A note on 'Finian's Rainbow' starring British teen idol Tommy Steele

Hello friends and enemies,

Has anyone else currently living seen Finian’s Rainbow, Francis Ford Coppola’s 1968 abortion of a musical about sharecroppers and leprechauns? Jack gets all the press when people talk about the bad movies in Coppola’s filmography but, as you may remember, I thought The Rainmaker was worse than Jack, and I can now confidently proclaim I’ve found his worst film. In fact, Finian’s Rainbow is one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen in my life.

As previously stated, Finian’s Rainbow is a musical about sharecroppers and a leprechaun, who is played by Britain’s first teen idol Tommy Steele (though he was thirtysomething when the film was made). The film stars Fred Astaire as Irishman Finian McLonergan who plays almost no part in the conflict of the film, other than the fact that he arrives to Kentucky or wherever in the American South with a pot of gold he stole from the leprechaun, whose name is Og, by the way. Finian’s daughter Sharon is played by British teen idol Petula Clark, for some reason.

Fred Astaire with British teen idol Tommy Steele