IMDb plot summary: Taxi dancer Charity continues to have faith despite endless disappointments at its hands, and hope that she will finally meet the man to romance her away from her sleazy life. Maybe, just maybe, handsome Oscar will be the one to do it.
Directed by Bob Fosse. Starring Shirley MacLaine, John McMartin, Ricardo Montalban, and Sammy Davis Jr.
This is a musical about a young dance hall hostess named Charity. She wants to find true love and get out of her job, which she finds degrading, but her optimism about the world leads to lots of disappointments, and we get to see a whole bunch of them. If you're thinking that sounds exceptionally depressing for a musical, you'd be right! It's based on the Italian film Nights of Cabiria, which I loved, but this one hit me on a very different level and I found myself unable to enjoy any of the big dance numbers because I remembered where this story was heading. Mild spoiler: The ending here is at VERY best, bittersweet, and at worst absolutely devastating. Shirley MacLaine does turn in a great performance, bringing a ton of energetic physicality to her role. The best parts of this movie, though, are the group musical numbers featuring stage veterans Chita Rivera, Paula Kelly, and Stubby Kaye, and for one number, Sammy Davis Jr. Those numbers are fantastic -- a nice distraction from the absolute non-cathartic misery of the core story. I sound more negative about this than maybe I should be, but I just had such a difficult time enjoying any of Charity's highs knowing the lows were on the way. I'm a little curious how I would have felt if I went in blind, but as it is, I certainly don't want to rewatch it.
How it entered my Flickchart:
Sweet Charity > Absolute Power
Sweet Charity < Kuroneko
Sweet Charity < True Grit (2010)
Sweet Charity > Tangled
Sweet Charity < Knight and Day
Sweet Charity > Battle of the Sexes
Sweet Charity < The Gold Rush
Sweet Charity < Guys and Dolls
Sweet Charity < Is It Fall Yet?
Sweet Charity < The Trouble with Harry
Sweet Charity < The Help
Sweet Charity > Liberal Arts
Final spot: #1416 out of 3359, or 58%.
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