User reviews

I remember seeing this film when it was first released. I absolutely hated it - too slow-moving, and the male romantic lead was a cipher. Even the songs were manipulated to the point that I could barely stand to listen to them. Tommy Steele was far too frenetic as Og, the leprechaun. Its saving graces were Fred Astaire, Petula Clark (although she seemed too old in the role of Sharon), and Keenan Wynn. I've avoided it like the plague ever since.

Tonight, thanks to Turner Classic Movies, I finally watched it again. And you know what? It's a lot better than I remembered. I don't know what has caused the turnabout in my opinion, except perhaps the lack of quality of most of the musical films that have come along since FINIAN'S RAINBOW in 1968. It still has a few longueurs, but generally it's very enjoyable. Even Tommy Steele isn't too bad. Don Francks is still dramatically stiff, but he's better than I remembered, and he sings well. And oh, those songs! It's a shame that "Necessity" was cut, but otherwise, what a string of melody - How are Things in Glocca Morra, Old Devil Moon, When I'm not Near the Girl I Love, and more.

Thank you, TCM, for giving me a second chance with this film!

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.

The film version of "Finian's Rainbow" was conceived at a time when the public's interest in movie musicals was on the wane; in fact, in light of the poor critical reception accorded "Camelot" the year before, studio head Jack Warner would have been content to pull the plug on what he perceived as another sure-fire disaster. To an extent, his feelings were justified - what had been a daringly provocative look at racial strife in the deep American South as seen through the eyes of a scheming Irishman and his less-than-supportive daughter when it debuted on Broadway in 1947 was no longer very pertinent twenty-one years later, and the fairy tale aspects of the plot - which included the hyperactive antics of a leprechaun intent on retrieving his "borrowed" pot of gold - were going to be a hard sell in 1968. The score, although exquisitely timeless and highly recognizable, was old-fashioned in its theatricality and not likely to result in a best-selling cast album. Furthermore, directing the project was a virtual unknown, a "hippie" from northern California named Francis Ford Coppola, with only one prior film - a non-musical - to his credit. Given the odds the movie was doomed, Warner basically maintained a "hands-off, don't-ask, don't-tell" policy and simply hoped for the best.

The end result may not have been the "best", but it is considerably better than most critics described it upon its release. The overlong book, with several insignificant sub-plots, could have used some judicious trimming. Tommy Steele's performance as Og, the slowly-turning-into-a-human leprechaun, is frantically overblown. The film's editing is criminal in that Fred Astaire's feet are often unseen in his dance routines. And the attempt to blend reality and make-believe results in an awkwardly uneven balance of the two - Coppola would have been far more successful had he decided to emphasize the whimsical and play down the outdated political aspects of the story. But for all these shortcomings, "Finian's Rainbow" - from its spectacular opening credits to its nicely staged farewell to Finian - almost a goodbye to Astaire himself, for whom this would be his last dancing role - is pleasant entertainment, buoyed by its familiar score and anchored by the presence of Petula Clark, whose delightfully fresh and sweetly seductive performance is the true gold to be discovered here. At the time known in the States as the pop singer responsible for the mega-hit "Downtown", Clark drew on her previous experience as an actress in mostly grade-B British films and developed a character whose acceptance of a leprechaun hiding in the backyard well is as easily believed as her skepticism regarding her father's plot to multiply his borrowed gold by burying it in the shadows of Fort Knox and her fiancé's plans to grow mentholated tobacco. The Arlen/Harburg score - including such standards as "How Are Things in Glocca Morra?" and "Look to the Rainbow" - could well have been composed specifically for her voice, which wraps itself around each note with a hint of a brogue and - in the case of "Old Devil Moon" - a raw sensuality suggesting the woman inside the sweet Irish colleen. Deservedly, Clark was nominated for a Best Actress Golden Globe for her portrayal of Sharon McLonergan, and if for nothing else, her performance makes "Finian's Rainbow" definitely worth a look-see.

Finian (Fred Astaire) and his daughter (Petula Clark) arrive in the fictional Southern American state of Missitucky. There, Finian encounters several problems--including a leprechaun who wants his pot of gold back, a racist senator and the need to marry off his daughter. How all these are worked out are something for you to discover if you decide to see the film.

