Historically, everyone has assumed that God is supposed to be associated with religion, and everyone claims the Almighty for their religions. Well, in "Oh, God!", the Big G is nothing like that. Grocery store clerk Jerry Landers (John Denver) gets a message that God wants to meet with him. Thinking the whole thing to be a joke at first, Jerry realizes that it really is the Creator, albeit only his voice. Later, God appears as an old man (George Burns),and explains that he wants Jerry to spread his word to humanity. He hasn't gone to any clerical figure (e.g., the pope or Billy Graham) because he's not interested in religion. But when Jerry tries to tell the world, they not only believe him to be crazy, but many people start threatening him.

They certainly had a good point about God not being interested in religion. If more people would consider this concept and stop claiming that all of their actions are in God's name, maybe the world might come closer to moving forward in various arenas.

There's a great line from Inherit The Wind where in examining Fredric March on the stand Spencer Tracy deflates March who is on that prosecution team as a celebrity religious authority. If God speaks to Matthew Harrison Brady "suppose a Cates or a Darwin might have the audacity to think that God might speak to them". Oh God examines the proposition that God might speak to a lesser human being in this case Assistant Supermarket manager John Denver.

You can't get more average and ordinary than Denver a decent soul raising a decent family in this crazy world with not any formal religious affiliation. Which is maybe the reason God who appears to Denver in many places and guises as George Burns. Burns with that disarming manner makes one droll Divine Deity.

Larry Gelbart who wrote the script which brought an Oscar nomination to Oh God filled it with some sly and very profound observations on the human condition. Free will folks is the key, he gave us the world and humankind made it what it is today.

The film is well cast. I truly enjoyed Paul Sorvino's pompous pompadoured reverend. Burns doesn't like him and he tells Denver to tell him so. Which brings us to a courtroom scene, the goal of every player. I'll bet this film isn't run at Liberty Baptist University ever.

But it ought to be required viewing for all of us. We make the problems only we can clean them up.

Back in the late 1970's as "the blockbuster" was just building up steam with several disaster films, sci-fi special effects epics and the occasional historical epic, bigger wasn't always better, and in the case of "Oh, God", an adorable aging comic had one of the biggest hits of his long career. Oh, and throw in a country/western singer who only made a few movie appearances, and you have the sleeper of 1977, a comic gem that takes punches almost prophetically at evangelists who only a decade later would take public whacks in real life.

John Denver is Jerry Mathers, a humble grocery store assistant manager in Tarzana, California who isn't much of a believer in spiritual matters and happens to be chosen by the big G. himself to go out and spread the word that he still exists, is watching over us, and has given us everything we need to make our world work, warning us not to destroy it. 35 years later, this film is still timely, even if certain elements of the details of the script fit 70's mentalities. (Why a remake with Betty White hasn't been done is beyond me!) At first, you only hear the raspy-voiced God until Jerry politely demands to see him, having frustrated his quirky wife Teri Garr with discussions of their first meeting. But when George Burns finally appears in flannel shirt and baseball cap, you know you're dealing with a God out to prove that vaudeville isn't dead, only captured in heavenly terms.

Dealing with district manager David Ogden Steirs (of "MASH" TV fame) and C.E.O. William Daniels ("1776's" John Addams) in his professional life, Denver is warned that these visits with God are endangering his career. But God has another job for Denver, and that involves a money-hungry evangelist, brilliantly played by Paul Sorvino with such arrogant cockiness that you long to see him knocked down a peg or two and have him scream to his pulpit, "I have sinned!", like a few others would within the next decade. Cameos by such famous faces as Ralph Bellamy, Barnard Hughes and Donald Pleasance round out Larry Gelbart's brilliant screenplay, apparently adapted by director Carl Reiner on its first draft, and deservedly receiving an Oscar Nomination.

The film covers some major issues still important to day. God comments on cereals and all of the chemicals that are turning kids into garbage cans. He comments on "The Exorcist" and how people could believe the devil on earth, but not him. He discusses Jesus as his son, the ultimate vessel for communication with him, and when sworn in to testify tells judge Hughes with his hands on the bible, "So help me me." God also reveals here through Reiner's simply stated screenplay that it only takes one man to create a storm of spirituality, and with this, we also see the religious freaks that utilize organized religion for their own agendas and even sexual fantasies. The performances are direct, to the point, and totally honest, and to top it off, there is a wonderful cameo by then popular afternoon TV hostess Dinah Shore, long before the Oprah's, Jerry Springers and Sally Jesse Raphael's.

Having seen this film many years ago when it was first released, I felt its simple message touching my soul, and almost forty years later, it still remains pertinent. At times, the screenplay does have a child-like quality to it, but that is important, because this is a film for all ages and generations to see and pick out individually how it touches them. Believer or not, you can't help but see the possibilities, and in today's ultra-cynical world (10 times more than the mid-late 1970's) consumed with robot-creating technology, this is truly a faith restorer.