Sweet Charity

Name: Sweet Charity
Genre: Comedy, Music, Romance, Drama
Released: 1969-02-25
Duration: 2 h 33 min
Rating: 7
Cast: Shirley MacLaine, John McMartin, Chita Rivera, Paula Kelly, Ricardo Montalban

Love is what it's all about!

Sweet Charity (1969)

Timing: 2:33 (153 min)

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All about film

Video 3

Photo 69

Actors and characters

Watch film Sweet Charity — AFI Movie Club: Shirley MacLaine on Bob Fosse and Sweet Charity

1:34

Photo 69

Release date

1969-02-25

Country

United States

Production

Universal Pictures

Genre

Comedy, Music, Romance, Drama

Budget

$20 000 000

Revenue

$20 000 000

Website

Director

Bob Fosse

Actors

Shirley MacLaine, John McMartin, Chita Rivera, Paula Kelly, Ricardo Montalban, Sammy Davis Jr., Stubby Kaye, Barbara Bouchet, Suzanne Charny, Alan Hewitt
All actors and roles (10)

Scenario

Producer

Robert Arthur

Operator

Robert Surtees

Composer

Cy Coleman

Artist

Audition

Editing

Stuart Gilmore
All team (29)

Short description

Taxi dancer Charity continues to have faith in the human race despite apparently endless disappointments at its hands, and hope that she will finally meet the nice young man to romance her away from her sleazy life. Maybe, just maybe, handsome Oscar will be the one to do it.

What's left behind the scenes

Shirley MacLaine, who played the lead role, suffered from a terrible toothache during filming, but she showed no sign of pain so as not to delay the production process. The pain was so intense that she performed some of the dance scenes literally on autopilot.
According to Shirley MacLaine, it was Gwen Verdon (who played Charity on Broadway) who suggested she apply for the same role in the movie. When MacLaine actually got the part, Verdon helped her develop the character.
Universal Pictures ordered John McMartin (who played Oscar) to dye his hair black for the film's posters in the US. Without the gray hair, he looked younger than his actual age.
Initially, the film's producer was Ross Hunter, but after a falling out with director Bob Fosse, he left the project and was replaced by Robert Arthur.
Shirley MacLaine, who played the lead role, suggested to Universal Pictures head Lew Wasserman that Bob Fosse, the director and choreographer of the Broadway musical, should be entrusted with filming the movie.
On the Broadway stage, the role of the fairy godmother was played by Ruth Buzzi. In the film adaptation, this character was removed entirely.
The screenplay was initially assigned to I.A.L. Diamond, the screenwriter of Billy Wilder's romantic comedies 'The Apartment' (1960) and 'Irma la Douce' (1963), both of which starred Shirley MacLaine. However, he clashed with director Bob Fosse, and Peter Stone was hired in his place.
On-location filming took place at various sites in New York, while sets of Central Park were constructed on the Universal Pictures studio lot at a cost of $85,000.
Filming was underway on the day Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. Upon receiving the news, actress Paula Kelly became so distraught that she was unable to work. Director and choreographer Bob Fosse did not share such profound grief, but he ended the day's filming early and sent everyone home.
The LaserDisc version of the film (a commercial optical data carrier with analog video and audio recording) featured an alternative ending. Oscar leaves Charity (played by John McMartin and Shirley MacLaine, respectively) and begins to lose his mind. He soon realizes that he cannot live without Charity, despite all her flaws. He finds Charity on a bridge in Central Park and then falls into the water. Charity dives in after him and forgives Oscar, and they walk through the park, soaking wet. Bob Fosse did not like this ending and made the final cut more depressing, yet more inspiring.