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Good Times
Sonny and Cher spoof many Hollywood classic movie scenes.
Release : | 1967 |
Rating : | 4.5 |
Studio : | Motion Pictures International, |
Crew : | Director of Photography, Director, |
Cast : | Sonny Bono Cher George Sanders Norman Alden Larry Duran |
Genre : | Comedy Music |
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Reviews
Thanks for the memories!
Memorable, crazy movie
Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.
This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.
I agreed to see this because it was the first film by William Friedkin (French Connection, Excorsist). And the big surprise is that it is not a bad film. (And kudos to Mr Friedkin to show such savvy in his parody of "High Noon" and other films.) Of course it's not a great film, either. Stylistically, it is rather of a kind with television movies of the same era, or a decade later. For better or worse, Friedkin decided not to go the route of "psychedlic trippy hippy film," but delivers a fairly staid, episodic musical comedy. That actually saves the film, in my opinion; I never felt, watching this, that it might have seemed better in its time and place with a hit of acid under the belt. It's a simple, middle-brow romantic comedy about a pair of singers wrestling with the very idea of making a movie for their fans.For me, the saving grace of the film is Cher; here she is all exuberance, innocent sexuality (a quality difficult to project), love-of-life - oh, she's just great.And through her, the film captures the romanticism of the 1960s that is largely forgotten today.Finally, a word on the music: Sonny Bono's songs are wretched just as songs, but he had a real ear for melody and the arrangements here make that very clear - he missed his calling, he should have been composing soundtracks all along.A bit of an oddity, but kind of fun.
If you enjoy off the wall humor, and have a fondness for 60's nostalgia, you will like this movie (in my opinion). I found the film to be good-natured, a bit silly in spots, and touched with a slightly warped sense of humor that held my attention for the relatively short run-time. I just wish that Cher had a larger role in this one, but, I guess (at the time), Sonny was considered the real "talent." Granted, Sonny can't sing very well (especially so when compared to Cher), however, he seems to be having a "good time" making the movies within the movie. The Western spoof is especially entertaining.This is a guilty pleasure movie. It amused me, made me smile a few times, and that is enough for me to recommend it!
Pop-singing duo (and mod-dressed lovebirds) Sonny & Cher are tapped to star in their own movie, but the couple are distressed over the corny script. Sonny Bono's soundtrack to "Good Times", which he produced and arranged (impeccably so), sounds like the very best of Phil Spector; the songs may give non-fans a glimpse at true musical genius. Unfortunately, all this aural greatness comes at the expense of a wayward, throw-away feature. Sonny & Cher spend most of their time on-screen bickering in a too-real example of marital discord. Debuting director William Friedkin stuffs the proceedings with eye-candy, but he can't get any momentum going in the fantasy scenes and they just peter out. It's a strenuous comedy, the biggest mistake of which was to plunk the leads down in the middle of so much unhappiness. They don't want to make the movie, they're being forced to make the movie, they fight about compromising their ideals about making the damn movie. Only the opening and closing montages are sunny, the rest is much too heavy--even with all that groovy music in the background. ** from ****
This is the starring debut for Sonny and Cher (their screen debut being WILD ON THE BEACH). It is a hodge-podge of Sonny's fantasies of a movie-star career and Cher's not wanting to have any part of it (a carry-over from real life... ironic, huh?) It has one of their best songs DON'T TALK TO STRANGERS, and Sonny's comedy timing is surprisingly good. They could have done a lot better with a real script, I feel, but it WAS 1967...