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| Francis Ford Coppola's bizarre, surprising 1968 FINIAN'S RAINBOW | |
| Last Edit: singleticket 07:31 pm EDT 03/18/21 | |
| Posted by: singleticket 07:17 pm EDT 03/18/21 | |
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| I saw it for the first time on TCM and found it fascinating. It reminded me of the French 60's musicals of Jacques Demy. Coppola films largely on location in Southern California dressed to look like somewhere in Kentucky in an almost intentionally half-assed way. At the beginning he seems embarassed by the production numbers but as the musical goes on the broad sweep of his filmmaking makes them lift off and soar. Coppola takes advantage of the open space and the dance sequences keep opening up in terms of boundaries, sometimes levitating up in the air. Tommy Steele is tooth rottingly fey as usual but he makes sense here and he's a gifted performer. Also surprising is Don Francks as Woody Mahoney, wearing what looks like an unfortunate toupee. But his bossa nova inspired "Old Devil Moon" with Petula Clark is truly swoon worthy. Al Freeman Jr. as Howard the inventor is adorable. The story makes no sense but it moves along with a playful momentum. The sharecroppers in their Californian mileu look slightly cultish, like a cross between a multi-cultural Waldorf school and a Jim Jones camp. Harburg and Saidy's utopian fable was already a kind of a back looking anachronism in the late 1940's. It looked back to American agrarian populism, something that was already dying if not dead, and the Popular Front which was also under attack but also forward to the Civil Rights movement. It feels somehow of a piece in Coppola's hodgepodge of a movie where stars of a fading Hollywood mix with New Wave filmmaking. It's a mess but its inventive energy might have reignited other musical movies that died on the screen. |
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| re: Francis Ford Coppola's bizarre, surprising 1968 FINIAN'S RAINBOW | |
| Posted by: showtunetrivia 09:13 pm EDT 03/19/21 | |
| In reply to: Francis Ford Coppola's bizarre, surprising 1968 FINIAN'S RAINBOW - singleticket 07:17 pm EDT 03/18/21 | |
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| Every time I watch it, I’m mesmerized by Tommy Steele’s teeth. Like those gold watches they use to hypnotize people, I can’t stop staring at them. Laura |
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| Is this movie Streaming anywhere? | |
| Last Edit: MRH 04:38 pm EDT 03/19/21 | |
| Posted by: MRH 04:37 pm EDT 03/19/21 | |
| In reply to: Francis Ford Coppola's bizarre, surprising 1968 FINIAN'S RAINBOW - singleticket 07:17 pm EDT 03/18/21 | |
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| Is this movie streaming anywhere without an additional fee?! | |
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| re: Is this movie Streaming anywhere? | |
| Posted by: AlexanderKat 05:10 pm EDT 03/19/21 | |
| In reply to: Is this movie Streaming anywhere? - MRH 04:37 pm EDT 03/19/21 | |
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| It's available for free on the TCM (Turner Classic Movies) channel through April 17th by using their "on demand" feature. | |
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| re: Francis Ford Coppola's bizarre, surprising 1968 FINIAN'S RAINBOW | |
| Posted by: Snowysdad 09:19 am EDT 03/19/21 | |
| In reply to: Francis Ford Coppola's bizarre, surprising 1968 FINIAN'S RAINBOW - singleticket 07:17 pm EDT 03/18/21 | |
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| You start with the supposition (not stated) that the stage version was cohesive, it was not. It was such a mishmash that somewhere along the line the book was seriously reworked, I think by Fred Saidy the original author. Even then the story line is not what brings people to this musical, it is the score. "How Are Things in Glocca Mora," "Old Devil Moon," "When I'm Not Near the Girl I Love" and those are just the hits. "Necessity," "The Begat" "When the Idle Poor." The extremely well cast Encores production transferred to Broadway because of that score only to die a quick death. It just isn't revivable, nor a good candidate for a movie because it asks too much of audiences, suspend disbelieve and ignore the all over the place plotting. | |
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| re: Francis Ford Coppola's bizarre, surprising 1968 FINIAN'S RAINBOW | |
| Last Edit: singleticket 01:32 pm EDT 03/19/21 | |
| Posted by: singleticket 01:24 pm EDT 03/19/21 | |
