Pennies from Heaven (1981) on TCM

It's an amazing film, although the really standout performance for me is Jessica Harper's as Steve Martin's repressed, miserable wife. The film is so depressing that it's immediately apparent (everyone's life starts out bad and just gets worse and worse as the film continues) why it flopped.

There are some phenomenal musical numbers, the favorite perhaps being "Love is Good for Anything That Ails You."

"You don't need pills... you need thrills!"

I loved that movie. It kind of disappeared.

I read the thread title as ‘Peenies from Heaven’ and did worry what the post would be.

the original

Vernel Bagneris as the Accordion Man is an extraordinary dancer. The quality of this clip isn't great, but his talent still comes through.

Really good movie

I love this movie too. It’s “The Searchers” of musicals - a film that takes all the conventions of a well known, outmoded genre and completely subverts them. Truly a misunderstood and therefore overlooked masterpiece.

Weird, I just watched this movie last week for the first time. Steve Martin was hot in it.

Creative and entertaining - something Broadway is not.

One of my favorite films.

Bernadette Peters won the Golden Globe that year but failed to get an Oscar nomination.

It’s sad because I think her having the nomination would have helped her film career go in a better place.

Course because the movie flopped, she went back to Broadway and did Sunday In the Park, Song + Dance and Into the Woods, so maybe it was for the best?

She did other movies like Silent Movie before this and Heartbeeps after this. So I don't think we can really blame this movie.

I think she saw the writing on the wall and wisely returned to Broadway. I think Peters would’ve been great , however, in a series, if she found the right role, after PFH.

It's still astonishing to me that Vernel Bagneris didn't change his name for a career in show business.

Bernadette Peters is so talented. I'm disappointed she didn't have a longer and more prolific film career.

She has to settle for Broadway legend, r15.

The problem with the movie was the Steve Martin can't carry the lead in anything serious. He's a comedian. He can't do serious work. And so the scenes where he's not singing aren't any good -- the movie is basically some truly wonderful musical numbers set amongst a rather mediocre drama. (The shame of it is that Peters and Harper are brilliant at their roles, but it's Martin's movie. )

[quote]And so the scenes where he's not singing aren't any good

Bullshit, r17.

Also, he doesn't sing. The entire (I believe) movie is obviously lip-synced. But you knew that. That said, I could watch It's The Girl every day. The musical numbers are all so fantastic, but, yeah, it just gets grimmer and grimmer. A tough sell.

There are definitely a few scenes where Martin could be stronger, but it was his first dramatic role. What he does do, though, feels fairly effortless considering how much he trained. He seems very comfortable in the dance numbers and acquits himself nicely.

There's one scene towards the end where Martin and Peters are driving out of town and the car breaks down (or they nearly hit an animal). It's a wide shot, so we don't really see their faces, but when Martin performs his dialogue, he really veers into the "EXCUUUUUUUUUUSSSE MEEEEEEE" territory he was known for back then and it's jarring. But it really is only that one instance. My only other fault with his performance is that he never veers away from how soft and ineffectual Arthur is. There should be some colors to Arthur, even though ultimately, he is passive. But again, I chalk that up to Martin's inexperience at the time, and he doesn't embarrass himself.

The real revelation is Peters, who has never been better. She was seriously robbed of an Oscar nomination for this. She was miles better than Hepburn, Sarandon and Mason that year. Unfortunately, this film and Heartbeeps were released within 2 weeks of each other at Christmas and were both massive flops. Heartbeeps was a rancid film. Plus she had some horrible movie called Tulips that was unreleasable and was dumped on cable. No wonder she went running back to Broadway. And when she finally emerged, what did she choose as a comeback vehicle? The worst Merchant/Ivory film ever made. She was born in the wrong era for film stardom.