Poster from TMDB
Heaven Can Wait
Sign in to save1978 film by Warren Beatty, Buck Henry
Film · TMDB
6.6Joe 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.
Cast
- Warren Beatty as Joe Pendleton
- Julie Christie as Betty Logan
- James Mason as Mr. Jordan
- Jack Warden as Max Corkle
- Charles Grodin as Tony Abbott
- Dyan Cannon as Julia Farnsworth
Themes
- infidelity
- sports
- afterlife
- american football
- based on play or musical
- remake
- los angeles, california
- quarterback
- super bowl
- environmental activist
This product uses the TMDB API but is not endorsed or certified by TMDB.
Ratings
IMDb
6.9/10
25,176 votes
Rotten Tomatoes
82%
Metacritic
72/100
- Year
- 1978
- Runtime
- 101 min
- Genres
- Comedy, Fantasy, Romance
- Rated
- PG
- Awards
- Won 1 Oscar. 9 wins & 14 nominations total
via OMDb · IMDb
Key facts
- Directed by
- Warren Beatty Buck Henry
- Screenplay by
- Elaine May Warren Beatty
- Based on
- Heaven Can Wait , by Harry Segall
- Produced by
- Warren Beatty
- Starring
- Warren Beatty Julie Christie James Mason Charles Grodin Dyan Cannon Buck Henry Vincent Gardenia Jack Warden
- Cinematography
- William A. Fraker
- Edited by
- Robert C. Jones Don Zimmerman
- Music by
- Dave Grusin
- Distributed by
- Paramount Pictures
- Release date
- June 28, 1978 ( 1978-06-28 )
- Running time
- 101 minutes
- Country
- United States
- Language
- English
- Budget
- $6 million
- Box office
- $98.8 million
via Wikipedia infobox
~11 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Heaven Can Wait is a 1978 American sports fantasy comedy-drama film directed by Warren Beatty and Buck Henry about Joe Pendleton, a young man (played by Beatty) mistakenly taken to heaven by his guardian angel The Escort, and the complications involved in undoing the mistake after his earthly body has been cremated. It was the second of three film adaptations of Harry Segall's 1938 play of the same name.
The film was nominated for nine Academy Awards, with Beatty becoming the first and to date only person to be nominated for producing (Best Picture), directing (Best Director with Henry), writing (Best Adapted Screenplay with May) and acting (Best Actor) for the same film, and the film won for Best Art Direction. The cast includes Beatty, Julie Christie and Jack Warden, all of whom had appeared in Shampoo (1975). Jack Warden received a nomination for Best Supporting Actor, his second nomination (the first was for Shampoo).
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Heaven Can Wait” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.