Pennies from Heaven

source: Pennies from Heaven

Trailer—Pennies from Heaven

Pennies from Heaven

Steve Martin plays a disaffected traveling sheet music salesman. His wife is frigid and he wants more out of life. Soon he sees a pretty lady (Bernadette Peters), he is instantly smitten...though he has no idea who she even is. Can he win her or can his wife manage to be the woman he wants? I love old 1930s musicals, so you'd think I'd be the perfect person to watch "Pennies From Heaven". However, there were three major things that prevented me from falling in love with the film. First, when they weren't singing, the plot was so incredibly depressing and awful. Second, seeing modern actors dancing and lip syncing to old 1930s tunes is interesting...but soon loses its novelty and becomes a bit tiresome. Third, although the film is set in the mid-1930s, the cursing and crude language took me out of the experience. As a result, I had a hard time even finishing this film and I guess I am just the oddball who didn't appreciate the picture.

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."

When Herb Ross opened "Pennies From Heaven" during Christmas of 1981 it met with harsh press and public indifference. Many concluded the musical was dead. But "Pennies," like Bob Fosse's "All That Jazz" released two years before, is a key transitional work that juxtaposed the cynicism of the '70s to the exhilaration and escapist fantasy of its buoyant Depression era score. Steve Martin ran the risk of alienating his fan base by trading in the "Wild and Crazy" guy for the brooding, unfaithful Arthur Parker. But he's a revelation. And what a dancer! It was no surprise when audiences stayed away. By all means watch it today, particularly on the new widescreen DVD release. You'll walk away with a greater appreciation of Christopher Walken, Bernadette Peters and especially Steve Martin. It makes it so much harder to watch this major talent wasting himself in such tripe as "Cheaper by the Dozen" and "Bringing Down the House."