Heaven Can Wait          

By Keith Simanton

A gung-ho and merciful angel (Buck Henry) pulls Joe Pendleton (Beatty), a football star, out of his body before his time, forcing the higher powers to come up with a substitute host. Joe settles on a vicious multimillionaire whose wife and partner are trying to kill him. Light, breezy, with not a mean bone in its body, Heaven is based on the 1941 film Here Comes Mr. Jordan. Beatty is wonderfully daft and innocent as Joe, Jack Warden is on top of his form as Joe's trainer Corky, and Julie Christie appears to be playing a diaphanous summer dress. Great comic relief is provided by Dyan Cannon, Charles Grodin, and the notion that the 1978 Los Angeles Rams could go to the Superbowl.

Academy Awards

Heaven Can Wait received an Academy Award for Art Direction/Set Decoration (Paul Sylbert - Art Direction, Edwin O'Donovan - Art Direction, George Gaines - Set Decoration). Heaven Can Wait also received Academy Awards nominations for Best Picture (Warren Beatty - Producer), Actor (Warren Beatty), Supporting Actor (Jack Warden), Supporting Actress (Dyan Cannon), Directing (Warren Beatty, Buck Henry), Writing (Best Screenplay based on material from another medium; Elaine May, Warren Beatty), Cinematography (William A. Fraker) and Music Scoring Awards (Best Original Score; Dave Grusin).

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