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Finian's Rainbow Overview:

Finian's Rainbow (1968) was a Musical - Fantasy Film directed by Francis Ford Coppola and produced by Joel Freeman and Joseph Landon.

Academy Awards 1968 --- Ceremony Number 41 (source: AMPAS)

AwardRecipientResult
Best Music - ScoringAdaptation score by Ray HeindorfNominated
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Finian's Rainbow BlogHub Articles:

Warner Archive Blu-ray: Musical Stars Go Modern in Finian's Rainbow (1968) and S.O.B. (1981)

By KC on Apr 6, 2017 From Classic Movies

This month, Warner Archive has released a pair of titles on Blu-ray where classic musical stars adapt themselves to modern times. Fred Astaire abandons the controlled environment of a big studio sound stage for wide open spaces in Finian's Rainbow (1968), while Julie Andrews exposes her raunchy side... Read full article

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Finian's Rainbow Quotes:

Finian McLonergan: Don't be superstitious, it's bad luck.
Senator Billboard Rawkins: [dictating a speech to Buzz] Gentlemen, the festering tides of radicalism are upon us. But before I yield up our glorious South -and her sister commowealth, the U.S. of A - I will lay down my life. I will do more - I will filibuster. Back, you crackpots! Forward, America! Forward to the hallowed principles of our forefathers. Forward to the sweet tranquility of the status quo. Forward... to yesterday!
Finian McLonergan: America is full of millionaires.
Sharon McLonergan: But Father, are there no ill clad or ill housed in America?
Finian McLonergan: Aye, but they're the best ill clad and the best ill housed in the world.
Woody Mahoney: How'd you get so pretty? And so rich?
Sharon McLonergan: Well, you see, in Glocca Morra, where we come from, there's an old legend, and it says: 'You'll never grow old and you'll never grow poor, if you look to the rainbow, beyond the next moor.'
Woody Mahoney: That's a lovely legend.
Sharon McLonergan: Aye.
Woody Mahoney: I wonder who thought it up.
Sharon McLonergan: My father: Finian McLonnergan.
Finian McLonergan: Now that you're half mortal, you're indecent.
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Finian's Rainbow Facts
Because of its satire on racism, this popular 1947 Broadway musical was considered such a hot potato in Hollywood that studios would not touch it unless they were allowed to change the story. Its original creators, E.Y. Harburg, Burton Lane and Fred Saidy, held out and by 1968 it was able to be filmed with very few changes.
One early attempt to film the musical was as an animated feature to be directed by John Hubley. It was during development of this unfinished project that Hubley first collaborated with future wife Faith Hubley (then Faith Elliot). The soundtrack for the animated film was already completed and the entire film had been storyboarded. The voice talents included Frank Sinatra (as Woody), Barry Fitzgerald (Finian), Jim Backus (Senator Rawkins), Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong and from the original Broadway cast Ella Logan (Sharon) and David Wayne (Og). The project died when Hubley refused to "name names" when he testified before The House Un-American Activities Committee. Hubley was blacklisted and Chemical Bank, which was providing the financing, withdrew funding for the proposed film. Artwork done for the movie appears in the PBS documentary "Independent Spirits - The Faith and John Hubley Story" and the Sinatra prerecordings are available on the CD Box-set "Sinatra in Hollywood 1940-1964."
This was Fred Astaire's last (non-compilation) musical.
The character "Woody Mahoney" was based loosely on songwriting wanderer Woody Guthrie.
The character of Billboard Rawkins, the racist senator, was based/suggested on the real-life Sen. Theodore Bilbo of Mississippi, who died while the show was being written.
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