The reluctant ghost is a tried and true tale in Hollywood and it repeated itself in 1978's Heaven Can Wait, a film that was a remake of 1941's Here Comes Mr. Jordan and had a backbone made of its star Warren Beatty. The film is about the quarterback for the Los Angeles Rams Joe Pendleton (Beatty) who appears to get into a fatal accident causing an angel (Buck Henry) to pull Joe from his body and take him to a weigh station for heaven. The problem is that it isn't Joe's time, so a higher authority (James Mason) options Joe into take over the body of millionaire Leo Farnsworth after he has been "killed" by his scretary (Charles Grodin) and his wife (Dyan Cannon). As Farnsworth Joe takes on a new love (Julie Christie) who is trying to stop one of his companies environmental blunders. But Joes main goal is to get back into football with the help of the Rams trainer Max (Jack Warden).Beatty and Buck Henry directed this nice, little romantic comedy that's been done before and since, yet this version seems to hold its own. It's one of those movies that you stumble on when flipping channels and once you start watching you can't turn the damn thing off. Beatty is a proficent director his first time out and doesn't indulge in those things that actors turned directors tend to do- over direct. He simply tells the story. It isn't a pretentious piece like you would expect from Beatty. It's a good, straightforward chick flick that gets past being for chicks.
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