Pennies from Heaven

1981
15
1h 48m

IMDb RATING

6.5/10

6.5K

YOUR RATING

Watch the trailer for Pennies from Heaven, starring Steve Martin and Bernadette Peters.

Play trailer3:06

2 Videos

83 Photos

Jukebox Musical Drama Musical Romance

During the Great Depression, a sheet-music salesman seeks to escape his dreary life through popular music and a love affair with an innocent schoolteacher.During the Great Depression, a sheet-music salesman seeks to escape his dreary life through popular music and a love affair with an innocent schoolteacher.During the Great Depression, a sheet-music salesman seeks to escape his dreary life through popular music and a love affair with an innocent schoolteacher.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.5/10

6.5K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Nominated for 3 Oscars
- 3 wins & 9 nominations total

Videos2

Trailer 3:06

Pennies from Heaven: Trailer

Photos83

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
Christopher Walken's bar-top dance scene took two months of rehearsal and two days of shooting. He claims he got compliments later from fans Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly.

Goofs
In the classroom, a modern Canadian flag can be seen. It wasn't designed until 1964.

Quotes
Joan Parker: [referring to Arthur's male organ, after discovering he's having an affair] Cut his thing off.
[the detective shows a look of shock and disgust]
Joan Parker: I want them to cut his thing off and bury it!

Connections
Featured in Sneak Previews: Neighbors, Sharky's Machine, Ghost Story, Pennies from Heaven (1981)

Soundtracks
Pennies from Heaven
(1936)
Written by Johnny Burke and Arthur Johnston
Published by Intersong Music
Performed by Arthur Tracy
Courtesy of Decca Co. Ltd
Later sung by Steve Martin (uncredited)

User reviews81

Featured review

8/10

The more I see it

the more I am amazed. It is the film that Chicago could have been were it not for its irony. I never saw the BBC original, but fondly remember Potter's "The Singing Detective." I can understand that Hoskin's Cockney optimism would fit Pennies' lead character to a tee, but Martin gives us a hint of the fragility of the song pusher's world, like Willy Loman, out there on a shoeshine, and for Martin, a song.

The film is innovative and definitely not your father's musical, and the songs, done up not in 1981 over-orchestration but in that tinny sound of early vinyl, just blow me away. After I saw it, I went searching for Follow the Fleet just to see 'Face the Music' in reel time.

This film will not be everyone's cup of tea. It is one of those movies that I say works best when you begin with "Once upon a time."