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Finian’s Rainbow (1968)
Starring Fred Astaire, Petula Clark, Tommy Steele, and Don Francks. Cinematography by Philip Lathrop. Edited by Melvin Shapiro. Produced by Joseph Landon. Written by E.Y. Harburg and Fred Saidy. Directed by Francis Ford Coppola.
Finian McLonergan (played by Fred Astaire) and his daughter Sharon (played by Petula Clark) have left Ireland, their beloved motherland, and traveled across the ocean to end up in the small town of Rainbow Valley, Missitucky. Unbeknownst to anyone (even Sharon) Finian has brought with him a crock of gold that he intends to plant in the earth and watch it multiply well beyond his wildest imagination. But on the night of the burial he is confronted by Og (played by Tommy Steele), an angry leprechaun who rightfully owns the gold. Meanwhile, the community of Rainbow Valley is struggling financially. Their watershed product, a mentholated tobacco, has yet to leave the developmental stages and time is running out with their creditors.
Now a hot, young Hollywood filmmaker, Francis Ford Coppola suddenly found himself to be a prized commodity for movie studios in need of a director. Once such contact came from Warner Brothers who offered him a job helming a musical they had already scripted and cast called Finian’s Rainbow. Being a lifelong fan of musicals Coppola eagerly agreed, but working within the studio system would prove to be more difficult than he anticipated.
Based on a 1947 play by E.Y. Harburg and Fred Saidy, Finian’s Rainbow was by far the largest and most ambitious project that Coppola had yet undertaken. It would also be the first time that Coppola would be forced to deal with inflated Hollywood personalities, both on screen and off. But despite his best efforts, and the bonus of bringing the film in under its modest budget, Finian’s Rainbow was bust at the box office.
The singing and dancing sequences, which should have been the film’s highlight, were not well received, and the runtime, which clocks in at almost two and half hours, far exceeds the needs of the story. Film legend Fred Astaire eventually referred to the project, which would unfortunately end up being his last musical, as “a disappointment”.
Perhaps the most significant event to come out of the production of Finian’s Rainbow was the introduction it provided for Coppola and a young film school graduate named George Lucas. Lucas had won a Warner Brothers sponsored filmmaking contest, earning himself a job in their animation department. But their animation department had been recently shut down and so rather than send him packing, he was made an administrative assistant to Coppola on Finian’s Rainbow.
The two men got along swimmingly; so well, in fact, that Coppola offered him a job as a production assistant on his next picture, The Rain People. The friendship turned into a partnership that over the next decade would result in such significant films as THX 1138, American Graffiti, and Apocalypse Now. Lucas would also play a crucial role in the early stages of Coppola’s failed filmmaking utopia, American Zoetrope.
Budget: $3,500,000
Total US Gross: $11,600,000
Genre: Musical
Runtime: 141 Minutes
US Release Date: 10/9/68
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Awards:
Academy Awards:
Nominated for best score of a musical picture and best sound.
Golden Globes:
Nominated for best supporting actress, best actor in a musical or comedy, best actress in a musical or comedy, most promising female, and best comedy or musical.
Writers Guild of America:
Nominated for Best Written American Musical.
Tagline: If All You Want Out Of A Movie Is A Great, Big, Wonderful Time, Just Follow The Rainbow, Whistle The Songs, And Join In The Fun!
Quote: “Finian’s Rainbow. It never fails to come up when a McLonergan is down. Sure, there may not be a pot of gold at the end of it, but there’s a beautiful new world under it.”
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