Heaven Can Wait poster & wallpaper

Warren Beatty, Julie Christie, James Mason

A gung-ho and merciful angel (Buck Henry) pulls Joe Pendleton (Beatty), a football star, out of his body before his time, forcing the higher powers to come up with a substitute host. Joe settles on a ...( read more  read more... )vicious multimillionaire whose wife and partner are trying to kill him. Light, breezy, with not a mean bone in its body, Heaven is based on the 1941 film Here Comes Mr. Jordan. Beatty is wonderfully daft and innocent as Joe, Jack Warden is on top of his form as Joe's trainer Corky, and Julie Christie appears to be playing a diaphanous summer dress. Great comic relief is provided by Dyan Cannon, Charles Grodin, and the notion that the 1978 Los Angeles Rams could go to the Superbowl. --Keith Simanton

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58% liked it

8,952 ratings

PG, 101 min.

Directed by: Warren Beatty, Buck Henry

Release Date: June 28, 1978

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DVD Release Date: July 27, 1999

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Jack Warden in Heaven Can Wait Warren Beatty in Heaven Can Wait Jack Warden in Heaven can Wait Dyan Cannon in Heaven Can Wait Dick Enberg and Warren Beatty in Heaven Can Wait Charles Grodin and Dyan Cannon in Heaven Can Wait Julie Christie in Heaven Can Wait Warren Beatty in Heaven Can Wait Heaven Can Wait Heaven Can Wait
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Flixster Reviews (366)

  • sononothing
    March 31, 2009
    sononothing
    The reluctant ghost is a tried and true tale in Hollywood and it repeated itself in 1978's Heaven Can Wait, a film that was a remake of 1941's Here Comes Mr. Jordan and had a backbone made of its star Warren Beatty. The film is about the quarterback for the Los Angeles Rams Joe P...( read more)endleton (Beatty) who appears to get into a fatal accident causing an angel (Buck Henry) to pull Joe from his body and take him to a weigh station for heaven. The problem is that it isn't Joe's time, so a higher authority (James Mason) options Joe into take over the body of millionaire Leo Farnsworth after he has been "killed" by his scretary (Charles Grodin) and his wife (Dyan Cannon). As Farnsworth Joe takes on a new love (Julie Christie) who is trying to stop one of his companies environmental blunders. But Joes main goal is to get back into football with the help of the Rams trainer Max (Jack Warden).

    Beatty and Buck Henry directed this nice, little romantic comedy that's been done before and since, yet this version seems to hold its own. It's one of those movies that you stumble on when flipping channels and once you start watching you can't turn the damn thing off. Beatty is a proficent director his first time out and doesn't indulge in those things that actors turned directors tend to do- over direct. He simply tells the story. It isn't a pretentious piece like you would expect from Beatty. It's a good, straightforward chick flick that gets past being for chicks.
  • wellmeetagain
    January 9, 2009
    wellmeetagain
    Nice comedy with a warm heart to it. Worth a look.
  • stopitgoaway
    January 5, 2008
    stopitgoaway
    Heaven Can Wait is a milestone in Warren Beatty's long career. He produced, co-directed, co-written, and starred in this fantasy comedy of "probability and outcome". Originally Muhammad Ali was supposed to be cast for the role, but he turned it down, and it's a good thing he did....( read more) Beatty does a great job of handling the work of playing three different characters, as he goes from quarterback to businessman and back again. Warren also has great support from Julie Christie (whom Beatty worked with previously), James Mason (as the mysterious Mr. Jordan), Dyan Cannon (as the businessman's treacherous wife), Jack Warden (as trainer Max Corkle), Buck Henry (as the escort), and Charles Grodin. This film definitely deserved it's 9 Oscar nominations but it should have won more than one.
  • FangsFirst
    December 22, 2007
    FangsFirst
    Not to be confused with the 1943 film of the same title--which is completely unrelated--this is of course the remake of 1941's Here Comes Mr. Jordan, later remade with Chris Rock as Down to Earth, and filling that familiar comedic role in film of the fish-out-of-wat...( read more)er-but-in-a-land-animal's-body (sorry, I do like contorting clichés where appropriate).

    Hopefully, it gives away nothing (even if it does, this occurs within 8 minutes of the film starting) to note the essence of this plot is Joe Pendleton (Warren Beatty) is a pro football player who has recently recovered from a knee injury and is told on his birthday by trainer Max Corkle (the always fun Jack Warden) that he is going to be starting quarterback for the L.A. Rams. He immediately goes out and continues the training regimen we've already seen him working hard at, and he is in an accident in a tunnel as he is biking--one that seemed, honestly, rather peculiar. There was no note of dramatic shock to it, there was no comedic or black comedic quality, it just seemed...off. At that point I was a little worried about the way the film would go from here, as Joe now wanders a waystation in the afterlife (mostly clouds, of course) as he is escorted by Buck Henry (he's just "the escort") to his new destination. He ignores the words of his escort until a dapper gentleman in charge appears--Mr. Jordan--titular character of the previous film--played by none other than James Mason (bringing a slight chuckle to those of us familiar with Eddie Izzard's Dress to Kill). He is placed in the body of one Leo Farnsworth, billionaire industrialist and generally selfish, greedy, inhuman capitalist type after he witnesses the passionate pleas of Betty Logan (Julie Christie) to save her village from industrial development.

