Unfocused Comedy

As others, too, have remarked, this spring and summer (so far) have been the Sahara and Gobi of the movies. Foreign imports have proved no less barren than the domestic product; under such circumstances, an insignificant item like Heaven Can Wait looms on the horizon like a lush oasis, even though it is only a middling mirage. For all its opulently colorful outdoor look, this remake of Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941), a romantic comedyfantasy with metaphysical overtones, already exercises a weaker hold on my memory than the grubby black-andwhite, relentlessly studio-made original version.

The expensive remake, written by Elaine May and Warren Beatty (and owing more to the original screenplay than the credits care to admit) and directed by Beatty and Buck Henry, changes its hero, Joe Pendleton, from a boxer to a quarterback for the Los Angeles Rams. Joe is snatched up to Heaven prematurely by an over-eager neophyte escort (Buck Henry); the error is caught by the mysterious Mr. Jordan, who may be God, and is certainly, and infelicitously, James Mason. Since Pendleton’s body has already been cremated, a new fleshly envelope must be found for Joe; this is to be the body of Leo Farnsworth, an unscrupulous and eccentric billionaire whom his wife and private secretary (her lover) have just poisoned.

JS

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John Simon

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As others, too, have remarked, this spring and summer (so far) have been the Sahara and Gobi of the movies. Foreign imports have proved no less barren than the domestic product; under such circumstances, an insignificant item like Heaven Can Wait looms on the horizon like a lush oasis, even though it is only a middling mirage. For all its opulently colorful outdoor look, this remake of Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941), a romantic comedyfantasy with metaphysical overtones, already exercises a weaker hold on my memory than the grubby black-andwhite, relentlessly studio-made original version.

The expensive remake, written by Elaine May and Warren Beatty (and owing more to the original screenplay than the credits care to admit) and directed by Beatty and Buck Henry, changes its hero, Joe Pendleton, from a boxer to a quarterback for the Los Angeles Rams. Joe is snatched up to Heaven prematurely by an over-eager neophyte escort (Buck Henry); the error is caught by the mysterious Mr. Jordan, who may be God, and is certainly, and infelicitously, James Mason. Since Pendleton’s body has already been cremated, a new fleshly envelope must be found for Joe; this is to be the body of Leo Farnsworth, an unscrupulous and eccentric billionaire whom his wife and private secretary (her lover) have just poisoned.