Faithful to the source play, Sidney Buchman\u2019s and Seton I. Miller\u2019s script for Here Comes Mr. Jordan <\/em>is a fine first stab at the material, and capably establishes a blueprint from which Beatty and co-screenwriter Elaine May would work 37 years later. Not only do the characters, plot points, and much of the dialogue remain the same in Beatty\u2019s film, but Segall\u2019s contemplations of mortality, ethics, love, friendship, and social justice are likewise intact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the words of 19th century French writer Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr \u2014 or Jon Bon Jovi, take your pick \u2014 the more things change, the more they stay the same, and in the different eras that each adaptation depicts, the systems and the conflicts they produce have barely budged (and are arguably more pronounced each time). The rich still take advantage of the poor while squabbling amongst each other, but decent people also keep rising to confront these transgressions \u2014 and many continue to seek escapism through sports and entertainment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Though Segall\u2019s play is nowhere near as respected as great works of classic literature that remain relevant year after year, its messages and presentation are nevertheless potent enough to inspire new tellings every few generations. So strong is the narrative and thematic foundation that the bulk of the screenwriters\u2019 work involves plugging in up-to-date details to reflect the new timeframe \u2014 and sending the rights holder(s) a check as (legal) thanks for the head start.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The play and Here Comes Mr. Jordan <\/em>feature Joe Pendleton as an up-and-coming boxer with banker\/investor Mr. Farnsworth (whose body Joe will temporarily inhabit) as a swindler on a domestic scale. But by the late 1970s, the NFL had eclipsed boxing in popularity, prompting Beatty and May to cast their Joe as the second-string quarterback for the Los Angeles Rams. And on the business side, industrial greed had gone global, resulting in such misdeeds as Heaven Can Wait<\/em>\u2019s Farnsworth planning to uproot an entire English village in the name of corporate expansion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By the dawn of the 21st century, professional sports remained a huge draw with the NBA as the hot ticket alongside the NFL. Had the Weitzes or someone else decided to stick with the athletic route for Down to Earth<\/em>, it\u2019s not hard to imagine Denzel Washington or Will Smith as a back-up point guard for the New York Knicks, working his way into the starting lineup just in time for the playoffs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But thanks to the steady rise of stand-up comedy in the \u201980s and \u201990s, and comedians \u2014 Rock included \u2014 transitioning into cast positions on sketch comedy programs like Saturday Night Live <\/em>and starring roles in major motion pictures, all while still touring and recording the occasional HBO or Comedy Central special, superstar comics were nearly as bankable as top athletes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In turn, scrappy sportsman Joe Pendleton became aspiring standup Lance Barton, who makes ends meet as a New York City bike messenger. And with health care costs rapidly rising and nearly a decade until Obamacare would make its way through Congress, it\u2019s only natural that the film\u2019s heartless tycoon \u2014 renamed Wellington \u2014 would be making a profit from people in need of medical help, including at Brooklyn Community Hospital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Though the Joes can almost taste success in their upcoming big fight and important game, it\u2019s clear that they\u2019ve earned their opportunities the right way through a lifetime of hard work, and therefore warrant audience support. The same goes for Lance, who\u2019s naturally funny offstage and yearns to perform at The Apollo\u2019s final show, but bombs so frequently in front of crowds that he\u2019s earned the nickname \u201cBoo-ey.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n When accidents claim their lives, it\u2019s a major injustice that they were robbed of the chance to prove themselves. Still, we\u2019re rooting for these guys who further endear themselves to viewers by the relatable way they attempt to make sense of their supernatural predicament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bewildered but undeterred, the men insist there\u2019s been a mistake and are proven right once it\u2019s revealed that a comic-relief rookie agent (Edward Everett Horton, Buck Henry, and Eugene Levy) of the afterlife whisked them away from what seemed like certain death when there was actually a good 50 years of predetermined existence remaining.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The sympathy-stoking grievances continue with the revelation that our hero\u2019s body has been cremated, negating the possibility of a reunion with their intended vessel. With Plan A nixed, one of the ultimate \u201cI\u2019d like to speak to the manager\u201d scenarios plays out with debonaire top men Mr. Jordan (Claude Rains and James Mason) and King (Chazz Palminteri) personally seeing that our guys are taken care of. If only us average Earthlings could receive such top-notch service on a regular basis\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n Though the customer understandably prefers a blend of athleticism and\/or youth in order to quickly get a second shot at that once-in-a-lifetime break, the supervisor slyly offers the body of a wealthy man whose adulterous wife (Rita Johnson, Dyan Cannon, Jennifer Coolidge) and secretary (John Emery, Charles Grodin, Greg Germann) assume they\u2019ve just murdered