| In reply to: re: Francis Ford Coppola's bizarre, surprising 1968 FINIAN'S RAINBOW - Snowysdad 09:19 am EDT 03/19/21 | |
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| It just isn't revivable, nor a good candidate for a movie... Coppola's movie is pretty wonderful in its own messy way. I think that for the musical to work as a revival it needs someone bringing in their own aesthetics and politics to the crazy quilt mix and a production that allows them to do that. |
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| re: Francis Ford Coppola's bizarre, surprising 1968 FINIAN'S RAINBOW | |
| Posted by: Michael_Portantiere 11:06 am EDT 03/20/21 | |
| In reply to: re: Francis Ford Coppola's bizarre, surprising 1968 FINIAN'S RAINBOW - singleticket 01:24 pm EDT 03/19/21 | |
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| I hear you, singleticket. I personally loved the most recent, short-lived Broadway revival for the orchestra, the cast, etc., but I think the consensus is that the recent-ish Irish Rep revivals Off-Broadway in that intimate theater were more successful because the crazy-quilt aspects of the show seemed to work better in that milieu, for whatever reason(s). | |
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| re: Francis Ford Coppola's bizarre, surprising 1968 FINIAN'S RAINBOW | |
| Posted by: singleticket 11:13 am EDT 03/20/21 | |
| In reply to: re: Francis Ford Coppola's bizarre, surprising 1968 FINIAN'S RAINBOW - Michael_Portantiere 11:06 am EDT 03/20/21 | |
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| I didn't see that revival. My sense was that it didn't really engage with the book in terms of its problems or its possibilities. | |
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| re: Francis Ford Coppola's bizarre, surprising 1968 FINIAN'S RAINBOW | |
| Posted by: Michael_Portantiere 11:36 am EDT 03/20/21 | |
| In reply to: re: Francis Ford Coppola's bizarre, surprising 1968 FINIAN'S RAINBOW - singleticket 11:13 am EDT 03/20/21 | |
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| "I didn't see that revival. My sense was that it didn't really engage with the book in terms of its problems or its possibilities." I don't fully understand what you mean by that, but still, I don't agree :-) They did add some narration, and there were some cuts. |
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| re: Francis Ford Coppola's bizarre, surprising 1968 FINIAN'S RAINBOW | |
| Posted by: singleticket 12:12 pm EDT 03/20/21 | |
| In reply to: re: Francis Ford Coppola's bizarre, surprising 1968 FINIAN'S RAINBOW - Michael_Portantiere 11:36 am EDT 03/20/21 | |
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| Coppola brought the book’s patchy politics into the era of the sit-ins, at least in part. I didn’t get a sense that the recent Broadway production had any interest in doing something similar. It seemed very pre-BLM... stepping around the racial politics of the original rather than engaging with them and hopefully bringing something new to them. | |
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| re: Francis Ford Coppola's bizarre, surprising 1968 FINIAN'S RAINBOW | |
| Posted by: Michael_Portantiere 03:09 pm EDT 03/20/21 | |
| In reply to: re: Francis Ford Coppola's bizarre, surprising 1968 FINIAN'S RAINBOW - singleticket 12:12 pm EDT 03/20/21 | |
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| "Coppola brought the book’s patchy politics into the era of the sit-ins, at least in part. I didn’t get a sense that the recent Broadway production had any interest in doing something similar. It seemed very pre-BLM... stepping around the racial politics of the original rather than engaging with them and hopefully bringing something new to them." First of all, I thought we were discussing the Irish Rep production(s), but now you seem to be referencing the most recent Broadway revival. Anyway, whichever production you're referencing, you said in a previous post that you didn't see it. I hope you're not making these comments just based on your "sense" of what a production was like without having seen it. P.S. I do think it was neat that the politics of FINIAN'S RAINBOW fit in so well with the sit-in era of the 1960s, but neither the Irish Rep productions nor the Broadway revival updated the action to the '60s, so obviously they didn't feel the politics needed to be updated in that way. Nor did I. |
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| re: Francis Ford Coppola's bizarre, surprising 1968 FINIAN'S RAINBOW | |
| Last Edit: singleticket 03:32 pm EDT 03/20/21 | |
| Posted by: singleticket 03:23 pm EDT 03/20/21 | |
