40. OH! GOD! (comedy, 1977) Jerry (John Denver) is an assistant-manager for a produce store. He's a happy family man until God (George Burns) requests an audience. He has picked Jerry to carry his message of good will to an increasingly pessimistic world. But Jerry finds that people are difficult to convince, he even has trouble trying to make his family understand that God appears to him as a kindly old man.
Critique: A surprise box-office hit when first released, it spawned other sequels that proved interesting ('OH! GOD! BOOK 2', 'OH! GOD! YOU DEVIL'). 81 year old George Burns shines as the perennial God, a role that he played with sweet abandonment. He is given great lines to work with. This God seems to have an answer for everything: on creating the world he quips; "to tell you the truth I thought about it for 6 days and did the whole thing in 1".
What's most interesting is that the film takes an unbiased, non-religious look at our Creator. This God doesn't believe in religions or its leaders, and sees "human suffering" as being our fault (not His doing) since we 'choose' to be. No wonder the very simple themes and in-jokes appealed to so many.
QUOTE: Jerry: "Sometimes, now and then, couldn't we just talk?"
God: "Tell you what, you talk I'll listen."
Critique: A surprise box-office hit when first released, it spawned other sequels that proved interesting ('OH! GOD! BOOK 2', 'OH! GOD! YOU DEVIL'). 81 year old George Burns shines as the perennial God, a role that he played with sweet abandonment. He is given great lines to work with. This God seems to have an answer for everything: on creating the world he quips; "to tell you the truth I thought about it for 6 days and did the whole thing in 1".
What's most interesting is that the film takes an unbiased, non-religious look at our Creator. This God doesn't believe in religions or its leaders, and sees "human suffering" as being our fault (not His doing) since we 'choose' to be. No wonder the very simple themes and in-jokes appealed to so many.
QUOTE: Jerry: "Sometimes, now and then, couldn't we just talk?"
God: "Tell you what, you talk I'll listen."