Fred MacMurray and Cloris Leachman live in a Depression-era small country town. He has his own store and through a succession of mishaps and bad luck, he feels everything's against him. He finds his own sons idolizing another friend's father instead of himself, because he never does anything with him. Then he meets an angel, Henry Morgan, who says Fred has cheated death several times and that his end is only a matter of days, any time now. Unless he changes his money-loving ways and think of his family and real quick, he won't be here much longer. From such a serious and somewhat depressing beginning to a silly end, as the boys get a job, one not that up-and-up, (of course they're oblivious to what they're doing,) because they want to help the family out. The law goes after the mafia, which of course has something to with this questionable job of theirs. They all get thrown in this silly discombobulation of an ending. I wanted to like this movie, but it gets uneven and nonsensical by the end of it. It has its charming moments, but they are few and far between. The funniest thing is when Cloris thinks Fred has lost it, because he's talking to himself, when he's talking to the angel she can't see. If you love Fred MacMurray's Disney films, watch "The Absent-Minded Professor" and leave "Charley" to his own devices.
Review of Charley and the Angel