| In reply to: re: Francis Ford Coppola's bizarre, surprising 1968 FINIAN'S RAINBOW - Michael_Portantiere 03:09 pm EDT 03/20/21 | |
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| I do think it was neat that the politics of FINIAN'S RAINBOW fit in so well with the sit-in era of the 1960s, but neither the Irish Rep productions nor the Broadway revival updated the action to the '60s, so obviously they didn't feel the politics needed to be updated in that way. Nor did I. Just to be clear, I'm not insisting that the action of the musical needs to be updated. But I do think that the politics of the book need to be engaged with in some way by the production to bring the musical into the present. I don't necessary feel this way about other musicals, operas or plays but I do think FINIAN'S RAINBOW needs it and makes even less sense as a frozen period piece. There is quite a bit of continuity between the leftist anti-racism of the late 1940's and the 1960's and actually the present BLM era. I didn't see the Irish Rep. production either. From the NYT's review: After all, “Finian’s Rainbow” occupies its own special real estate in the universe of musical fantasy. It’s a place where talented people can be any age they choose, and where a racially divided American South can resolve its tensions with a sprinkling of gold fairy dust and a swell, soaring song. It is a fine little corner, in other words, in which to escape the shrill din of a contentious political fall. The Coppola film's climax is actually pretty violent and scary even with the story's pixie dust and it makes that final swell of soaring song even more poignant. |
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| re: Francis Ford Coppola's bizarre, surprising 1968 FINIAN'S RAINBOW | |
| Posted by: Michael_Portantiere 03:39 pm EDT 03/20/21 | |
| In reply to: re: Francis Ford Coppola's bizarre, surprising 1968 FINIAN'S RAINBOW - singleticket 03:23 pm EDT 03/20/21 | |
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| "I do think that the politics of the book need to be engaged with in some way by the production to bring the musical into the present." Okay, but "the politics of the book need to be engaged with in some way" sounds very amorphous to me, and since you didn't see these revivals, I really don't think you should comment that they DIDN'T do so. I agree with you about the climax of the Coppola film. I don't remember if this is in the original show script, but in the movie, Sharon is labeled a "witch" by the villains of the piece, after her wish turns Senator Rawkins into a black man. And then, at the climax of the movie, the villains attempt to burn Sharon (and Woody) to death by setting to flames the barn they're locked into. So, in this way, the movie also references the Communist "witch hunts" of the HUAC era, which occurred between the time the original production of FINIAN'S RAINBOW played on Broadway and the movie was made 20 years later. Very, very neat. |
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| re: Francis Ford Coppola's bizarre, surprising 1968 FINIAN'S RAINBOW | |
| Posted by: singleticket 03:51 pm EDT 03/20/21 | |
| In reply to: re: Francis Ford Coppola's bizarre, surprising 1968 FINIAN'S RAINBOW - Michael_Portantiere 03:39 pm EDT 03/20/21 | |
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| The witch definitely felt to me like something out of HUAC, yes. The church burning, at least in Coppola's film, feels like a reminder of the white racist retaliatory church burnings in the 1960's. | |
| Link | 1963 September 15 - Four Black schoolgirls killed in Birmingham church bombing |
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| re: Francis Ford Coppola's bizarre, surprising 1968 FINIAN'S RAINBOW | |
| Posted by: Chromolume 01:52 pm EDT 03/20/21 | |
| In reply to: re: Francis Ford Coppola's bizarre, surprising 1968 FINIAN'S RAINBOW - singleticket 12:12 pm EDT 03/20/21 | |
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| It seemed very pre-BLMM Perhaps that's because it was. The production was in 2009, and BLM didn't come to be until mid 2013. |
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| re: Francis Ford Coppola's bizarre, surprising 1968 FINIAN'S RAINBOW | |
| Posted by: Michael_Portantiere 12:20 am EDT 03/19/21 | |
| In reply to: Francis Ford Coppola's bizarre, surprising 1968 FINIAN'S RAINBOW - singleticket 07:17 pm EDT 03/18/21 | |
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| I really enjoyed your observations, but can you elucidate why you feel the story makes no sense? I know a lot of people feel the story is overstuffed and perhaps not stylistically cohesive, but I don't think there's a general feeling that it makes no sense. | |
