Good Times (1967)

A different way of telling a story

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.

I don't own a single Sonny & Cher album, but I thought this film was fantastic. What's not to love about this movie? It's a time capsule to the outrageous 60s where comedy didn't have to make sense to be funny, singers didn't have to be on pitch to sound great, and plots didn't have to be fairytale-simple in order to entertain.Indeed, the plot of this movie revolves around Sonny & Cher's contract to make a movie and their apprehension to the screenwriter's sappy story. Rather than go along with a lame Hollywood regurgitation of a "sure thing", they take us on a series of trippy brainstorms, showing us how *they* would make a movie. It's weird, it's wacky, at times it's incomprehensible, but it is undoubtedly unique.This film is basically 3 stories within a story. The first is a western, the second is a jungle flick, and the third is a film noir detective story (in brilliant colour, no less). The comedy is hilarious if it's your style. It's sort of a madcap, deadpan, surrealistic sense of humour a lot like The Monkees TV show (or the Monkees film "Head"), a bit of Gilligan's Island with its intelligent slapstick, and toward the end it's a lot like "Airplane" with its utterly bizarre, over-the-top satire. Definitely stick around for the detective story which is my favourite of the lot. Anyone who's a fan of the Zucker-Abraham-Zucker films ("Airplane", "Naked Gun", "Top Secret", "Hot Shots") should get a kick out of that sequence.The tunes (again, I know nothing about Sonny & Cher except for "Babe I Got You Babe" from the movie Groundhog Day) are thoroughly entertaining even when they're rough around the edges. Apparently Sonny Bono was sort of a Bob Dylan kinda guy who didn't have the most impeccable voice but knew how to deliver a lyric. Cher belts out those notes like she's a cannon, and that might shock those of you who are used to today's more demure, sultry vocal style. But as we see toward the end, Cher has tremendous versatility in her voice, and she is just as capable of a soft ballad as she is a throat wrencher. To me, the payoff is "I Got You Babe" acoustic version which is delivered at the end in a very subdued & classy way (not the version from Groundhog Day) which immediately clinched it: I'm a Sonny & Cher fan.Oh, a quick word about the film quality & directing style: magnificent. The DVD I got is the MGM version released in 2004, and although there are no bonus features, the picture is as crisp and vivid as anything done today (perhaps it's been digitally remastered). The director William Freidkin who did, of all things "The Exorcist", throws in some nice artistic touches and creative shots that should be of interest to any cinema geeks in the audience; if nothing else, it's weird to think the same director would, 5 years later, be filming demon girls vomiting pea soup and telling priests nasty things about their mothers. All around, this is a great film which truly deserves a cult following, if only more people knew it existed. Snatch it up if you get a chance.

First feature from William Hurricane Friedkin in 1967 is a comedy musical starring Sonny and Cher(!), and we're a far cry from the all the vehicular mayhem, gay themes and people getting shot in the face which was to soon follow from the man. Sonny Bono, here resembling the love child of an ogre and Gerard Depardieu, plays himself in a silly fantasy plot about trying to get his pre-surgical wife Cher in the film business. No, this is not a documentary, but a fun, harmless "what-if" caca comedy. We are then treated to three daydreamed scenarios: a Western with wimpy Bono cleaning up a corrupt barroom; a Tarzan jungle movie; and a film-noir detective parody. It's amazing how low and childish the direction sinks at times with its pseudo-hippie sensibilities and innocent morality. The slapstick gags are usually unfunny with only a few inspired moments: a card game with talking chimps and an overdone nightclub shootout. In between each episode comes the musical number which may or may not serve as anesthesia for the sequences that come before. Sonny's pilgrim haircut and squash physique may turn viewers off, but it's surprising to see that Cher was actually cute at one point.

I'm a 60's fan and a Cher fan and I still had trouble getting through this movie. It's a touch of The Sonny & Cher Show, a touch of Laugh-In, a touch of early MTV and a touch of early reality show. This description sounds better than it actually is. It is still fun to watch a young & beautiful Cher in some fab clothes and singing great. She is surprisingly natural in her straight scenes. Sonny plays his scenes like a skit from The Sonny & Cher show or a Carol Burnett sketch. George Saunders looks like he was aging well playing his Allison Dewitt character from All Abot Eve. He committed suicide not long after this movie with one of the most upsetting suicide notes ever written. Sad. I believe the house that they filmed this movie is Sonny & Cher's actual home that they bought from Tony Curtis and had to mortgage to finish this film. I'm still glad I watched the whole film but doubt if I ever will need to see it again.

This movie is a classic example of 60's camp.The main story,Sonny's desire to star in a movie and Cher's lack of interest,takes a back seat to the fantasy sequences which satirize various movie generas.The soundtrack is excellent.Sonny Bono was a musical genius and this film is the perfect showcase of this,and though Cher is talented,I think she did her best work with Sonny.If you are a fan of Sonny and/or Cher this is a movie you shouldn't miss.