Oscar Got It Wrong!: Best Adapted Screenplay 1978

The Contenders:

Bloodbrothers
California Suite
Heaven Can Wait
Midnight Express (winner)
Same Time, Next Year

Oscar Got It Wrong!: Best Picture 1943

The Contenders:

Casablanca (winner)
For Whom the Bell Tolls
Heaven Can Wait
The Human Comedy
In Which We Serve
Madame Curie
The More the Merrier
The Ox-Bow Incident
The Song of Bernadette
Watch on the Rhine

Oscar Got It Wrong!: Best Director 1943

The Contenders:

Michael Curtiz: Casablanca (winner)
Ernst Lubitsch: Heaven Can Wait
Clarence Brown: The Human Comedy
George Stevens: The More the Merrier
Henry King: The Song of Bernadette

Don't Wait too Long

Film: Heaven Can Wait (1943)
Format: DVD from NetFlix on laptop.

I’ve enjoyed the films of Ernst Lubitsch that I’ve seen in general, so I was curious about Heaven Can Wait. What I knew going in wasn’t much. The main thing I knew was that the 1978 movie of the same name is actually a remake of Here Comes Mr. Jordan and not this movie. In fact, this film, while there are similar themes, is almost the opposite in where our characters take the narrative.

But, like both Here Comes Mr. Jordan and the 1978 Heaven Can Wait, we’re going to be dealing with someone who has died. Our corpse is Henry Van Cleve (Don Ameche), who wanders into a large, impressive entryway where he meets a man known as His Excellency (Laird Cregar). It’s soon clear that we are at the entry to hell, and Henry is of the opinion that this is where he belongs. His Excellency is not convinced, though, so Henry is forced to tell his life story to justify his entry into Perdition.

Oscar Got It Wrong!: Best Actor 1978

The Contenders:

Laurence Olivier: The Boys from Brazil
Gary Busey: The Buddy Holly Story
Jon Voight: Coming Home
Robert De Niro: The Deer Hunter
Warren Beatty: Heaven Can Wait

Oscar Got It Wrong!: Best Picture 1978

The Contenders:

Coming Home
The Deer Hunter (winner)
Heaven Can Wait
Midnight Express
An Unmarried Woman

Oscar Got It Wrong!: Best Director 1978

The Contenders:

Hal Ashby: Coming Home
Michael Cimino: The Deer Hunter (winner)
Warren Beatty & Buck Henry: Heaven Can Wait
Woody Allen: Interiors
Alan Parker: Midnight Express

Heaven Can Wait (1978)

Format: DVD from NetFlix on laptop.

I think I can be forgiven if I assumed based on the name that the 1978 version of Heaven Can Wait was a remake of the film of the same name from 1943. It’s not, though. It’s actually a remake of Here Comes Mr. Jordan with a couple of surface changes. This is a film that runs through a lot of genres. It’s a fish-out-of-water comedy, a fantasy, a romance, a sports movie, and a few other things besides. It’s cute, even if it doesn’t all really work, and the casting is truly inspired.

Joe Pendleton (Warren Beatty) is a back-up quarterback for the Los Angeles Rams—yes, it was made before the team moved. He’s rehabbed himself and with his improved play has put himself in a position to take over the starting job. The team’s trainer Max Corkle (Jack Warden) gives Joe the news that he’s been tapped to start in the next game. In celebration, Joe goes out for a bike ride, but is killed in an accident in a tunnel. Sort of.