Heaven Can Wait - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Heaven Can Wait



Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras: :
Final Score:


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Movie
Not to be confused with the 1943 film with the same name (and a different plot), Heaven Can Wait was one of 1978’s most popular films, being nominated for 9 academy awards (although only taking home one). Based upon Harry Segall’s award winning play of the same name (which was also turned into a movie in 1941 called Here Comes Mr. Jordan), Heaven Can Wait is whimsical fantasy comedy about a guy who ends up dead before his time and has a chance to get back on the right track through a series of rather unfortunate (if not downright hilarious) chain of events.

Joe Pendleton (Warren Beatty) is the backup QB for the Rams professional football team, and is on track to replace their lead QB in the season that the Rams are destined for the Super Bowl. However, he’s yanked from his life by an overzealous angel who thinks that it’s his time to die. After running the calculations the “way station to the afterlife” manager, Mr. Jordan (James Mason, who I can’t hear speak without hearing Eddie Izzard’s imitation of his voice) realizes that they’ve made a mistake. The only thing is, Joe’s body has already been cremated. This means that Mr. Jordan has to find Joe a temporary body to tide him over until a permanent one can be found.

After a little trial and error, Joe settles on mega millionaire Mr. Farsnworth. A man who has just been poisoned to death by his wife Julia (Dyan Cannon) and her lover (and his assistant) Tony (Charles Grodin). Springing to life (much to Tony and Julia’s shock), the newly reborn “Mr. Farnsworth” embarks on a journey that will redefine his life as a spoiled millionaire, and get Joe’s life back on track.

Heaven Can Wait is a simple little comedy of errors and tribulations that just focuses on enjoying the small things in life. Joe has to get used to the fact that he’s not who he once was, but also used to the fact that he can do SO much good with the fortune he has at hand. Falling in love with a reporter is just the icing on the cake, but only if he can do so before his wife and her lover (in one of Charles Grodin’s more humorous roles) don’t off him first. It’s delightfully charming and witty, without being super slapstick and goofy either. Warren Beatty is whimsical and loveable as the affable Joe, while Charles Grodin and Dyan absolutely bring down the house with their comedic villain personas.

If I can be only slightly critical of the movie it would be the editing. The 1978 film feels sharply edited, without the spit and polish of many other comedies of the day. It’s not enough to really bring the movie down, but comparing it to something like Blake Edwards comedies of the same time frame, the cutaways and shifts in scenes just feel amateurish in nature. That out of the way, this is a delightful and charming family film that has enough comedy and enough heart to fit in with just about everyone in the family. My wife pretty much has worn out the old DVD I got for her years ago, and Paramount’s new Blu-ray does just the trick to keep it spinning our house for years to come.




Rating:

Rated PG by the MPAA




Video:

I’m not sure WHEN the master for this film was struck, but it most likely was fairly recently as the image looks nearly immaculate for a 1978 low budget film. The grain structure feels a little processed and “off”, but that is a fairly minor flaw as the rest of the picture is jaw droppingly good. The colors are warm and pushed towards green and blue tinges, with ruddy skin tones and a really impressive level of fine detail. Look at Joe’s gray track suit when he gets out of the well. You can see his waistband elastic shift, as well as little tears and textural differences in the fabric. Backdrops looks impressive as well, with only a few scenes where I felt it got a tad soft or out of focus. A great looking disc for sure, and well into what I would consider one of the Paramount Presents level of quality.









Audio:

The 2.0 Mono Dolby TrueHD track found on the disc is rather straight forward and simple, and not exactly perfect either. Highs have a slightly distorted sound to them which comes across as metallic, but general dialog is clean and intelligible at all times. There’s a few times I felt like the vocal levels dipped a bit, but I can’t tell whether it was intentional or not as it ALMOST seems like it was edited that way more than just random dips. The simple horn based score does the job nicely, but the dynamics aren’t exactly massive considering that this is a very dialog driven dramatic track. It’s a bit chunky and blocky in it’s presentation, and while not perfect, is still solid enough to listen to without problem.











Extras:

•

Final Score: ​

Heaven Can Wait is a whimsical and sweet film that didn’t get the credit it deserved in 1978. 43 years later it still holds up as a great family film and I was actually shocked that Paramount didn’t give this the Paramount Presents treatment. I’m guessing it’s because the transfer looks REALLY good as it is, but it would have been nice to have SOME extras, as the disc is completely barebones in that regards. Good movie, great transfer, and well worth checking out if you haven’t before.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Warren Beatty, Charles Grodin, James Mason, Julie Christie, Jack Warden
Directed by: Warren Beatty, Buck Henry
Written by: Warren Beatty, Elaine May, Harry Segall (based upon the play by)
Aspect Ratio: 1.78.1 AVC
Audio: English: Dolby TrueHD Mono, German, French, Spanish DD Mono
Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, German, Japanese, Spanish
Studio: Paramount
Rated: PG
Runtime: 101 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: November 30th, 2017

Recommendation: Good Watch

 

[Epoxy1]

I loved this movie as a kid and enjoyed it as an adult. I'm not sure a movie like this would receive the Oscar Love that it got back in 1978 (10 Nominations, including Best Picture).

 

[Michael Scott]

I loved this movie as a kid and enjoyed it as an adult. I'm not sure a movie like this would receive the Oscar Love that it got back in 1978 (10 Nominations, including Best Picture).

agreed. I still enjoy it, but it was a product of it's time

 

[Asere]

Thanks for the review. Saw it as a kid and its nostalgic. I have the DVD version.