''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 and television, a genre of film and television that incorporates into the narr ...

western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

film starring

Sonny & Cher Sonny & Cher were an American pop and entertainment duo in the 1960s and 1970s, made up of husband and wife Sonny Bono and Cher. The couple started their career in the mid-1960s as R&B backing singers for record producer Phil Spector. The pair f ...

. The film also co-stars

George Sanders George Henry Sanders (3 July 1906 – 25 April 1972) was a British actor and singer whose career spanned over 40 years. His heavy, upper-class English accent and smooth, bass voice often led him to be cast as sophisticated but villainous chara ...

Norman Alden Norman Alden (born Norman Adelberg, September 13, 1924 – July 27, 2012) was an American character actor who performed in television programs and motion pictures. He first appeared on television on ''The 20th Century Fox Hour'' in 1957. He ...

Larry Duran Lawrence Duran (July 26, 1925 – November 27, 2002) was an American actor and stuntman. He was perhaps best known for playing Chico Modesto in the 1961 film ''One-Eyed Jacks''. Life and career Duran was born in Los Angeles, California, of F ...

Kelly Thordsen Kelly Thordsen, born Sherman Jess Thordsen (January 19, 1917 – January 23, 1978) was an American film and television actor. Life and career Thordsen was born in Deadwood, South Dakota. He served in the United States Navy during World War II ...

and

Lennie Weinrib Leonard Weinrib (April 29, 1935 – June 28, 2006) was an American actor, comedian and writer. He is best known for playing the title role in the children's television show ''H.R. Pufnstuf'', Grimace in McDonaldland commercials, the title role in ...

. The film marks the

feature directorial debut This is a list of film directorial debuts in chronological order. The films and dates referred to are a director's first commercial cinematic release. Many film makers have directed works which were not commercially released, for example early work ...

William Friedkin William "Billy" Friedkin (born August 29, 1935)Biskind, p. 200. is an American film and television director, producer and screenwriter closely identified with the "New Hollywood" movement of the 1970s. Beginning his career in documentaries in t ...

, 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 novel of the same name. It stars Ellen Burstyn, Max von Sydow, Lee J. Cobb, Kitty W ...

''.

Plot

Sonny and Cher appear as themselves in this

spoof Spoof, spoofs, spoofer, or spoofing may refer to: * Forgery of goods or documents * Semen, in Australian slang * Spoof (game), a guessing game * Spoofing (finance), a disruptive algorithmic-trading tactic designed to manipulate markets __NOTOC__ ...

of various genres, including mysteries,

westerns The Western is a genre set in the American frontier and commonly associated with folk tales of the Western United States, particularly the Southwestern United States, as well as Northern Mexico and Western Canada. It is commonly referred ...

Tarzan movies Tarzan, a fictional character created by Edgar Rice Burroughs, first appeared in the 1912 novel ''Tarzan of the Apes'', and then in twenty-four sequels by Burroughs and numerous more by other authors. The character proved immensely popular and qu ...

and spy thrillers. The

plot Plot or Plotting may refer to: Art, media and entertainment * Plot (narrative), the story of a piece of fiction Music * ''The Plot'' (album), a 1976 album by jazz trumpeter Enrico Rava * The Plot (band), a band formed in 2003 Other * ''Plot' ...

revolves around a film contract offered to Sonny by powerful executive Mr. Mordicus, played by

, 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, riv ...

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 aspect ...

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 repertoire ...

by the star duo.

Cast

Sonny Bono Salvatore Phillip "Sonny" Bono (; February 16, 1935 – January 5, 1998) was an American singer, actor, and politician who came to fame in partnership with his second wife Cher as the popular singing duo Sonny & Cher. A member of the Republica ...

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 *

as Mr Mordicus / Knife McBlade / White Hunter / Zarubian *

as Warren *

as Smith *

as Tough Hombre *

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

, a young documentary filmmaker who had just moved into drama and who, like Bono, was represented by the

William Morris Agency The William Morris Agency (WMA) was a Hollywood-based talent agency. It represented some of the best known 20th-century entertainers in film, television, and music. During its 109-year tenure it came to be regarded as the "first great talent a ...

. They got along well and Abe Lastfogel managed to get

Steve Broidy Samuel “Steve” Broidy (June 14, 1905 – April 28, 1991) was an American executive in the U.S. motion picture industry. Early life Samuel Broidy was born on June 14, 1905 in Malden, Massachusetts. He attended Boston University, but he w ...

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 "I Got You Babe" is a song performed by Sonny & Cher and written by Sonny Bono. It was the first single taken from their debut studio album ''Look at Us''. In August 1965, their single spent three weeks at number one on the ''Billboard'' Hot 10 ...

'' 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 governmen ...

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