosse or hate him, so it might be a determining factor in your enjoyment of the film.It's difficult to pull off the heart of gold hooker role convincingly. In my opinion, Giulietta Masina conveys the "seedy hooker" aspect of the character a little better in the original version, but it's also a darker, sadder film, so that makes sense. In Sweet Charity, Shirley MacLaine chews gum and sports a heart tattoo on her shoulder, but that's about it. Still, she nails the hopeful, utter faith in human nature aspect, which delights audiences and draws them into her story.When I first watched the movie, I wasn't really too impressed with the songs. Now that I'm older and have written three musicals myself, I actually like Cy Coleman's and Dorothy Fields' creations better. For me, part of what makes an effective musical song is if the melody conveys the words of the song, even if the words are hidden. In "Big Spender", the famous song all the streetwalkers sing to a potential customer, the melody captures the boredom they feel, as well as the frustration simmering underneath. You can really feel it's a song that's been sung a hundred times a night. In "If They Could See Me Now", another famous song that Shirley MacLaine sings with a top hat and cane, it actually sounds like it's being sung on her tiptoes, while she's excited and afraid if she shouts it'll echo off the walls. And finally, one of my favorites, "There's Gotta be Something Better Than This": you can truly feel the frustration boiling over as the girls finally declare they've had enough of their terrible lives. To see what I mean, watch the YouTube clip of the song, and if you like it, rent the movie!

Gwen Verdon, where are you? Shirley MacLaine is good (but not great) as the replacement for Gwen in this mixed-bag of a film adaptation directed by Bob Fosse. It's too bland. Charity is a hooker in the Broadway version, but here she is a "taxi dancer" who occasionally goes in for the "long haul" with regulars like "Charlie". The scenes are G-rated so a great opportunity with Latin Lover Ricardo Montalban is lost. Shirley plays "Charity Hope Valentine" the girl with the proverbial heart of gold. She appears wide-eyed-and innocent in spite of her sordid profession. Her long-lost "love", Oscar Linquist, is played by John McMartin. He's an insurance actuary, an incredibly boring and strange man who claims to "love her for what she is" but gets cold feet on the way to the marriage license bureau. (The "Charlie" red heart tattoo on her shoulder sure doesn't help.) John's lack-luster performance rivals that of Van Johnson's in "Brigadoon". It "cools down" the movie, especially the last 20 minutes. The ending stinks also. After the "flower children" wish her a cheery "Good Morning" she skips down the lane, on her merry way, after staying out all night on the footbridge where she used to meet her sweetheart. It's way too long. (157 min.) The musical production numbers are quite good because they are directed by the genius Bob Fosse. "Hey Big Spender" is the stand out. Sammy Davis Jr. appears in a great cameo as a singing and dancing "soul man hippie" preacher. However, there is too much dialog in-between all the music. Universal considered this a "bomb" as it lost money at the box office. Even Stubby Kaye (as the dance hall owner) couldn't save this one.

Shirley is endearing as the title character, a sweet overly hopeful hard luck dame not overly burdened with brains. Several of the songs-Where Am I Going?, Hey Big Spender, If They Could See Me Now, are excellent but the film is an overblown terribly dated dinosaur. The kind of out of touch production that killed the musical by the end of the sixties. A gargantuan flop upon its initial release costing 20 million and taking in only 8, it's easy to see why peppered throughout as it is with techniques, photos that stop the action dead, freeze frames in numbers, that were outdated even then. There are glimmers of Fosse's genius scattered here and there but he has done better work elsewhere. One of the very rare chances to see Chita Rivera on screen, for that alone it's worth sitting through once but it really a mediocre effort.

Neither this movie nor the two endings are that good in my book, I never saw the Fellini movie that "Sweet Charity" is based on and I love a sad, "realistic" ending as much as the next person. But with the way this movie is written, it doesn't make sense to me for Oscar to leave Charity hanging at the altar.Maybe if he found out what she does for a living after he asked her to marry him it would make more sense. Then he might feel some obligation to go through with the marriage even though he was having serious second thoughts, and that could lead to him backing out of it at the last minute. But the way this movie is written, he not only found out about her life before asking her to marry him, he found out before he told her he loved her. There were no serious ties between them, he had all the time in the world to keep dating her and mulling it over (if he wanted to use that time), yet he still came to the conclusion that nothing else mattered and they had to be together.To me that isn't the thought process of a man who is going go flip-flop on his decision. And if he does flip, what's to stop him from flopping right back hours later and deciding he was a fool for leaving Charity ... which brings us back to the alternate end.Like I said, neither end is satisfying to me. But at least the alternate one makes more sense. In the original one even Oscar can't explain why he's leaving her.