    Beatty is 1970s Beatty--fast-talking, charming and fairly natural in his role, making it feel nice, comfortable and familiar for the audience, bringing on the goofball humour of a not-so-bright football player trying to fill the role of a businessman. I'm generally reluctant to give away lines that really make me laugh, but I cannot resist mentioning one--"We can porpoises?" Christie is as impassioned as her character Betty is, refusing to let "Farnsworth" get a word in through her tirade against his tyrannical treatment of the town she's trying to protect. Mason is suave and debonair as the ethereal (quite literally!) and unflappable heavenly employee, with Buck an amusingly high-strung new worker. Charles Grodin is Tony Abbott, Farnsworth's "personal private executive secretary"--as he's wont to point out--plotting with Farnsworth's wife Julia (Dyan Cannon) to kill her selfish husband. Grodin later became quite a ham playing similar roles (though usually a little more dominant), but here is wonderfully deadpan and submissive as Abbott, bringing amusing life to a number of lines. Joseph Maher is butler Sisk, and I swear I've seen him before a number of times with a moustache playing a butler or something of the sort, with a sort of resemblance to the upturned nose variety of humour from Stephen Fry--but maybe I'm thinking of someone else. Vincent Gardenia appeared in the credits and I was sure I had sadly missed him until he finally appeared as Det. Lt. Krim, as commanding as usual, but with that same strange foolish element that wasn't a clumsiness or stupidity, yet still allows the audience and sometimes the other characters to get something over on him, mixed with a hidden wisdom and humanity--and yeah, he's still Mr. Mushnik as far as I'm concerned. Another butler is Arthur Malet, who is a sort of amusingly childish old man, always funny, but in a loveable sort of way--I recognized him instantly as Hook's Tootles, a not too dissimilar role for him. R.G. Armstrong makes an appearance as the Rams' general manger, previously being seen in tons of television and especially westerns and action flicks. And of course, note must be made again of Jack Warden, an instantly recognizable character actor, especially when he has his big bushy moustache on--he was one of the jurors in 12 Angry Men, another coach as Mouth McGarry in Twilight Zone episode "The Mighty Casey," and as a convicted and isolated criminal in episode "The Lonely"--nevermind his roles in All the President's Men, ...And Justice for All (as a suicidal judge), Kurt Russell's unscrupulous opponent in Used Cars, and various other bits--alternately a fired-up villain and an amicable and sympathetic older, fatherly figure.

    Whew. Yeah, I enjoyed the cast a lot, as you can probably guess, as I always like seeing a whole mess of character actors I know and respect and can rely on for solid performances. The humour was surprisingly good for a crotchety old complainer like me (when it comes to humour, that is) and caught me offguard a few times, and a romance that seemed to work surprisingly well. There was a very fun score to the film, too, with an upbeat woodwind performance over the scenes of Beatty's quarterbacking, capturing the energy and light-hearted nature of the scene, and then a radically different and strangely layered one that played through a lot of the rest, seemingly puffing up Farnsworth's life while simultaneously taking it down as ridiculous--a dancing harpsichord sandwiched between an oompah-ing brass section and a dancing woodwind section on top of it. Some strange amalgamation of marching band, sped-up romantic theme and comedic hijinks theme. I really dug it, whatever the hell that was.

    The one complaint--one apparently shared by others--is the ending. Obviously in discussing this, there are going to be spoilers, so consider yourself forewarned. The film ends when Mr. Jordan tells Joe that he will now have his memories of Jordan, the afterlife, the escort, Farnsworth and Joe Pendleton erased and continue his life in the final body he has been given. He's told this is his destiny and so on, Max can no longer recognize Joe through his eyes, sees that he is gone--yet there is Betty recognizing it anyway. But what is it, then? Joe has no memories of himself, is seemingly now Tom Jarrett instead--so where did Joe go? If I accept that this is his "soul"--then what, exactly, is that soul? What is identity without experience, attitudes, personality, tastes, knowledge and familiarity? Does it even MATTER that this is still Joe's soul without any of those things? If it's that intangible and nebulous a concept, what good is it, really? And why did he get to maintain his memories through his "life" as Farnsworth? Why does Betty like Tom? She liked Joe, and this isn't Joe. This really kind of ruined the ending for me, not enough to ruin the movie, but it really didn't sit right.
  • organgrinder136
    October 31, 2007
    organgrinder136
    another complete load of dog shit! it started off well with some funny jokes but all its jokes were just re-used after the first half hour and it meandered off into the realms of who gives a crap. every film i've seen lately has been awful. i just wanna see a good one!!
  • Yelverton
    November 20, 2009
    Yelverton
    Funny spin on a classic film.
  • whispersofecstacy
    November 12, 2009
    whispersofecstacy
    Warren Beatty's best performance. This is the original that was later done by Chris Rock (Down To Earth). This one is much better.
  • n289
    October 14, 2009
    n289

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  • psyclock7
    September 19, 2009
    psyclock7
    It is worth one look...tht is if you're bored and have nothing else to watch"
  • phbasketball6
    August 6, 2009
    phbasketball6
    A good film. Warren Beatty puts together a outstanding film. This movie had good comedy.

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Heaven Can Wait Trivia

  • Who played the angel in Heaven Can Wait, starring Warren Beatty?  Answer »
  • What 1978 film is this? A Los Angeles Rams quarterback, accidentally taken away from his body by an over-anxious angel before he was supposed to die, comes back to life in the body of a recently-murdered millionaire.  Answer »
  • In the movie Hostage, What is the DVD next to the correct 'Heaven Can Wait'  Answer »
  • The movies, "Here Comes Mr. Jordan", "Heaven Can Wait", are based on the same plot line. There is a third movie also based on that plot line  Answer »
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