"Finian's Rainbow" was a very successful play back in 1947. However, because it directly addressed racial prejudice, studios passed on making a film out of it. Efforts to have the play 'cleaned up' to please a wider (in other words, more prejudiced) audience were in vain, as the playwright refused (justifiably) to sanitize the film. However, by 1968, its themes of racial harmony and bigotry were much more acceptable and current--and so the film was finally made. In this sense, the film was very timely. HOWEVER, when it came to the music, by 1960s standards it was VERY corny. In particular, the songs sung by the leprechaun were amazingly bad--with some horrible lyrics. But, the bad lyrics weren't confined to his songs but occasionally popped up among other cast members (such as Clark who sang a line that went 'Zsa-Zsa Gabor-ah' and later when Astaire sung about 'dames'). Because of this, a bit of trimming would have greatly improved the film--making it far less dated and silly. Plus, the bad moments really detract from its central message of racial harmony--a laudable theme that occasionally got lost among the silliness. It also meant a few too many songs--a problem that can hurt any musical. Overall, this can truly be called a mixed bag. While it stars Fred Astaire and I LOVE him in films, this just isn't all that great a film. A time-passer--and that's about all--even though it has some nice moments.

By the way, for years Fred Astaire was NEVER shown dancing in films unless ALL of him was shown. He felt it detracted from the dancing if he wasn't shown from head to toe. Well, he did NOT negotiate such a contract with the folks making "Finian's Rainbow", as he DOES dance and you don't see him from head to toe in songs such as "The Idle Rich". Perhaps this was due to his age and his slowing down a bit--which might explain why this was his last musical.

For me, the film of Finian's Rainbow is proof that even when all the elements of a film are near perfect--a great score, a funny script, wonderful scenery and Fred Astaire, for God's sake--it can all come together...and just lay there like a lump of lead. The film is very faithful to the play, too, so I really don't understand how this happened. If you've ever seen the play, you know that this show moves like a house on fire. The movie for me took soooo long to get anywhere. The only explanation I can think of is the director. Yes, the great Francis Ford Coppola--and I'm not being saracastic, I really do admire him immensely--but with Rainbow, I think he really blew it. A musical has to have a far different pacing than any other film genre.

Now, having said that, I also should say that I thought it was wonderful that Coppola cut NO musical numbers and I loved Astaire and Petula Clark. Tommy Steele, who is a bundle of talent, was way over the top here, though. The key to playing Og is to NOT play it cute. His charm and wit can only come out if the actor is playing the role straight, with utmost sincerity.

Here's an interesting big of trivia. Don Francks, who plays Woody in the film, named his son Rainbow Francks. Hmmm....

Rainbow is also an actor and has done tons of work.

From Ireland, grandfatherly dancer Fred Astaire (as Finian McLonergan) and his singing daughter Petula Clark (as Sharon) arrive in the southern American state "Missitucky" (a combination of Mississippi and Kentucky). After helping bushy-haired tobacco farmer Don Francks (as Woody Mahoney) pay his back taxes, Mr. Astaire is rewarded with a lot of land. This is where he plants a pot o' gold acquired from cheery leprechaun Tommy Steele (as Og). Astaire believes that being near the US Fort Knox will make the gold multiply. Problems arise when the magical Mr. Steele arrives to reclaim his gold. If he does not get it back, Steele will turn into a human...

Director Francis Ford Coppola accomplishes something difficult, herein. He manages to suck all the charm out of a Fred Astaire musical. This is a daunting task. Happily, the director would keep working and ultimately deliver "The Godfather" with a rediscovered Marlon Brando. The "Finnian's Rainbow" Astaire is obviously older, but in good physical condition. It's criminal to see his skills wasted. There is a well-meaning racial sub-plot, mainly essayed by Keenan Wynn. Unfortunately, Mr. Wynn is left out on a limb and shouts through his role. Steele also ends up shouting his characterization. This musical should have been whimsical, not obnoxious.

