Heaven Can Wait

1978

FantasyComedyRomance

Joe Pendleton is a quarterback preparing to lead his team to the superbowl when he is almost killed in an accident. An overanxious angel plucks him to heaven only to discover that he wasn't ready to die, and that his body has been cremated. A new body must be found, and that of a recently-murdered millionaire is chosen. His wife and accountant—the murderers—are confused by this development, as he buys the L.A. Rams in order to once again quarterback them into the Superbowl.

"Joe Pendleton... the only guy who ever raised Hell about going to Heaven."

Rating

6.614
411 votes

Popularity

1.4268

Origin & Countries

US | en | United States of America

Production

Paramount Pictures

Runtime

101 min.

Budget (M$)

98.8 / 15ROI 659%

Status

Released

Release: 6/28/1978

Credits

Heaven Can Wait

Buck HenryDirector

Heaven Can Wait

Warren BeattyJoe Pendleton

Heaven Can Wait

Julie ChristieBetty Logan

Heaven Can Wait

James MasonMr. Jordan

Heaven Can Wait

Jack WardenMax Corkle

More like this

The Pride and the Passion
1957
War • History • Romance
5.9
1
Buck Rogers in the 25th Century
1979
Science Fiction • Adventure • Action
6.1
1
Adiós, cigüeña, adiós
1971
Drama • Comedy
6.2
1
Sunburn
1979
Action • Comedy • Crime
5
2
Red Planet Mars
1952
Science Fiction
4.7
2

Reviews

CinemaSerf

11/23/2024

6 / 10

Maybe Warren Beatty was also a fan of Powell & Pressburger as this has shades of "Matter of Life and Death" (1946) to it. Rather than a fighter pilot though, it's quarter-back "Joe" (Beatty) who is erroneously selected to take the Concorde to heaven. He protests to supremo "Jordan" (James Mason) who discovers that his new charge is still supposed to have another fifty-odd years with his mortal coil. OK, let's just put him back. Ah, well no - he has already been cremated. That's just one jigsaw puzzle too much, even for the celestial. "Jordan" decides that he can borrow the body of someone next in the queue, and he settles on millionaire industrialist "Farnsworth". This man has more enemies that he'd care to count, not least his scheming wife (Dyan Cannon) and the pesky British campaigner "Betty" (Julie Christie) who is adamant that her local village isn't going to be demolished to make way for an oil refinery. Now safely ensconced his new body, he only has thoughts of going back to playing ball - only now he can afford to actually buy a team. Re-uniting with coach "Max" (Jack Warden) whom he manages to convince of his true identity, we now embark on a gentle comedy that extols the virtues of team building and environmentally aware business practice. Cannon steals this as the plotting spouse, but Mason doesn't really make much impact and otherwise it's all just a rather blandly predictable offering that has it's moments but just not enough of them. Watchable, though, on a wet afternoon if it's on the telly.

MOVIZZ - all rights reserved @ 2025

Made with themoviedb.org