Sweet Charity: The Movie
The musical about love and life still delivers four decades later.
Jun 7, 2009
A Small Step from Broadway
The film is based on the 1966 Neil Simon Broadway musical, which used the Frederico Fellini screenplay Nights of Cabiria, as source material. With music by Cy Coleman and lyrics by Dorothy Fields, Simon’s musical was directed by Bob Fosse and stared Fosse’s then-wife, Gwen Verdon. The story focuses on the experiences of eternal romantic optimist, Charity Hope Valentine.
She’s a Taxi Dancer, NOT the Other Type of Hostess
In the film, triple threat Shirley MacLaine sings, dances, and with a hint of melodrama, acts up a storm as the taxi dancer Charity. As defined by dictionary.com, the term “taxi dancer” has been used since the ‘20s, and describes a professional dance partner, typically a young woman hired by male patrons to dance on a dance-by-dance basis. Like a cab driver, the dancer’s pay was proportional to the time she spends with her partner – but the taxi dancer was not a prostitute as many critics have speculated.
A Film of Firsts
Sweet Charity not only marked Bob Fosse’s directorial debut, it was also the first film roles for MacLaine’s co-stars, Chita Rivera and Paula Kelly, playing Nickie and Helene respectively. The Internet Broadway Database notes that at the time, Rivera was already a Broadway veteran, having originated such iconic roles as Anita in West Side Story and Rose Grant in Bye Bye Birdie. Kelly had only one Broadway credit to her name at the time.
Fosse Introduces his Dance to Film
The film also marked the first time the world at large got a glimpse of Fosse’s dance genius on film. Watching one number in particular speaks volumes. “The Rich Man’s Frug” is arguably Fosse choreography at its finest. From the subtle signature hand movements to the elongated walks and innovative poses, Fosse used his version of the frug to introduce his style of dance to film lovers everywhere. Fosse split the dance into three distinctive parts: “The Aloof,” “The Heavyweight,” and “The Big Finish” to convey the aristocratic and self-important glamour of a world Charity was not a part of, all without saying a word. According to biography.com, the number also featured the first film appearance of Ben Vereen, who was a dancer in the sequence.
A box office flop finds its legs
Premiering out of competition at the Cannes Film Festival in 1969, the film did not generate a great deal of interest at the time of its release. The two and a half hour film did poorly at the box office, but since then, has found renewed interest with repeated airings on Turner Movie Classics in the U.S. and Saturday Night At The Movies on TVOntario in Canada. The Broadway musical has also been revived twice on Broadway, most recently with Christina Applegate playing the lead role.
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