*** Finian's Rainbow (10/9/68) Francis Ford Coppola ~ Fred Astaire, Petula Clark, Tommy Steele, Don Francks

Opening on Broadway in 1947 with music by Burton Lane and lyrics by E.Y. "Yip" Harburg (who wrote the lyrics for 1939's THE WIZARD OF OZ), FINIAN'S RAINBOW was an unexpected smash that generated one pop classic after another--"How Are Things In Glocca Morra?," "Old Devil Moon," and "Look To The Rainbow" to name but three. But when talk turned to a film version, not a single studio in Hollywood would touch it: although the story was fantasy, it was also extremely satirical, contained elements that had a decidedly socialist edge, and made one of the most wickedly funny statements on racism seen up to that time. With Hollywood operating under the production code and the nation drifting into the communist paranoia of the 1950s, the whole thing was impossibly hot. And so FINIAN'S RAINBOW remained off the screen for over twenty years... until 1968, when a sudden splash of popular screen musicals prompted Warner Brothers to bankroll it.

The plot is deliberately ridiculous, and finds Irishman Finian McLonergan (Fred Astaire) and his long suffering daughter Sharon (Petula Clark) in Tennessee, where Finian plans to bury a crock of gold stolen from a leprechaun (Tommy Steele) on the theory that the land around Fort Knox will make the gold grow. But things take an unexpected turn when they arrive in Rainbow Valley, where they encounter a commune of black and white tobacco sharecroppers doing battle with a viciously bigoted Senator (Keenan Wynn.) And when daughter Sharon is outraged by the Senator's racism and happens to be standing by the hidden crock of gold--she accidentally "wishes" the Senator black! Unlike the 1947 stage show, the big screen version of FINIAN'S RAINBOW tanked at the box office, and it is little wonder: both producers and then-novice director Francis Ford Coppola made a host of very basic mistakes with the material, the first of which was not keeping the film within its original 1940s context; they instead give it a 'contemporary' tone that not only undercuts the fanciful storyline but makes many of the story's elements seem heavy-handed. In the process they manage to blunt the edge of the original in a very significant sort of way. There are also a number of cinematic problems with the movie, which feels awkwardly filmed and still more awkwardly edited, and the film visibly shifts between outdoor set-ups and studio soundstage sets in a very uncomfortable sort of way.

All of that said, there is still a great deal to enjoy in FINIAN'S RAINBOW--the aforementioned score for one and the truly memorable performances for another. Astaire is timeless, Tommy Steele almost walks away with the show, Keegan Wynn (in spite of some rather ill-advised make-up) gives a memorable performance as the bigoted Senator, and Al Freeman Jr. is absolutely hilarious in the sequence where he applies for the job of butler in the Senator's home--I laugh just thinking about it! But the real revelation here is Petula Clark. Best known as a pop singer, Clark is perfection as Sharon McLonergan; it is a tremendous pity that she was never again so well-cast on screen. And together they manage to gloss over most of the film's weaknesses; if you're a musical fan, you're likely to enjoy it.

Gary F. Taylor, aka GFT, Amazon Reviewer

The 1968 musical FINIAN'S RAINBOW has definitely grown on me over the years and is now a part of my permanent video collection. This was one of the first directorial assignments for Francis Ford Copolla, who would go on to direct THE GODFATHER. There are many stories of a troubled production history regarding the film, including many disagreements between star Fred Astaire and the director, as well as a change in choreographers. Fred's long-time choreographer Hermes Pan was originally signed but Copolla wanted more "realistic" choreography (whatever that means) and had him replaced; however, little of this trouble really show on the screen in this delightful musical about an Irishman (Astaire) who steals a crock of gold from a leprechaun (Tommy Steele) and goes to America with his daughter (Petula Clark) to start a new life. Astaire, Clark, and especially Steele are wonderful and the musical numbers are entertaining and who can beat the Burton Lane-E.Y. Harburg score with songs like "Look to the Rainbow" and "Old Devil Moon". An above average musical and, if possible, try to see it in a theater.

