Il paradiso può attendere

This remake of "Here Comes Mr. Jordan" has many felicitous moments, foremost among them the performance of the half Jewish/half Irish actor, Jack Warden, as the trainer "Max," a role for which he was justifiably nominated for an Oscar for the best supporting actor. Warden is best remembered for his serious roles --he was one of the jurors in "Twelve Angry Man" and the editor in "All The President's Men" -- but he was a superb comic actor who in the tradition of all great clowns played the most absurd moments with the greatest seriousness. One of the funniest encounter scenes in all film, right up there with the great Jack Benny/Sig Rumann meeting in "To Be or Not To Be," is the moment in this film where Warren Beaty in the body of another man (Fransworth) tries to convince his old pal Warden that he is indeed the football player Joe Pendelton. Warden's reactions, his business with the cigarette lighter, and his final acceptance of Beatty's explanation are alone worth the time it takes to watch this slightly overlong film.