Finian's Rainbow (1968)

Waste of time

Good movie but grossly overrated

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Strange musical--the second film by Francis Ford Coppola. Finian (Fred Astaire), an Irish man, comes to Rainbow Valley with a pot of gold and his strong-willed daughter Sharon (Petula Clark). He plans to bury it hoping it will grow more gold (don't ask). In Rainbow Valley black and white people live together peacefully. Sharon meets hunky Woody (Don Francks) and falls in love. And then there's the racist mayor (Keenan Wynn) who wants to throw everybody out of the valley. The plot is really silly but that's the bare bones.This was a play in 1947 and considered pretty strong stuff because it dealt with racist politics. Twenty years later though it came across as pretty silly. Plot aside though this is fun. The songs are great, everybody can sing and the dances are colorful and full of energy. Clark and Francks especially have great voices. And it's lots of fun to see Astaire still able to dance when he was in his late 60s! On the bad side Tommy Steele (as a leprechaun) overacts, it's too long and Coppola really doesn't know how to direct a musical. Still it was fun.

While Fred Astaire would dance and sing one more time in That's Entertainment, Part 2, and would give his final acting performance in Ghost Story, in this one would he do all three for the last time. Before I review the movie proper, I have to note that I previously watched this on VHS in a pan-and-scan version that wasn't always flattering. I have now watched a letterboxed version on the Dailymotion site but, unfortunately, the synchronization was often off by several minutes resulting in silence in the last 7. I also watched the last sequence-of several chronological ones uploaded there-on the same site with perfect sync but now it was full screen, the print wasn't as good, and it was interrupted by a commercial. Ugh! Still, despite all that, I managed to mainly understand where certain dialogue exchanges and musical numbers were fit in and highly enjoyed the performances of not only pro Astaire but also Petula Clark, Don Francks, Tommy Steele, Keenan Wynn, Al Freeman, Jr. who does a hilarious spoof of a stereotypical "shufflin' Negro" butler, and Barbara Hancock whose dancing is divine which makes her mostly silent character have a nice personality, among others in the fine cast. Many of Wynn's lines and his changing from white to Negro was quite funny especially since he's not made to look really foolish by doing that appallingly old-fashioned burnt cork appearance of minstrel days but more authentic like though he still looks like a white man pretending to be black. The songs, by E.Y. Harburg and Burton Lane, are fun and romantic and pleasingly sung by the cast. Perhaps the story, a mix of blarney, whimsy, and social satire, dates it in modern times but it's still entertaining enough. And it's wonderful seeing Astaire give it one more try in his old age. So on that note, I recommend Francis Ford Coppola's Finian's Rainbow. P.S. It's interesting to note for "Dallas" fans that two actors that played Digger Barnes were involved in different productions of this musical: Wynn-the second Digger-here and David Wayne-the first one-as Og in the original Broadway version for which he won a Tony. P.P.S. I just finished the other sequence of uploaded videos I mentioned on DailyMotion. Enjoyed it more despite the lesser print, no letterboxing, and the interrupted commercials.