him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s an unappealing proposition and our champion is anxious to see the next candidate, until a beautiful woman (Evelyn Keyes, Julie Christie, Regina King) marches in and dares to stand up to the tycoon\u2019s greedy, illegal business practices and demand accountability on behalf of the people he\u2019s knowingly hurt. With the angel\u2019s assurance that our man can make a positive difference and a promise that it\u2019s merely a temporary loan while better long term lodgings are arranged, love \u2014 or at least infatuation \u2014 and making the most of extreme wealth win out and the less than desirable casing is accepted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In addition to the charms of a good body-swap comedy, these temporary arrangements are packed with such evergreen crowd-pleasing details as irredeemable villains and lampooning the ridiculousness of the rich \u2014 commentary that\u2019s especially sharp with Down to Earth<\/em> factoring in race through Lance\u2019s frequent horror at white people\u2019s behavior. Suddenly blessed with formidable financial resources and fearless of any consequences with their corporal rental situation, our salt-of-the-earth protagonists turn whistleblowers on their unsavory adopted hosts, rooting out corruption and giving the downtrodden surprise victories. It\u2019s a 99%-er\u2019s dream come true and one that\u2019s played out in hilarious fashion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The affable love of one\u2019s fellow man further shines when our guys summon their most trusted allies (James Gleason, Jack Warden, Frankie Faison) to their new digs to convince them of the bizarre truth and help get our heroes\u2019 progress back on track before it\u2019s too late. The extreme skepticism that the friends display at wealthy, famous men they\u2019ve never met claiming to be their reincarnated best buds is certainly understandable, as is the shocked revelation (thanks to information only their seemingly deceased pals would know) that what the would-be imposters say is legit. The reunions rank among the films\u2019 warmest and funniest sequences and give way to gleeful training montages of various sorts that instill hopefulness that these underdogs will defy the odds and see their visions through.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Things are going so<\/em> well that each fella proposes marriage to his sweetheart, whom they\u2019ve known for approximately two weeks \u2014 all while being legally married, albeit to attempted murderers \u2014 and the women appear game. This remarkable accomplishment for guys who\u2019ve not exactly been depicted as ladies\u2019 men is perhaps pure male fantasy, but, hey, these lovebirds are great together and deserve to at least see if this crazy idea will pan out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then, with romantic stability (of the endangered \u201cpersonality is more important than looks\u201d species, no less) and professional glory in their sights, our dudes are dealt yet another injustice when those pesky angels return to shutter the gentlemen to their promised true final bodies, though not before the resistant soul experiences the agony of an assassin\u2019s bullet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The tragedies are tough to weather, but from there, each film shifts into high happy-ending gear and all injuries are forgiven. The bad guys get their comeuppance, and the good guys seize their big moments and deliver clutch performances. And in the films\u2019 sweetest moments, the amnesia-stricken conquerors in their shiny new human suits cross paths with their sorta-fiance\u00e9s, lock eyes, and begin to rekindle a relationship that exists in dramatic irony form until the men utter phrases that suggest to the women who these oddly familiar guys might truly be beneath the (nevertheless pleasing) fleshy veneer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Longtime offscreen couple Beatty and Christie, who\u2019d previously co-starred in McCabe & Mrs. Miller <\/em>and Shampoo<\/em>, are almost unfairly deft at conveying this quasi-love at first sight, which of course is no initial encounter. This triumph is also the final repeated beat in all three films, the end of a core story with so many approachable traits that, like A Star Is Born<\/em>, it seems destined to receive new treatments in perpetuity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Seeing as 20 years have elapsed since the release of Down to Earth<\/em>, it wouldn\u2019t be surprising if another version arises in a decade or so. But whenever the next iteration arises, viewers can be nearly certain that the same timeless plot, themes, and characters will be present. They\u2019ve proven successful onscreen three times thus far and appear built to last. With Warren Beatty\u2019s 1978 version out this week on Blu-ray, we take a look at the various screen iterations of \u2018Here Comes Mr. Jordan,\u2019 aka \u2018Heaven Can Wait.\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":547,"featured_media":17466,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1399],"tags":[1422],"class_list":["post-17464","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-looking-back","tag-looking-back"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17464","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/547"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17464"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17464\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22117,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17464\/revisions\/22117"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17466"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/down-to-earth-1024x768.jpg\")
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