All politics aside, let's just enjoy the movie. This is a delightful tale of Irish immigration to America and, while wanting to be "All American", holding fast to tradition. Finian finds the elusive pot o' gold and steals it off to America. The drawback? If Og (the leprechaun) doesn't get it back in time he'll lose his magic and become ... dare we think it ... MORTAL! Tommy Steele, adorable as Og, is so charming and believable that there is no need for trick photography to make him appear "wee" in size. We accept his full size and never disbelieve that he is full-blooded Leprechaun! With such delightful songs as "When I'm Not Near the Girl I Love," "Something Sort of Grandish," (sung by Steele), "How are Things in Glocca Morra" and "Old Devil Moon" (Pet Clark) the film is a delight from beginning to end. And who doesn't love the scene when Og begins to realize that being mortal isn't really all that bad? One of my very favorite films and one of the last of the Classic American Musicals! 4 Stars!

Directed by Francis Ford Coppola. Starring Fred Astaire, Petula Clark, Don Francks, Tommy Steele, Keenan Wynne, Barbara Hancock, Ronald Colby, Al Freeman Jr., Wright King, Dolph Sweet, Louil Silas. (G)

Gold at the end of the rainbow, desperate land grabs, and a love quadrangle among an Irish lass (Clark), a well-meaning schemer (Francks), a mute girl (Hancock) who expresses herself through dance, and a leprechaun (Steele) all clash in this adaptation of the popular stage musical. Coppola's first big studio production (a marked change of pace for one of "those UCLA kids") lacks a personal touch, but he corrals the big set pieces well enough and gets from Astaire--in his final singing and dancing role--a performance that echoes of his heyday from thirty-plus years ago. The songs aren't especially memorable or catchy (though the lyrics are usually at least more literate and droll than average), and like most musicals of the 1960s, it runs at least a half-hour too long. The supposedly satirical "racial shenanigans" are painful, particularly Wynne in blackface. Can at least boast one great line about the US Constitution that is as applicable to politics now as ever before: "I don't have time to read it...I'm too busy defending it!"

60/100

Just awful. A disastrous production. No one is done justice here. Not Warner Bros. Not Coppola. And certainly not Astaire. This was one of the last attempts to hold on to a type of film that was falling out of fashion while the film industry was on the precipice of a great change. And as such it serves as nothing more than a red mark on the brilliant careers of Coppola and Astaire. Skip this.

This was Fred Astaire's last full-blown musical movie ("That's Entertainment II" is not counted). The original play, written back in the 1930's, dealt more with the organization of a union by a bunch of poor sharecroppers. But by the time this movie was finally set to be made, unions were no longer the "hot topic", thus the racism angle was embellished. Plot aside, which isn't difficult, the basis of the story is that Finian McGlonnagen (Fred Astaire) has stolen a pot of gold from Og the leprechaun (played to perfection by Tommy Steele) and has plans to bury it near Fort Knox, thinking that the "magical properties" in the ground there will make more gold for him. Not exactly Pulitzer stuff here, but an enjoyable movie. A great vehicle for Keenan Wynn, showing why he was the best character actor of his day, and Tommy Steele, who disappeared from American movie screens far too soon. Great music; Good movie.

This was Fred Astaire's last major motion picture musical, It captures him in mostly a character (or supporting) role. He was then in his late 60s, and obviously in the twilight of a truly remarkable show business career. However, there are better records available for us to see just how great a dancer-performer Astaire was around this time. In the late 1950s through 1968, Astaire personally appeared in four made for television "specials." These were early color song and dance vehicles featuring the young Barrie Chase as his co-star, and contain some amazing examples of Astaire's unique dancing gifts as he gracefully moved into what is generally considered to be old age. Unfortunately, these video programs are currently ensnared in legal complications that make them generally viewable only at the Paley Center in New York City. If you can find it possible to now see them there, they will quickly erase any negative impression you may have about Astaire because of his rather limited work opportunity in Finian's Rainbow.

What does the film version of Finian's Rainbow have in common with the 1951 MGM musical film Royal Wedding? For one thing, both feature Fred Astaire. Secondly, both also star Keenan Wynn in a major supporting role. Finally, both contain performances by actors closely associated with the role of Finian McLonergan---Astaire in the film version of Finian's Rainbow and Albert Sharpe (the original Broadway Finian) in Royal Wedding as Astaire's future father-in-law!

