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Goodbye Charlie

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For the episode of the science fiction series Millennium, see Goodbye Charlie (Millennium).
Goodbye Charlie
Theatrical release poster
Directed byVincente Minnelli
Screenplay byHarry Kurnitz
Based onGoodbye Charlie
1959 play
by George Axelrod
Produced byDavid Weisbart
StarringTony Curtis
Debbie Reynolds
Pat Boone
CinematographyMilton R. Krasner
Edited byJohn W. Holmes
Music byAndré Previn
Color processColor by DeLuxe
Production
company
Venice Productions
Distributed by20th Century Fox
Release date
  • November 18, 1964 (1964-11-18)
Running time
117 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$3.5 million[1]
Box office$3,700,000 (US/ Canada rentals)[2]

Goodbye Charlie is a 1964 American comedy film directed by Vincente Minnelli and starring Tony Curtis, Debbie Reynolds and Pat Boone. The CinemaScope film is about a callous womanizer who gets his just reward after a jealous husband kills him. It is adapted from George Axelrod's 1959 play Goodbye, Charlie. The play also provided the basis for the 1991 film Switch, with Ellen Barkin and Jimmy Smits.

Plot

Philandering Hollywood writer Charlie Sorrel is shot and killed by Hungarian film producer Sir Leopold Sartori when he is caught fooling around with Leopold's wife Rusty. Charlie's best and only friend, novelist George Tracy, arrives at Charlie's Malibu beach house for the memorial service, after an exhausting series of flights from Paris that have left him broke. There are only three people there: Charlie's agent and two ex-girlfriends. George does his best to eulogize his friend, but there is little to be said in favor of Charlie, whose final bad joke on George is making him executor of his estate, which is a mess of debts and unpaid taxes.

Soon after the guests leave, an exhausted George is awakened by a knock at the terrace door and the appearance of Bruce Minton III assisting a petite blonde woman swathed in a huge brown overcoat. Bruce came to her aid when he found her dazed and wandering on the road, completely naked. She does not remember much, but she recognized Charlie's house as they drove past it and it made her feel safe. Bruce rushes off to a dinner engagement, leaving a sleep-deprived George to cope with the delirious woman. The next morning, George awakes to her screams. She recalls that she is Charlie, reincarnated as a woman. After getting over the shock, she convinces George of her identity by telling him about a dirty trick that she had recently played on him as a man. George realizes that this must be a case of karmic retribution for all of the women that Charlie had used and betrayed.

All manner of complications arise as Charlie decides to take advantage of the situation. George helps her by establishing her as Charlie's widow, figuring out their finances—they are both broke—and boosting her morale. From the beginning, Charlie finds herself subject to a whole new set of emotions and sensations. Her masculine mannerisms begin to fade, partly because Charlie is a consummate actor, but also because the change is more than skin deep. At one point, she bursts into uncontrollable tears. George comforts her as he would a weeping girl, wiping her tears and stroking her hair to calm her, then pulls back, disturbed at the tenderness.

Although Charlie has changed her gender, she is unable to change her ways. She decides to solve her money problems by using her intimate knowledge for blackmail and by marrying Bruce for money. The plans fall apart when Bruce, on the verge of passing out, reveals the depth of his love for her. Charlie takes pity on him and slips the engagement ring into his hand.

Eventually, in a grim role-reversal that she recognizes when it happens, Charlie is chased around the house by Leopold, who cheerfully spouts amorous nonsense and is intent on making love to her. Rusty arrives, gun in hand, and, just as Charlie climbs onto the terrace railing with intent to jump, Rusty shoots her, and she plunges into the ocean below. George, who has arrived in the midst of the melee, leaps after Charlie, but there is no sign of a body. After admonishing the Sartoris for their actions, George orders them to leave and never tell anyone about it. The couple reconcile, and Leopold promises eternal gratitude to George.

George is asleep in a chair; the sound of a woman's voice repeatedly calling "Charlie" wakes him. This time, there are two beings on the terrace: a woman and her Great Dane Charlie. George quickly establishes herself as a real person, Virginia Mason. She takes a look at him and decides that he needs food. She commands Charlie to sit and stay. Virginia and George talk in the kitchen; it is clearly love at first sight. The dog goes into the living room, to the bookcase, to Charlie's secret cache of vodka (behind War and Peace). The bottle falls and breaks; Charlie laps a bit from the floor and, looking heavenward, begins to howl.

Cast

Goodbye Charlie
Written byGeorge Axelrod
Date premieredDecember 16, 1959
Place premieredLyceum Theatre, New York
Original languageEnglish
GenreComedy
SettingThe beach house of the late Charlie Sorel, a few miles north of Malibu, California. The present.

