I agreed to see this because it was the first film by William Friedkin (French Connection, Excorsist). And the big surprise is that it is not a bad film. (And kudos to Mr Friedkin to show such savvy in his parody of "High Noon" and other films.) Of course it's not a great film, either. Stylistically, it is rather of a kind with television movies of the same era, or a decade later. For better or worse, Friedkin decided not to go the route of "psychedlic trippy hippy film," but delivers a fairly staid, episodic musical comedy. That actually saves the film, in my opinion; I never felt, watching this, that it might have seemed better in its time and place with a hit of acid under the belt. It's a simple, middle-brow romantic comedy about a pair of singers wrestling with the very idea of making a movie for their fans.

For me, the saving grace of the film is Cher; here she is all exuberance, innocent sexuality (a quality difficult to project),love-of-life - oh, she's just great.

And through her, the film captures the romanticism of the 1960s that is largely forgotten today.

Finally, a word on the music: Sonny Bono's songs are wretched just as songs, but he had a real ear for melody and the arrangements here make that very clear - he missed his calling, he should have been composing soundtracks all along.

A bit of an oddity, but kind of fun.

If any pop group of the mid-1960's should have had an attempt at a film career outside guest appearances at that time, it was Diana Ross and The Supremes, not Sonny and Cher. This mess of a movie has moments that are amusing, purely out of a delight of how bad they are rather than for the entertainment elements. Certainly, the musical numbers are in anticipation of the music videos of the future, and they are a sight to behold. The basic premise has Sonny and Cher, hot after their TV special, sought by movie mogul George Sanders (who has to be seen here to be believed!) who wants them to star in a big screen feature. What kind of feature is yet to be determined, even though they have the title ("Rags to Riches", how generic is that?). So Sonny has a series of fantasies of the type of film he thinks they should do, and boy, are they the epitome of silliness!

The musical numbers, which truly focus on Cher's outrageous costumes, are a mixed bag. Her opening number is actually pretty good, although the use of "I Got You Babe" over the credits is sung at a pace that makes you believe that they were on downers. The visuals in the opening number are hysterical, boofing comic strips of the time and including some outrageous drawings. When it comes time for Sonny's fantasies, the results are quite eye-rolling, with a horrible Western musical spoof showing off Cher's lack of dance talent at the time, a jungle theme that Tarzan would have turned down and a film noir parody that gives us an idea of what Cher would look like had she been blonde.

It is an inauspicious debut film, not only for the singing duo, but by future Oscar winner William Friedkin who gives no clue of the genius I ahead. There are certainly parallels here that would be evident in the gossip columns about Sonny and Cher a decade later and a sense that in spite of the fact that they fought a lot, their love was genuine and sincere. Neither are particulaly interesting as people in the confines of the script, and there are times when Cher's nagging and Sonny's childishness makes them unappealing. Visually, it is a sight to behold, filled with delightful 60's extreme colors and camp, but as good cinema? An absolute head-shaker.

Yes, the movie has good music, but when you compare this with Sonny & Cher's other work, this is the worst I have seen. The film is stuffed with visual montages, & a meaningless plot. Sadly the movie has a lot of eye candy but not enough shots of a young, prime hard bodied Cher. The film does not have any humor which is what made their Variety show go. That element missing is the biggest problem, as I can only wonder why it was left out. Drama from Sonny & Cher puts you to sleep, & serious scenes from a couple whose only serious accomplishments in their lives is their music just doesn't work. The only thing that gets 1 point from me is the nostalgia value because other than that, this film is a total zero.