Don Francks was a Canadian performer who made little impression on the American movie-going public as a result of his leading man effort in Finian's Rainbow. Often, he has been identified by reviewers as one of the film's major liabilities. He certainly left much to be desired in terms of acting ability. Too bad---because Francks had both a reasonably pleasant voice and a somewhat rugged appearance. However, he did seem too old for the part, and that may have been a distraction. Did anyone else notice that Francks shared a facial similarity with Robert Preston of Music Man fame?

In 1968, the Broadway Og leprechaun David Wayne was by then a fairly well known Hollywood actor. Given the quantity of criticism received by Tommy Steele for his Og film performance (including much from Coppola himself), it is a shame that Wayne was not offered the chance to reprise his stage role for the movie.

Coppola's maiden major film may have had its flaws--but it was overall a grand musical entertainment as well as a time capsule that captured an important Broadway musical with much of its magic intact. And while Fred Astaire will be remembered for his considerable body of better work, Finian's Rainbow was still a very respectable way for him to close out one of the greatest film careers in Hollywood history.

"Finian's Rainbow" is a musical that never achieves what it should have, given the talents involved.

Fred Astaire plays the whimsical Finian, who travels to America in search of the perfect place to put down roots and fulfill his magical calling. Petula Clark plays his long-suffering daughter, following across glaciers and into the Grand Canyon (if you can believe the nonsensical montage during the credits) to a little valley in Kentucky that is populated with simple folk who dance and sing daily.

Fred's dancing is, at times, delightful. At other times, it is too derivative of his own earlier performances. Petula Clark is the best thing in the film, with a voice that caresses the Irish dialect and makes each song special.

There is some beautiful music in "Finian's Rainbow", notably "Look to the Rainbow" and "How Are Things in Glocca Morra?"

It is said that Hermes Pan was fired because his choreography was too dated. During some dance sequences the choreography does feel too old.

Director Francis Ford Coppola created a film that has some wonderful moments mixed with some mediocre, slow sections. I prefer his very stylish take on the musical form, "One From the Heart", but "Finian's Rainbow" is worth watching, if only to see Fred and Petula.

I normally like movie musicals but not this one.

At the time, young director Francis Ford Coppola was in way over his head and clearly out of his element. He did not know how to shape dialog or stage the songs - he seems unbelievably clueless. The movie crawls along at a snail's pace. It absolutely amazes me that the studio didn't pull him off the project after the first few weeks.

There's hardly anything to recommend this film.

Fred Astaire and Petula Clark's talents were really wasted here and it's almost painful to watch.

Amazingly, the director and cameraman did not even pull the cameras back far enough to see Astaire's feet when he was dancing! The feet or legs are actually at the edge of the frame or sometimes out of frame altogether.

Some good music, lousy story, BAD direction and a movie worth missing.

If you are interested in good movie musicals of the same era, try Music Man 1962, Sound of Music 1965, Funny Girl 1968, Hello Dolly 1969, Godspell 1973.

I first saw this movie as a young girl and developed an instant crush on Tommy Steele. The storyline is very entertaining with a keen sense of humor. It was also great seeing Fred Astaire again - I'm a big fan. This movie has some of the most memorable songs which are still among my favorites, of course many of them featuring Petula Clarke. If you are a fan of musicals and enjoy a bit of the blarney - then this movie will be right up your ally.

It is obvious that the director, Francis Ford Coppola, is as aware as anyone else of this film's failings. Though he doesn't say so, the miscasting of the leads Petula Clark, Don Franks and even Fred Astaire doesn't help. In the major "extra" on the DVD, Coppola comments on the film while it is playing and with the sound usually dampened. Since Mr. Coppola is now considered to be one of the major American film directors, one must take his youth at the time of this filming into account.

