Warner Bros.-Seven Arts
Not part of a collection.
Finian's Rainbow
Let yourself glow.
An Irishman and his daughter arrive in the American South with a stolen pot of gold, hoping to make their fortune. Pursued by a leprechaun desperate to recover his treasure, they become entangled in a battle over land, love, and prejudice in Rainbow Valley—where the gold’s magic turns wishes, and lives, upside down.
- Original title
- Finian's Rainbow
- Language
- EN
- Country
- US
- Budget
- $3,500,000
- Revenue
- $11,600,000
Wuchak
Sep 20, 2024 · via TMDB
**_Amusing late 60’s musical with dynamic performances by the cast_** An Irish father and daughter come to America and settle a couple of miles from Fort Knox in Kentucky. As Sharon (Petula Clark) falls for the community’s returning prodigal son (Don Francks), Finian (Fred Astaire) deals with a leprechaun (Tommy Steele) that desperately needs the pot of gold he “borrowed” while a mute dancing girl catches the leprechaun’s eye (Barbara Hancock). "Finian’s Rainbow" (1968) is a fun musical based on the 1947 Broadway play, helmed by Francis Ford Coppola after proving his mettle with “You’re a Big Boy Now.” Although overlong, it’s an energetic mix of Elvis’ “Follow that Dream,” Astaire musicals and “The Wizard of Oz.” The above-noted cast members are all highlights, along with Keenan Wynn as the racist Senator and Al Freeman Jr as the research botanist. Astaire was 68 during shooting while Petula was 34; Franks was 35 (but looked older) while dancer Barbara Hancock was only 17. Speaking of the latter, she shines as she frolics about doing flips and what have you. Someone criticized that the movie borrowed too many Hippie elements from the musical “Hair,” but this is totally bogus seeing as how the film started shooting (with a finished script) in late June, 1967, and "Hair" didn't debut off-Broadway until four months later. It didn’t make it to Broadway until 1968 while the movie version came out in 1979. No doubt the scriptwriters & Coppola naturally tried to make the 1947 musical more relevant to the mid-60s, but this had zero to do with ripping off "Hair." Personally, I didn't perceive much if any "Hair"-like elements and, honestly, it could easily fit the time-frame of the late ’40s. Wynn’s character was inspired by real-life Senator Theodore Bilbo of Mississippi, a Democrat, who died seven months after the musical debuted. Film studios wouldn’t touch it due to the satirical bits pertaining to racism (like the Senator amusingly morphing into a black man); that is, unless they could change the script, which the writers wouldn’t allow. By the mid-60s, however, the time was right. Coppola had nothing to do with the cutting off of Astaire's feet during his dancing scenes. After shooting had been done in 35mm, Warner Brothers chose to convert the movie to the wider 70mm and sell it as a “preserved-ticket roadshow attraction,” which was achieved by cropping off the tops and bottoms of the picture frame. Unfortunately, this included some shots of Astaire's footwork, which I didn't even notice while watching (in other words, it's a nothing burger). This was Astaire’s last musical. It runs 2 hours, 25 minutes, and was shot on studio sound-stages and the back lot at Warner Brothers Burbank Studios and Walt Disney's Golden Oak Ranch, as well as Potrero Valley, Thousand Oaks, although one sequence was shot in Napa Valley near Coppola's home, north of Oakland, as well another west of there in Bodega Bay. The opening includes scenic shots of iconic spots in the USA (with stand-ins for Astaire and Clark). GRADE: B
User reviews courtesy of TMDB.
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Amazon Video
Apple TV Store
Google Play Movies
YouTube
Fandango At Home
Fred Astaire
Finian McLonergan
Petula Clark
Sharon McLonergan
Tommy Steele
'Og' the Leprechaun
Don Francks
Woody Mahoney
Keenan Wynn
Senator Billboard Rawkins
Barbara Hancock
Susan the Silent
Al Freeman Jr.
Howard
Dolph Sweet
Sheriff
Wright King
District Attorney
Brenda Arnau
Sharecropper 'Necessity' (uncredited)
Roy Glenn
Passion Pilgrim Gospeller (uncredited)
Jester Hairston
Passion Pilgrim Gospeller (uncredited)
Robert Cleaves
Geologist (uncredited)
Phyllis Kennedy
Sharecropper (uncredited)
Philip H. Lathrop
Director of Photography
Dorothy Jeakins
Costume Design
Jean Burt Reilly
Hairstylist
Hermes Pan
Choreographer
Jerry Brutsche
Utility Stunts
Howard G. Kazanjian
Assistant Director
Francis Ford Coppola
Director
Robert B. Shepard
Playback Singer
Burton Lane
Songs
E.Y. Harburg
Lyricist
E.Y. Harburg
Musical
E.Y. Harburg
Screenplay
Olenko minä tullut haaremiin!
Olenko minä tullut haaremiin
Ishq Khuda
Singin' in the Rain
The Royal Waltz
Kolobakha
Mulan
More Beautiful
Beauty and the Beast
The Wizard of Oz
Mary Poppins
De Gelaarsde Kat
The Little Mermaid
Cabaret
Grease
Fantasia
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
Peter Pan
Beautiful Thing
Steel Magnolias
Pinocchio
Don't Hug Me I'm Scared 3
Natalka Poltavka
The Birdcage
Fantasia 2000
Free to Be… You and Me
Romeo + Juliet
The Small White Mouse
13 Going on 30
Disaster Holiday
The Hobbit
High School Musical
Pokémon 3: The Movie
The Return of the King
My Blueberry Nights
What a Girl Wants
Psychokinesis
The Slurb
R.I.P.D.
Earth Girls Are Easy
The Swan Princess: Royally Undercover
Get Over It
Nine
Takki ja liivit pois!
Ask the Dust
Mais uma Vez Amor
Joan Lui
Fast and Loose
Sin of an Angel
Nuori luotsi
The Great Easter Egg Hunt
Tukkijoella
A Fountain for Susan
Great Big Groovy Horse
Mary I Love You
Pure Air of the Mountain: For All and None
Brief aan mijn vader
Waar de vogeltjes hoesten
Everything I Ever Wanted
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
A Tooth Fairy Tale
Beauty and the Beast
Aladdin
Cinderella
Puss in Boots
Pocahontas
Wish Upon a Unicorn
Darby O'Gill and the Little People
Mia and Me: The Hero of Centopia
Cinderella III: A Twist in Time
Cinderella
Brigadoon
Thumbelina
FernGully: The Last Rainforest
Tom Thumb
Inkheart
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
The Little Mermaid
Wish
Oz the Great and Powerful
The New Adventures of Pippi Longstocking
Happily Ever After
Oct 9, 1968
