RENTAL REVIEW: Pennies From Heaven
© A.J. Malouin 2009
(Rating: 5 by The Film Snob.)
(See our side-bar page “How Caryl & Al and The Film Snob Rate Movies”)
(1981/USA. Directed by Herbert Ross.)
It’s Chicago, Illinois during The Great Depression, and Arthur believes a song can get anybody through anything. This is a great fit because Arthur is a sheet-music salesman. Married to a cute but “unresponsive” wife, Arthur falls in love with Eileen, a quiet school teacher who turns out to be a smoldering volcano about to erupt. In fact all the characters in this movie are about to erupt — into wonderful wonderful songs and dance.
“Pennies From Heaven” contains four or five truly wonderful dance scenes, and the songs are equally spectacular. The various characters lip-sync the best songs done by the singers of the era, and the dance sequences — to repeat ourselves — are very very entertaining. (This is a Christopher Walken that you’ll not see anywhere else!) When the school teacher Eileen sings “I Want to be Bad,” we believe her from the bottom of our libido. Most of the dialogue is very witty, and the musical numbers are up-lifting. There are only a few grim scenes which remind us that we are in the heart of The Great Depression. All in all, we want only to escape into bright little songs and dances of this movie. The entire cast is there to help us do just that!
(1hr 48. Not rated in the USA. In English. With Steve Martin as Arthur, Bernadette Peters as Eileen, Christopher Walken as Tom, Jessica Harper as Joan, Vernel Bagneris as The Accordion Man, John McMartin as Mr. Warner, John Karlen as the Detective, Jay Garner as the banker, Robert Fitch as Al, Tommy Rall as Ed, Eliska Krupka as the blind girl, Francis X. McCarthy as the bartender, Raleigh Bond as Mr. Barrett, Gloria LeRoy as a Prostitute, and Nancy Parsons as the old whore.)