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| re: Francis Ford Coppola's bizarre, surprising 1968 FINIAN'S RAINBOW | |
| Last Edit: singleticket 01:36 pm EDT 03/19/21 | |
| Posted by: singleticket 01:20 pm EDT 03/19/21 | |
| In reply to: re: Francis Ford Coppola's bizarre, surprising 1968 FINIAN'S RAINBOW - Michael_Portantiere 12:20 am EDT 03/19/21 | |
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| You might be right there. It does make a kind of emotional sense. And the climactic moment in Coppola's film where the Senator is changed back to a white man from a black man is very moving. The camera follow the Senator in a single shot as the world itself turns from nightime to daylight on what looks like an outdoor location. I don't know how Coppola did it, whether it was done inside the camera or in the lab, but it's exquisitely done. | |
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| re: Francis Ford Coppola's bizarre, surprising 1968 FINIAN'S RAINBOW | |
| Posted by: Michael_Portantiere 11:18 am EDT 03/20/21 | |
| In reply to: re: Francis Ford Coppola's bizarre, surprising 1968 FINIAN'S RAINBOW - singleticket 01:20 pm EDT 03/19/21 | |
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| "And the climactic moment in Coppola's film where the Senator is changed back to a white man from a black man is very moving. The camera follow the Senator in a single shot as the world itself turns from nightime to daylight on what looks like an outdoor location. I don't know how Coppola did it, whether it was done inside the camera or in the lab, but it's exquisitely done. " I just recently re-watched that moment, and if you look closely, there is an edit at the exact moment of the change from night to day. But I agree, it's a very moving, emotionally complex moment, exquisitely done. If you'll excuse my redundancy, here is another link to our very recent "This Week on Broadway" podcast with our special guest Petula Clark, live on the phone from Geneva :-) Of course, we talk a bit about FINIAN'S RAINBOW, among other things. |
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| Link | Petula Clark, "This Week on Broadway" |
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| re: Francis Ford Coppola's bizarre, surprising 1968 FINIAN'S RAINBOW | |
| Last Edit: singleticket 12:47 pm EDT 03/20/21 | |
| Posted by: singleticket 12:42 pm EDT 03/20/21 | |
| In reply to: re: Francis Ford Coppola's bizarre, surprising 1968 FINIAN'S RAINBOW - Michael_Portantiere 11:18 am EDT 03/20/21 | |
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| I just recently re-watched that moment, and if you look closely, there is an edit at the exact moment of the change from night to day. On the TCM original frame print that I saw that change felt seamless and I couldn't see an edit. It looked like a day-for-night exposure timing change within a single shot which can be done in the lab. However, on the Daily Motion pan-and-scan print that's available online it does look an edit. But whatever the technique was you can see that Coppola was using his own film language to engage with the story in a cohesive way. |
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| re: Francis Ford Coppola's bizarre, surprising 1968 FINIAN'S RAINBOW | |
| Posted by: Michael_Portantiere 03:13 pm EDT 03/20/21 | |
| In reply to: re: Francis Ford Coppola's bizarre, surprising 1968 FINIAN'S RAINBOW - singleticket 12:42 pm EDT 03/20/21 | |
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| "On the TCM original frame print that I saw that change felt seamless and I couldn't see an edit. It looked like a day-for-night exposure timing change within a single shot which can be done in the lab." I think it probably was day-for-night. I have a hi-def file of the film, and the edit is pretty clear, because the positions of Keenan Wynn (playing the bigoted senator) and the other actors suddenly change quite a bit at that moment. |
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| re: Francis Ford Coppola's bizarre, surprising 1968 FINIAN'S RAINBOW | |
| Posted by: NewtonUK 08:47 am EDT 03/19/21 | |
| In reply to: re: Francis Ford Coppola's bizarre, surprising 1968 FINIAN'S RAINBOW - Michael_Portantiere 12:20 am EDT 03/19/21 | |
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| I had the great good fortune to direct Barbara Hancock (Susan the Silent) in a play in Atlanta some years after this film came out. A lovely and talented woman. | |
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