AniInterview Sorry, this movie sucks

MusicChat It's complicated... I really like the directing, acting and writing but, there are issues with the way it's shot that I just can't deny. As much as I love the storytelling and the fantastic performance but, there are also certain scenes that didn't need to exist.

Voxitype Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Quiet Muffin This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

ecarle The first five minutes or so of "Goodbye, Charlie" are simply sublime. But you can turn it off after the "Directed by Vincente Minnelli" credit comes on. But let's back up.20th Century Fox logo on and off. Nice Cinemascope shot of a yacht off the Malibu coast at night, with jazzy-rock music in the far distance and a distant swingin' party on board. Three star credits come on and off: "Tony Curtis," "Debbie Reynolds," "Pat Boone." Onto the boat, where a raucous Hollywood party is in full swing. Director Minnelli captures all the phoniness and glamour of the party. A superfast psueudo-rock number -- "Seven at Once" -- is blaring on the "Hi-Fi" as heavy-bosomed Playmate of the Year Donna Michelle shakes her ample breasts in a low cut gold dress (in 1964, this was "sexy.") Hot young folks are dancing while stuffy old agent Martin Gabel looks on with peptic-ulcer angst. Some handsome matrons (Ellen Macrae, soon Burstyn, Joanna Barnes) try to swing with the Playmate, but to no avail. Walter Matthau (in gray wig and blazer) plays poker and puffs on a big stogie.Old-fashioned director Vincente Minnelli tries some new-fashioned "hand-held camera" work (see: that year's earlier "A Hard Day's Night") to capture the ensuing action: Matthau's wife Laura Devon (the second sexiest woman after Playmate Donna Michelle) sneaks off for some hot below decks lovemaking with the barely seen stud screenwriter, "Charlie." Matthau snoops around in the kitchen of the yacht, and gets a gun when the maid isn't looking(this part of the sequence is like the opening murder sequence in the same December's "Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte" ) Matthau then bursts in on his wife and Charlie, starts shooting.Charlie jumps out a porthole into the ocean, but Walter's bullets kill him before he hits the drink.The party guests rush to the side of the boat and look down into the ocean where Charlie fell. Credits fly out of the water as a raucous male-female chorus sings the swinging, fun title song "Goodbye, Charlie! Hate to see you go..." What follows is a regulation 1964 animation sequence of deep sea creatures in the deep blue sea (where Charlie has gone to rest, soon to return as Debbie Reynolds) and that infectious title tune about a lothario getting his just desserts. (This song got a lot of radio play in '64/'65.) Vincente Minnelli was a pro, and this opening sequence is a lot of fun as the old (studio production values in costumes and yacht interior) fights with the new (hand-held camera, Playmate of the Year boobs) in a raucous sing-a-long opening that bids farewell to Hollywood's studio era and plants the genre as dead as Charlie with the counterculture years ahead."Goodbye, Charlie!" indeed...hate to see you go.

Greg Couture Boy oh boy...do the opinions differ about this one! As a diehard Minnelli fan I went to see this one when it was first released. Even then I forgave its jerry-built comic premise and tried to enjoy it as I had some of Vincente's earlier assignments at M-G-M. But it really was quite labored and, for its day, a bit on the smutty side. Hard to believe that the devilishly clever George Axelrod had a hand in this script.Minnelli, as usual, insisted upon giving it the maximum possible visual gloss. An acquaintance of mine who worked on the art direction/production design team assigned by 20th-Century Fox to this project revealed that when Minnelli first came to the studio to review some planned sets and storyboards, he threw them out and insisted that everyone give it another, better try. The final result, along with Helen Rose's chic women's wardrobe (a Minnelli ally from M-G-M, and, probably, brought to Twentieth with Debbie's enthusiastic approval), and Milton Krasner's slick CinemaScope/DeLuxe Color cinematography, is a good example of studio product that was becoming increasingly out-of-touch with the emerging tastes of audiences looking for somewhat less glossy entertainments. Andre Previn's title song, with lyrics by his then-wife, Dory Langdon, aptly underscored the somewhat off-color proceedings. The VHS video is, no doubt, "formatted," so, once again, I warn all comers: "Don't bother!"

TBTBM I remember this movie as a child when there were really funny and good movies shown on TV Sunday mornings. This was one of the "sixties" movies that I enjoyed watching even as a kid...I could get the jokes and the cast was of people I recognized and liked. I didn't get a chance to see this one until the early "seventies" for the first time, but I could enjoy some of the stars I grew to love in other movies. I would give it a solid "8" out of "10". I am very hard on movies that are comedies and have really good comedic actors. See it for yourself. I would also recommend "SWITCH (1991)" with Ellen Barkin and Jimmy Smits.

Zanna-3 Read the cast list. These people can act and they know how to do comedy. Read Maltin's review and send him a raspberry. If he liked the play better, he should be a theater critic and not review films. I hate stuff like that. This is a funny movie, I have never seen the stage play and never hope to do so, so the fact that Maltin liked some stage version thirty years ago better is totally irrelevant to my possible enjoyment of a film, or yours. This is a good movie, and if you like the stars you will probably enjoy it. I gave it a nine because I couldn't give it an 8.5.