Sweet Charity

"Love is what it's all about!"

1969 2h 33m EN

👍

6.9

SOLID

★6.9TMDB · 97

ComedyRomanceDrama

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

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.

“Love is what it's all about!”

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Cast

Shirley MacLaine
Charity
John McMartin
Oscar
Chita Rivera
Nickie
Paula Kelly
Helene
Ricardo Montalban
Vittorio
Sammy Davis Jr.
Big Daddy
Stubby Kaye
Herman
Barbara Bouchet
Ursula

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Bob Fosse
Writers: Peter Stone, Federico Fellini, Tullio Pinelli
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

Clocks in at 153 minutes — on the longer side of feature-length cinema.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

57 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Bob Fosse, shot by Robert Surtees. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Cy Coleman. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Stuart Gilmore shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Shirley MacLaine and John McMartin and Chita Rivera carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Love is what it's all about!".

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0065054 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Bob Fosse directs. Robert Surtees behind the camera. Cy Coleman scores. Stuart Gilmore cuts. Profitable at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Clocks in at 153 minutes — on the longer side of feature-length cinema.
257 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
3Directed by Bob Fosse, shot by Robert Surtees. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Original score by Cy Coleman. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
5Editor Stuart Gilmore shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Shirley MacLaine and John McMartin and Chita Rivera carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: "Love is what it's all about!".
8IMDB entry: tt0065054 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
9Only 97 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.
10Classified under 8 themes, including "broken engagement", "charity", "musical", "based on play or musical".

The technical file

Cinematography: Robert Surtees
Original score: Cy Coleman
Editing: Stuart Gilmore
Costume design: Edith Head
Makeup / hair: Bud Westmore
Runtime: 153 min · 2h 33m
Status: Released
Budget: $8,000,000
Box office: $20,000,000
Return: 250% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): G
IMDB: Sweet Charity (1969)

Also by

Bob Fosse

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2024-04-21
★ 7/10
"Charity" (Shirley MacLaine), "Nickie" (Chita Rivera) and "Helene" (Paula Kelly) are call-girls working in a grotty dance hall. "Charity" is an honest, maybe too honest, gal, but after years going round in circles she needs a decent man in her life. That might just happen when she meets "Oscar" (John McMartin) but he doesn't know what she really does to make a living. It isn't quite in a bank. Should she tell him and risk him walking away? The story itself here is no great shakes, but the performances are really entertaining. MacLaine, Ricardo Montalban as the legendary actor "Vittorio" and the rhythmic Sammy Davis Jr. as "Big Daddy" all contribute to a tight ensemble delivering some of the best from musical theatre to the big screen. "Big Spender"; "If My Friends Could See Me Now"; "...Something Better Than This"; "The Rhythm of Life" - all cleverly written and scored by Cy Coleman and Dorothy Fields and sung by the folks we are watching. Now the production isn't the best. The editing is really quite bitty and director Bob Fosse still can't quite remember that cinema can flow in a continuous fashion that theatre cannot. It's not Neil Simon's best script adaptation either, indeed "Nights of Cabiria" might blush at the rather staccato nature of this tribute. It looks great and there's quite some chemistry between MacLaine and the suave and debonaire Montalban and by mid-way through, you just want poor old "Charity" to find her happiness. It's hard to see how it could be better and is well worth watch if you want to see charisma on screen in spades.

Production companies