It’s no secret that the Hollywood Comet loves musicals.
In 2010, I revealed I had seen 400 movie musicals over the course of eight years. Now that number is over 600. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

This week’s musical:
Good Times (1967) – Musical #226

Studio:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Director:
William Friedkin

Starring:
Cher, Sonny Bono, George Sanders, Charles Smith, Mickey Dolenz (uncredited), Paul Frees (uncredited)

Plot:
Producer Mordicus (Sanders) is trying to convince singing stars Sonny and Cher (as themselves) into making a movie. Sonny is interested in making a movie, though Cher isn’t so sure. Sonny dreams of playing various roles, such as in a western, a Tarzan-like film, or a detective film.

Trivia:
• William Friedkin’s feature film directorial debut
• The songs and the film’s score were written by Sonny Bono
• Paramount pulled the plug on the film, so William Friedkin and Sonny Bono started filming on the fly without permits, such as the L.A. Department of Water and Power and at Sonny and Cher’s home.
• The world premiere was held in Austin, Texas.

Highlights:
• The color
• The fashions
• Cher’s eye makeup
• Mickey Dolenz as a Tarzan-like character on television

Notable Songs:
• “Good Times” performed by Sonny & Cher
• “It’s the Little Things” performed by Sonny & Cher
• “Don’t Talk to Strangers” performed by Cher
• “Just a Name” performed by Sonny & Cher

My review:
Today, many people pan William Friedkin’s directorial debut film, “Good Times” (1967). But when I revisited this film for the first time in years I honestly had — dare I say — a good time. Friedkin later said he enjoyed making the film.

“I’ve made better films than ‘Good Times,’ but I’ve never had so much fun,” Friedkin wrote in his 2013 memoir.

The film was made in the same vein as other 1960s films focusing on popular musical talent, like “A Hard Day’s Night” (1964) with the Beatles, “Having a Wild Weekend” (1965) with the Dave Clark Five, or “Hold On!” (1966) with the Herman’s Hermits. This time, the film starred the pop duo Sonny & Cher — both in their first feature film.

The two play themselves as Sonny Bono wants to make a movie, and Cher is less interested. When a demanding producer (played by George Sanders) insists that they make a movie out of a terrible script “or else,” Sonny and Cher are at odds, because Cher didn’t want to make the film to begin with. Throughout the film are dream sequences (which Cher compares to “Walter Mitty” in her memoir) where Sonny thinks of film scenarios he could star in from a Tarzan-like character, a western cowboy or a private eye.

While creating the script, rather than making a story, they decided to make the characters true to life of Sonny & Cher, according to both Friedkin and Cher’s memoirs.

While Sonny and Friedkin were collaborating on the script with Nicholas Hymas, Cher walked in and said the movie was stupid and she didn’t want to do it.

“They said ‘Bingo! We’ll take what you just said and make that your dialogue. You don’t want to make a movie in real life, so we’ll have you not want to make a movie in the movie,’” Cher wrote in her memoir.

Cher wasn’t the only one initially not interested in making the film. At the same time, Friedkin was offered a job as second-unit director for John Frankenheimer’s upcoming film “Grand Prix.” Friedkin wanted to work with Frankenheimer and wasn’t enthusiastic about the Sonny & Cher project, which still didn’t have a script. However, he was convinced to take “Good Times,” because he was warned that he would be stuck as a second-unit director if he did “Grand Prix,” according to Friekdin’s memoir.

“Think about it,” he wrote. “I’m suddenly in a situation where everyone wants me to direct something. Last year I was in Chicago, struggling to keep a job. A year or two before that, I was in an unemployment line, with no prospects.”

However after taking the project, Friedkin enjoyed collaborating with Sonny Bono.

“I’ve worked with many talented people, but only a few geniuses. One of them was Sonny Bono,” Friedkin wrote in his memoir.

Cher wrote that Friedkin and Sonny were so enthusiastic that she couldn’t beat them so she had to join them.

The film was originally to be produced by Paramount, but after 45 minutes of film were shot, the project was dropped. Without permits or permission, Friedkin and his crew did “guerilla style” filming around Los Angeles, including in Sonny & Cher’s home.

“I was just playing myself in the movie and I wasn’t very good. My heart wasn’t in it,” Cher wrote. “But Sonny was hysterical, really funny. I was the straight man while he did all the outrageous comedy. Lots of times there was no script, and we just had to ad lib.”

I both audiences and Cher would never guess that she would go on to become an acclaimed film actress and win an Academy Award for Best Actress.

“Good Times” is ridiculous and absurd, but it is quite funny. Cher is right, Sonny is hysterical but she has some funny moments as well.

During the western scene, I loved this exchange:
Sonny: “Shucks ma’am, I can’t sing.”
Cher: “Don’t let that top you.”

The whole film is vibrantly colored, has wonderful 1960s fashions with Cher in over-the-top 1960s eye makeup.

My favorite performance was “It’s the Little Things” (that Sonny in the film says was from a TV variety show). The two sing against pop art-like backgrounds and Cher wears some fun outfits.

It’s a little sad that George Sanders is in this movie, but also it’s so wonderful to hear him say “Cher.”

As for Friedkin? I feel like you can tell he had a good time making this film. There are interesting, quick shots as two men are fighting in George Sander’s office, and the music video-like music performances are lots of fun and filmed in an engaging matter.

The dream sequences are so ridiculous but the names made me life. Jungle Morry (instead of Tarzan), Sheriff Irving Ringo in the western sequence and Johnny Pitzaccatto in the private eye portion. They were all so silly that it made me laugh.

The only misstep to me in the film is when they decided to dress Cher up as a clown during one song. Otherwise, I enjoyed all the costumes and music.

My main question is how does this only have a 4.5 out of 10 star rating on IMDB? Is it because William Friedkin fans watched this film expecting “The French Connection” and ended up with a colorful, pop art film with sunshine pop music?

Like I said, this film is admittedly ridiculous and I started watching it expecting the worse, and I ended up finding myself laughing a lot and enchanted by the 1960s styles. I had a great time watching it, and for what it’s worth, Friedkin himself said he had a good time making it.

I wouldn’t call this a “must see” but it is definitely a mood-lifter, in my opinion.

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