Finian's Rainbow

There's an annoying character who "only communicates through dance" and grins even through sad scenes. The main guy looks like a repulsive elderly villain in a 40 year old's body with the voice of kermit the frog, and my God do the bottom-of-the-barrel songs drag on for ages. Overly sappy. Morally confusing. The story is a clumsy mess. The highlights are seeing Fred Astaire (though I wish better for him) Nice Spring look, and the passive-aggressive servant slowly bringing a drink scene.

It has a definite personality and a certain charm, and it's notable as Astaire's final musical role, but Coppola clearly hasn't found his voice yet. It is trying to be the next West Side Story or Sound of Music musical classic, but you never feel the stakes because the characters don't seem to be aware or care about them. Even when characters are trapped in a burning barn, they muddle cheerfully around. The attempt to tackle race relations is ham-fisted to say the least. Still difficult to hate.

A 50's musical filtered through Civil Rights era politics; a fantastical story partially told in a quasi-realistic manner; moments of period montage mixing rather uneasily with traditional takes. F.R is a curious mix of contrary styles that never truly cohere, but it's a fascinating 'failure' of mostly historical interest because it was Coppola's first big studio film and Astaire's last. He is quite good, and there are some entertaining songs lodged in between long stretches of pure drudgery.

There a moments of great beauty in this, but nothing every really congeals quite right, and this is just too weird to fully give myself over too. Maybe if I watched it high...

60.000

Very tough to evaluate. Contains several annoying, funny, & boring moments strung together to form some odd kind of plot. The music numbers are at least consistent and I kind of wished the focus of it all was more on Barbara Hancock.

58.000

A fifties musical at heart made on the verge of the seventies. Some difficult subject matter is tackled (race, colour and prejudice) but tastelessly by todays standards. Some good tunes and some terrible accents - Image if Dick Van Dyke had tried Irish instead of Cockney. However, it's harmless fun and Estaire has a couple of great dance scenes (no surprises) although this was clearly a final act performance.

62.500

Score based on distant memory.