Goodbye Charlie (1964)

User Rating:

5.9/10   

Director:

Vincente Minnelli

Writers:

George Axelrod (play)
Harry Kurnitz (screenplay)

Release Date:

18 November 1964 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Fantasy | Romance

Tagline:

They don't make girls like "Charlie" anymore -- they never did!

Plot:

Shot by a jealous husband, Charley falls out a porthole and is lost at sea only to find himself returned as an attractive blond woman...

Plot Keywords:

Reincarnation | Sex Change | Based On Play | Character Name In Title

Cast

Tony Curtis	...	George Wellington Tracy
Debbie Reynolds	...	The Reincarnated Charlie Sorel / Virginia Mason
Pat Boone	...	Bruce Minton, the 3rd
Joanna Barnes	...	Janie Highland
Ellen Burstyn	...	Franny Salzman (as Ellen McRae)
Laura Devon	...	Rusty Sartori
Martin Gabel	...	Morton Craft
Roger C. Carmel	...	Inspector (as Roger Carmel)
Harry Madden	...	Charles Sorel
Myrna Hansen	...	Starlet
Michael Romanoff	...	Patron
Michael Jackson	...	Himself
Anthony Eustrel	...	Butler (as Antony Eustrel)
Donna Michelle	...	Girl doing the twist on yacht
Walter Matthau	...	Sir Leopold Sartori

Runtime:

116 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | USA:Approved (certificate #20731)

Company:

Venice Productions

Trivia:

The title role was offered to Marilyn Monroe shortly before her death. She rejected it judging the role as "not feminine at all".

Goofs:

Factual errors: Vincente Minnelli is credited as "Vincente Minelli"

Quotes:

Sir Leopold Sartori: You speak in riddles, my Sphinx.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Hollywood Screen Tests: Take 2 (1999) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Seven at once

You can lead great performers to a camera, but you can't make them act...

What does it take to be a bad movie? 1. When your lead actor (Tony Curtis) gives the most wooden, lifeless performance of his career; 2. When your lead actress (Debby Reynolds), playing a reincarnated lady-killer, just about fondles herself on screen (in a rather disturbing scene) when discovering the change, and never really conveys the fact that she is a man's ghost in a woman's body; 3. When you cast a Playmate of the Year (Donna Michelle, 1964), list her among the principal actors, then briefly show her dancing at a party in the opening sequence, never to be seen again. 4. When your best performances come from Roger Carmel, of all people, as a homicide detective who suddenly arrives to throw the plot into a needless twist; 5. When you waste Pat Boone's talents (unfathomable as it seems) by having him play a rich boy wooing she-male Debby.

This, no doubt, is one of the most disappointing movies I have ever seen. The writing is abysmal (one particular scene with Debby and Tony drags on for 15-20 minutes, and you wish for death to take you); director Minelli makes no attempt to elevate it above a filmed stage play; and the Cinemascope is so cluttered, one is often more interested by the props than the performances.

One gem amidst the dross--Walter Matthau as a fraud Hungarian director. One hopes for Carmel's character to grill Matthau, but it never comes to be. Truly, one film to avoid at all costs.