"Finian's Rainbow" (1968) is one of the few films I saw three times in the theater, and since repeat viewings are normally not my thing it must have made some connection or maybe I just enjoyed watching Barbara Hancock dance. Despite this I agree with most of the critical comments about portions of the film.Unfortunately it was assembled as a 145 minute "roadshow" musical; these were overlong spectaculars which depended less on the charm of the performers (think 1930's) than on pre-sold event marketing (unnecessary, pretentious, overscale, and distracting production values; souvenir programs; etc.). Right around the time of its release these mega-productions were leading many of the studios to financial ruin. Warner Brothers took a hit from this one; box office was bad but fortunately Coppola worked cheap and had cranked this out on the back-lot with a relatively modest budget.Trim about 30 minutes from the film and you would have a much better production. There is a lot of stuff here that is supposed to be fun and just doesn't make it. Fortunately there are some real gems sandwiched throughout the film.Think bi-racial "Lil Abner" (1959) with a touch of "The Wizard of Oz" (1939). The Oz connection comes from lyricist E. Y. Harburg, the guy who gave us "If I Were the King of the Forest". There are enough such silly songs to make up for toughing out the musical clunker moments. Tommy Steele absolutely shines doing this material (insert Bert Lahr here) .Nothing wrong with the performances of Fred Astaire or Petula Clark either. And its not just his dancing and her singing, they both achieve excellent characterizations. Astaire at 70 does not look much different facially than Astaire at 30. But this time instead of a physically unlikely love interest he plays a warm old man still chasing a dream, and it's a much better fit. Clark does an excellent Debbie Reynolds and more than holds her own through the production.Unfortunately there is little good to say about the casting of Don Francks as Petula's love interest and Hancock's older brother. Most likely Coppola felt that the film needed a relatively hip looking guy in place of a Gordon MacRae type. But Francks comes off as more of an oily hotshot; the kind of guy who would proposition your 14 year-old sister.The plot has Finian and his daughter coming to Kentucky to bury a crock of gold he has stolen from a leprechaun back in Ireland. Finian believes that he can produce some kind of synergy by getting the gold within close range of Ft. Knox. They end up in a racially mixed Dogpatch named Rainbow Valley, where blacks and whites work side-by-side as tobacco sharecroppers. There is considerable intrigue involving the local racist political hacks, a new strain of mentholated tobacco being developed by a George Washington Carver type (nicely played by Al Freeman Jr.), back taxes on the sharecropping collective, romance, and a leprechaun who is slowly becoming human.Barbara Hancock, a young but quite accomplished ballet dancer, is fetching as "Susan the Silent" (who dances instead of talking). Coppola adds a lot of nice lyrical moments by showcasing her dancing. It is said that Astaire resented her being cast instead of an older dancer he recommended. They are not paired in any number, a failure conspicuous by its absence.The widescreen DVD looks great and the Coppola commentary is surprisingly interesting.Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

It took 20 years for one of post World War II Broadway's biggest hits to finally come to the screen. Finian's Rainbow ran for 725 performances in the 1947-48 season on Broadway and made a star out of David Wayne as Og the Leprechaun. Unfortunately in getting to the screen too late a lot of the satire and meaning of the book was lost on the audience of a different generation.The book of E.Y. Harburg and Fred Saidy is set firmly in the visionary years of the New Deal with its satire on racism and unregulated capitalism. An immigrant Irishman arrives at Rainbow Valley in the state of Missitucky bearing the pot of gold stolen from a leprechaun. Said leprechaun now played by Tommy Steele is hot on his trail and growing. In fact if he doesn't get it back and soon he's going to become a mortal.Playing the parts of Finian McLonergan and his daughter Sharon originated on Broadway by Albert Sharpe and Ella Logan are Fred Astaire and Petula Clark. Astaire in his last musical role hasn't lost a single step in his nimble feet though the part does not call for as much dancing as you would expect. In fact the dancing is mostly done by Tommy Steele and Barbara Hancock playing Susan the Silent. That I'm betting is different from the Broadway show where David Wayne, talented actor that he was, was no dancer.Finian's Rainbow was the first big budget film that young Francis Ford Coppola directed and he seems to have adopted the style Robert Wise used in West Side Story and The Sound Of Music. Especially the latter where the whole screen is filled with the vastness of Rainbow Valley and the players sing and dance in it. Every paradise does have a Grinch and in this case its Keenan Wynn playing old time southern Senator Billboard Rawkins. Back in the day before nationwide mass media and the southerners cleaned up their act somewhat, some of those guys let loose with some unbridled racism. Chief among them was a guy from Mississippi named Theodore G. Bilbo on whom Wynn's character is based. Audiences in 1968 would not know who Bilbo was so the point of the name is lost on them. But when Billboard Rawkins gets a good taste of how the other half lives, no one could miss that.Al Freeman's black scientist working on a menthol flavored tobacco could not be mistaken for anyone other than George Washington Carver who died in 1943. But by 1968 with a new generation of civil rights leaders, Freeman's character significance is lost.In a way though with Barack Obama's election to the presidency this year the vision of Finian's Rainbow might just be more relevant now than ever. And the Burton Lane-E.Y. Harburg songs will never go out of style. Old Devil Moon and How Are Things In Glocca Morra have become mega pop standards.If you can find it in addition to the original Broadway cast album which was Columbia Record's first in that category and the cast album for the film, I highly recommend the Reprise Musical Theater all star album of the songs of Finian's Rainbow. Frank Sinatra gathered many of his contemporaries like Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr. Clark Dennis, Debbie Reynolds, Rosemary Clooney, Bing Crosby and the McGuire Sisters all do the songs from the score and it's a gem of a record. Hasn't been in print for years so get to those second hand stores.In the meantime watch and enjoy this film.