Though he also felt that Tommy Steele was not right for the part of Og the Leprechaun (he thought he should be shy and not a vaudevillian) , I felt that he was quite adequate. I did agree that Keenan Wynn did a good job of grounding the musical in some sort of reality and he played the part of the bigoted senator with considerable warmth, and even more so after his change of heart. In fact, I thought Keenan was never over-the-top even before that. (It seems the senator was based on a real person, probably the segregationist senator Theodore G. Bilbo of Mississippi (1877-1947) The character's first name "Billboard" even seems to derive from "Bilbo".) This was Fred's first dancing role in 11 years and, even so, this production is conceived partly as a vehicle for him. And he generally carries it off well despite his age (68 or 69) but it is questionable if he was really convincing in the part of Finian or even in singing the songs for which his style seems unsuited, in my opinion.

Even if Petula was the right age to be Fred's daughter, she just seems too old, too sophisticated and not the right type for the part. Don Franks seems even more wrong here physically as well as in age and personality though he sings very well. Francis berates himself for not understanding that Franks kept his character's confrontational personality when he was not acting with the results that they didn't get along very well. It is possible that a more experienced director would have made Don's concept work better.

An interesting failure as an attempt to update a musical with a fine musical score but a rather creaky story some years after its Broadway run (1940s.) and in the light of the then-current civil-rights struggle.

1968 movie-adaptation of E. Y. Harburg's 1947 Broadway musical hit arrives on the screen both belated and beleaguered. Fred Astaire, without his usual energy or enthusiasm, gives a disappointing performance as world-traveling Irishman who settles in a small town beset with racial injustices. This was certainly an odd choice for young director Francis Ford Coppola who, along with cinematographer Philip Lathrop, globe-trots to many an exciting location and yet plugs the movie with syrupy uplift and musical trilling (courtesy co-star Petula Clark). Supporting cast including Tommy Steele and Keenan Wynn is interesting but weak, and the anachronistic song numbers don't forward the story, padding the proceedings to an uncomfortable length. *1/2 from ****

The 60s were a strange time for cinema – a flourishing of surreal, psychedelic, political and often pretentious film-making. And yet the figures and ideals of the previous generation – Hollywood's golden age – were still around, and neither had they been totally forgotten by the younger generation. Finian's Rainbow was quite literally a remnant from that bygone era, having been an acclaimed stage musical in the 1940s. Had it not been for its controversial subject matter it would probably have been produced for screen in the 50s. As it was, the eventual film adaptation found itself an old-time song-and-dance show in an era where the musical had become something very different indeed.

In a way Finian's Rainbow was always a mix-and-match musical. The E.Y. Harburg-Burton Lane score blends Broadway brass with Irish jigs and occasionally gospel to surprising success. The story also places old-world folklore alongside contemporary racial issues, in what is a sometimes awkward but generally passable modern-day fairytale. Aside from anything else, the Lane melodies are of considerable beauty and the Harburg lyrics witty enough that it makes a broadly appealing and timeless package. Fans of the inventive wordplay in the numbers from Wizard of Oz, which were also penned by Harburg, will appreciate such clever twists as "Make him a better person… not a worse 'un" Harburg even reuses the word "individdle", here rhyming it with fiddle, having rhymed it with riddle in Oz.

Another relic of the old days appears in the form of Fred Astaire as the titular Finian. Astaire may be lacking his cane and topper, he may be showing the signs of his age a little, and his accent may be about as authentically Irish as a gift-shop Shillelagh – but it's still the same old Fred, full of the effortless dance-steps and easygoing charm that won over audiences thirty-five years earlier. It's a real delight to see him here, partly because his endearing demeanour is so reassuringly familiar, and yet he still makes an honest attempt to deviate from his regular persona to create this crusty yet lovable old Irishman. Representing the new is a fresh-faced Tommy Steele, playing the leprechaun Og. A certain proportion of Steele's performance, say 10%, is pure brilliance. Unfortunately the remaining 90% is pure annoyance, as Steele grins and capers his way maddeningly through some disappointingly flat renditions of the Harburg-Lane numbers. Still, he does appear to have struck some kind of unlikely rapport with Astaire, and their scenes together are among the most brightly comical.

