''Good Times'' is a 1967 American

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the characters are interwo ...

western film starring Sonny & Cher. The film also co-stars George Sanders, Norman Alden, Larry Duran, Kelly Thordsen and Lennie Weinrib. The film marks the feature directorial debut of William Friedkin, who later directed '' The French Connection'' and ''

The Exorcist ''The Exorcist'' is a 1973 American supernatural horror film directed by William Friedkin and written for the screen by William Peter Blatty, based on his 1971 The Exorcist (novel), novel of the same name. It stars Ellen Burstyn, Max von Sydow, ...

''.

Plot

Sonny and Cher appear as themselves in this spoof of various genres, including mysteries, westerns, Tarzan movies and spy thrillers. The plot revolves around a film contract offered to Sonny by powerful executive Mr. Mordicus, played by George Sanders, who also plays the

antagonist An antagonist is a character in a story who is presented as the chief foe of the protagonist. Etymology The English word antagonist comes from the Greek ἀνταγωνιστής – ''antagonistēs'', "opponent, competitor, villain, enemy, ri ...

in each of Sonny's ideas for the proposed film, which are played out in a number of skits featuring

music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspe ...

and

dancing Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoi ...

by the star duo.

Cast

* Sonny Bono as Sonny *

Cher Cher (; born Cherilyn Sarkisian; May 20, 1946) is an American singer, actress and television personality. Often referred to by the media as the Honorific nicknames in popular music, "Goddess of Pop", she has been described as embodying female ...

as Cher * George Sanders as Mr Mordicus / Knife McBlade / White Hunter / Zarubian * Norman Alden as Warren * Larry Duran as Smith * Kelly Thordsen as Tough Hombre * Lennie Weinrib as Leslie Garth * Peter Robbins as Brandon *

Phil Arnold Phil Arnold (born Philip Aronoff Arnold; September 15, 1909 – May 9, 1968) was an American screen, stage, television, and vaudeville actor. He appeared in approximately 150 films and television shows between 1939 and 1968. Arnold is familiar ...

as Solly

Production

Sonny Bono wanted to make a movie starring him and Cher and was introduced to William Friedkin, a young documentary filmmaker who had just moved into drama and who, like Bono, was represented by the William Morris Agency. They got along well and

Abe Lastfogel Abraham Isaac Lastfogel (May 17, 1898 – August 27, 1984) was one of the first employees and a long-time president of the William Morris Agency, a large diversified talent agency. Early life Lastfogel was the seventh son of a Jewish animal skin ...

managed to get Steve Broidy to agree to finance a movie. Bono and Friedkin started reading through scripts and received a letter from a novice screenwriter Nicholas Hyams, who suggested Sonny and Cher make a film about them making a movie. Hyams was hired but Friedkin says the collaboration with him was not easy - "he was condescending to Sonny and disdainful of me." Hyams was fired and Friedkin and Bono wound up writing the script themselves based on Hyams' original idea. Broidy wanted to call the film '' I Got You Babe'' but Bono preferred ''Good Times'', based on a song he was writing at the time. All songs in the film were released on a

soundtrack album A soundtrack album is any album that incorporates music directly recorded from the soundtrack of a particular feature film or television show. The first such album to be commercially released was Walt Disney's ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs' ...

. The film was originally meant to be made for $500,000 but the budget came in at $800,000. Broidy then sold the film to Columbia for $1.2 million, ensuring he was in profit before shooting even began.

Reception

''Good Times'' received poor-to-middling reviews as a pastiche of so-so skits, though one

critic A critic is a person who communicates an assessment and an opinion of various forms of creative works such as art, literature, music, cinema, theater, fashion, architecture, and food. Critics may also take as their subject social or gover ...

credited veteran

character actor A character actor is a supporting actor who plays unusual, interesting, or eccentric characters.28 April 2013, The New York Acting SchoolTen Best Character Actors of All Time Retrieved 7 August 2014, "..a breed of actor who has the ability to b ...

Sanders for making the film "slightly less unbearable." Friedkin later commented that "I've made better films than ''Good Times'' but I've never had so much fun".Friedkin p 110

Box office

The film earned $600,000 in rentals domestically and $200,000 internationally. After the distribution fee, prints and advertising and the negative cost were deducted, ABC reported a loss of $1,050,000.

References

Friedkin, William, ''The Friedkin Connection'', HarperCollins 2013

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Good Times 1967 films 1967 musical comedy films American musical comedy films American satirical films 1960s English-language films Films directed by William Friedkin Films about actors Films about hypnosis American independent films Columbia Pictures films ABC Motion Pictures films 1967 directorial debut films 1967 independent films Sonny & Cher 1960s American films