Coming to the IMDb site to review this commercially successful movie, I was amazed at the Oscar recognition it garnered in 1978 for what is, to my eyes and ears a very unremarkable re-make of the enjoyable 1941 Claude Rains feature "Here Comes Mr Jordan", while surreptitiously grafting on the title of another "life after death" 40's classic starring Don Ameche.<br /><br />I just don't have a lot to say about this vapid entertainment other than apart from transforming the hapless Joe from a boxer to an American footballer (and thus losing some of the universality of his character), it seems almost a line for line, scene for scene, inferior copy of the much superior original. Buck Henry and Elaine May were celebrated comedic writers of the time but I found nothing laugh-out-loud funny in what I saw and heard. The cinematography is merely average, soft focusing around Beatty & Christie's love scenes while the acting gig for all must have been the easiest payday they ever earned. Beatty plays every scene either with bemusement or winsomeness, Christie couldn't even be trusted to adopt an American accent and so we're expected to accept her Transatlantic-hopping English rose character who wins Beatty's heart with one flutter of an eyebrow or flick of her over-permed hair. Add to that the great James Mason seeming to sleepwalk his way in Claude Rains' bigger footsteps, Dyan Cannon in permanent histrionic mode and a cast of many along for the ride. The Oscar nominated score is all sappy MOR muzak too.<br /><br />I've read that Beatty made this film with one eye on the box-office returns to fund his ambitious "Reds" project, a film I'll be watching soon and hope was worth it. For me this particular movie just demonstrates however the schmoozy, lackadaisical, condescending work which came out of late 70's LA Hollywood studios.