The director was from the young side of the fence. Francis Ford Coppola was a graduate of Roger Corman's schlock factory, and this was his first big-budget assignment. Coppola had already demonstrated himself to be a director who took a detached and distant view of things, often keeping his camera high above the action or peeping from amongst foreground foliage. Oddly enough this sets him up well for the light and abstract world of the musical, in which the broad canvas, rich detail and ensemble are more important than the intense close-up or the dramatic long take. Coppola shows real sensitivity to the music, keeping rhythms going with natural-looking background movement – check out the way the crowd shifts behind Petula Clark and Don Francks during "Look to the Rainbow". He also uses his harmonious technique to draw attention to the lyrics, for example having the camera pan up to the heavens on the line "Skies could be so bluish blue" in "Something Sort of Grandish".

The conventions of the time and the sensibilities of the young production team have certainly left their mark on Finian's Rainbow. There are many thinly-veiled references to hippy and protest culture, with the "tobacco"-growing enterprise, a business-like police force and even a sit-down, in a reasonable attempt to make this a musical equivalent of In the Heat of the Night. However the difference between the old and the new is too stark for them to fuse. Coppola's penchant for realism results in some stunning outdoor photography, but this only grates all the more with the woefully fake-looking studio "forest", the like of which would now only be seen in a kid's TV show. Most of the components are glorious, but as a whole it is occasionally like watching two separate films spliced together.

However, Finian's Rainbow is at least self-aware enough to realise that it has the opportunity to be a respectful homage to the classic musical, and never descends into a roughshod "update". The most profound and emotionally stirring aspect of the picture is that Astaire evidently knew it would be his last appearance as a dancer. Coppola surely knew it too, and the tender staging of Astaire's final scene is among the most poignant moments of self-reference in movie history.

Finian's Rainbow did well on Broadway in 1947. But it was about racism, and nobody wanted to make a movie of it. I can't imagine what made Warner Brothers think that in 1968 Finian's time had finally come. Maybe they just wanted to adapt a musical for old Fred Astaire. They made a "bold" decision, or at least I'm sure they thought so, to retain all the racial discrimination stuff. And to give a 1947 musical added appeal for hippie-era audiences they hired Francis Ford Coppola, who was under 30 and could therefore be trusted by hippies. At that point he had directed only two features, a student film which played in theaters and made some money, and Dementia 13, a pretty good horror movie.

In a nutshell -- a pistachio would be about right for the depth of this plot, waggish old Irishman Astaire and his daughter Petula Clark, who was older than Coppola, have just arrived in the "mythical" state of Missitucky. They lease some land in Rainbow Valley, which is populated by an absurdly clean-cut bunch of interracial sharecroppers. Finian has stolen a crock of gold from the leprechauns, and means to bury it in Rainbow Valley because of its proximity to Fort Knox. It is his demented belief that burying it here will cause the gold to grow. He is pursued by Monkees-type pop star (invented by publicists) Tommy Steele (age 32) as a leprechaun who is turning mortal because that's what happens when your 3-wish-granting gold is stolen.

Steele is easily the best thing in the movie. I love to see a grown man scamper and cavort. He has a couple of close-ups which I think are Harpo quality. Everything he says is funny and his songs are just the cutest.

The songs are written by E.Y. Harburg and composed by Burton Lane. Harburg wrote the Wizard of Oz songs (composed by Harold Arlen). Harburg obviously had a thing about rainbows. Harburg first knew and loved W.S. Gilbert's work as a writer of light satiric verse. He professed to be amazed when he learned that Arthur Sullivan composed music that went along with that crazy stuff. The songs are great and reason enough to see this long two hour twenty five god damn minute movie. And Tommy Steele. Petula's good. It depends on your taste but Fred Astaire isn't bad. He was better when he was even older, like in Ghost Story.

The movie is CLUELESS and often EMBARRASSING. It is Without Guts and tries to appeal too broadly. It is abnormally flabbily edited; scenes shuffle along forever. One of the subplots added for the screenplay is about the sharecroppers trying to develop a strain of tobacco that is pre-mentholated. We're supposed sympathize because their minty cancer leaves won't burn and rejoice at the end when they inexplicably burst into smoky flame. One of the wishes gets wasted mistakenly turning a bigot senator into a black man, then another wish spent to turn him back after he learns his lesson and his attitude gets adjusted. Petula's young hero boyfriend is 40 and has fake hair. For good Irish whimsy type fun watch the Disney movie Darby O'Gill and the Little People.