Goodbye Charlie (1964)

A womanizing Hollywood writer (Harry Madden) is shot dead by a Hungarian movie producer (Walter Matthau) when he is caught with the producer's wife (Laura Devon). The writer's best friend (Tony Curtis) flies from Paris for the memorial when a very attractive woman (Debbie Reynolds) shows up claiming she is the dead writer reincarnated as a woman! Based on the play by George Axelrod (THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH) and directed by Vincente Minnelli (SOME CAME RUNNING). The play wasn't a hit on Broadway where it ran for only four months. But 20th Century Fox still paid a hefty sum for the film rights. The premise is ripe for amusement but this movie isn't. I've not read or seen Axelrod's play so I can only assume the movie's problems are inherent in the source material. It just isn't funny! When you have solid actors like Curtis, Reynolds, Matthau and Ellen Burstyn (as one of the dead writer's affairs) and nothing goes right, you know something's wrong. As the dude is a woman, Debbie Reynolds is actually very good but when the material is this trite, it doesn't help much. It's a bit surprising to see the squeaky clean Pat Boone as a mama's boy putting the moves on a man inside a woman's body! With Joanna Barnes, Martin Gabel and Roger C. Carmel.