Sweet Charity (1969) on Netflix
Charity Hope Valentine is a taxi dancer at the Fandango Ballroom in Times Square who wants love. Her married boyfriend Charlie pushes her off a bridge and takes her savings.
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- Netflix3.8/5
- IMDb7.0/107,869 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes82%
Trailer
Plot summary
At the Fandango Ballroom in Times Square, Charity Hope Valentine earns her living as a taxi dancer beside her friends Nickie and Helene. She wants love, and men keep letting her down. She tells Nickie and Helene about her disappointments and the love she is looking for. Charlie, her married boyfriend, shoves her off a bridge in Central Park and makes off with the $427 she had put away.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Sweet Charity (1969)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- The "Rich Man's Frug" number from Sweet Charity has been a visual reference for pop dance, including the videos for Emma Bunton's 2003 "Maybe", Beyoncé's 2007 "Get Me Bodied" and 2008 "Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)", and Ariana Grande's 2014 "Problem", plus the viral dance Jenna Ortega choreographed for a 2022 episode of Wednesday.
- Bob Fosse thought Sweet Charity's ending was too corny but shot a happy alternate ending anyway, expecting the studio would demand it; Universal instead agreed with him and kept the original ending from the stage version.
- Gwen Verdon had starred as Charity in Fosse's original Broadway musical and wanted the screen role too, but she endorsed Shirley MacLaine for the lead because MacLaine was a recognizable movie star, and worked on the film without credit as assistant choreographer.
- Sweet Charity's production saw two departures: Fosse clashed with original producer Ross Hunter, replaced by Robert Arthur, and screenwriter I.A.L. Diamond, who had written The Apartment and Irma la Douce, quit after disagreements with Fosse and was replaced by Peter Stone.
- Sweet Charity and its making are alluded to under a different title in Fosse's autobiographical film All That Jazz (1979), and the film's failure opens Fosse/Verdon, the 2019 mini-series about Fosse and Gwen Verdon's marriage and creative partnership.