Production

Film rights to the play were bought by 20th Century Fox before it premiered for $150,000 plus a percentage of the profits.[3] James Garner and Marilyn Monroe were discussed as stars.[4]

Darryl F. Zanuck offered the project to Billy Wilder after he returned to Fox, but Wilder turned it down, saying that "no self-respecting picture maker would ever want to work for your company".[5] (Zanuck had just forced Joseph L. Mankiewicz to re-cut Cleopatra (1963)).

Playwright Harry Kurnitz was hired to write the script, and Tony Curtis was attached early.[6] Vincente Minnelli was hired to direct, his first movie away from MGM since 1942.[7]

Reception

According to Fox records, the film needed to earn $7 million in rentals for the studio to financially break even on its release. The film ultimately failed to make this goal, earning $4,555,000.[8]

George Axelrod's play debuted on Broadway in 1959 starring Lauren Bacall and Sydney Chaplin, produced by Leland Hayward, and directed by Axelrod. It was not a success, running for 109 performances.[9]

The New York Times critic Bosley Crowther led his review of the film by panning the play and the movie: "… 'Goodbye, Charlie,' was bad enough on the stage. On the screen, it is a bleak conglomeration of outrageous whimsies and stupidities. And it has Debbie Reynolds and Tony Curtis so sadly cast in distasteful roles that it causes even a hardened moviegoer to turn away from it in pain and shame."[10] Crowther concluded, "Under Vincente Minnelli's direction, the film has a certain style and pace. But it is much more vulgar than stylish, much more sluggish and dull than fast."[11]

In 2019, Stephen Vagg reviewed the film in Diabolique magazine: "It's not that shocking to see the star of Spartacus (1960)... make moves on a woman not knowing she's a man, but it is a surprise to see Boone to do it. He later admitted to having a drinking problem around this time and shot some scenes for the movie while drunk.... This film remains resolutely undiscovered by queer/feminist film analysts, despite its subject matter and bisexual director... I think this is in part because Reynolds's performance is so utterly sexless. It holds any feeling of kinkiness at bay. However, there's no denying it because Boone plays a guy who effectively tries to make out with a dude." The magazine also points out that the opening scene features a tracking shot at a party where a man gets upset and shoots the man sleeping with his wife, similar to Boogie Nights (1997).[12]

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has 50% rating, based on 8 contemporary and modern reviews.[13]

Television adaptation

In 1985, Goodbye Charlie was made into a TV series (starring Suzanne Somers as the reincarnated Charlie), but only the pilot episode was broadcast.[14]

See also

References

  1. ^ Solomon, Aubrey. Twentieth Century Fox: A Corporate and Financial History (The Scarecrow Filmmakers Series). Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 1989. ISBN 978-0-8108-4244-1. p254
  2. ^ This figure consists of anticipated rentals accruing distributors in North America. See "Big Rental Pictures of 1965", Variety, 5 January 1966 p. 6 and Solomon p. 229. Please note these figures are rentals accruing to distributors not total gross.
  3. ^ "Of Local Origin". New York Times. July 3, 1959. p. 8.
  4. ^ Hopper, Hedda (Jan 30, 1961). "Garner Gets Offer to Co-Star with Marilyn". Chicago Daily Tribune. p. a1.
  5. ^ John C. Waugh (Dec 13, 1962). "Studio Shakeups Send Hopes High: Hollywood Letter". The Christian Science Monitor. p. 6.
  6. ^ Hopper, Hedda (Feb 20, 1964). "Looking at Hollywood: 'Goodbye, Charlie' Script Is in Work". Chicago Tribune. p. c2.
  7. ^ "Film Director Moves to Fox". New York Times. Jan 21, 1964. p. 24.
  8. ^ Silverman, Stephen M (1988). The Fox that got away: the last days of the Zanuck dynasty at Twentieth Century-Fox. L. Stuart. p. 323. ISBN 9780818404856.
  9. ^ Goodbye Charlie at Playbill
  10. ^ "Debbie Reynolds Stars in 'Goodbye, Charlie'". The New York Times. Retrieved 2023-10-22.
  11. ^ Crowther, Bosley. “Debbie Reynolds Stars in ‘Goodbye, Charlie’.” New York Times, 19 November 1964, 49.
  12. ^ Vagg, Stephen (10 September 2019). "The Surprisingly Interesting Cinema of Pat Boone". Diabolique Magazine.
  13. ^ "Goodbye Charlie". Rotten Tomatoes. 1964-11-18. Retrieved 2023-10-22.
  14. ^ Goodbye Charlie (TV pilot) at IMDb
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