IMDB Ranking 6.2
Finian (Fred Astaire) and his daughter Sharon, arrive in Rainbow Valley, in the state of Missitucky, USA, which is near Fort Knox. Finian and his daughter have come from Ireland, and Finian has a crock of gold with him that he has stolen from a leprechaun. Finian hopes to plant the gold, hoping the American soil near Fort Knox will make it grow.
They meet a local hero named Woody Mahoney who, with the help of Finian, buys back some of his land before some greedy developers can purchase it.
But trouble follows in the form of Og, a leprechaun from back home who is hoping to get his gold back. Og tells Finian that since he has left with the gold the land has fallen under a terrible time, and the leprechauns have lost their power.
The movie then goes off in to a look at race relations. Senator Billboard Rawkins wants to keep the Washington bureaucrats away, and wants no part of a dam they want to put in to produce cheap electric power. He buys up the land that they will need, except for the plot Woody and Finian own. The Senator's minion Buzz shows one of his workers how to walk like the servants in Birth of a Nation, and Gone with the Wind.
When some geologists come in from Washington they discover gold, but it is discovered on Woody's land. Senator Rawkins comes over and tries to buy the land, but Finian refuses. Senator Rawkins then says because of a new law he just drafted it is against the law for whites and blacks to live together. Sharon then wishes the Senator was black, and black he turns (because of the nearness of the leprechaun's gold).
Then we have a leprechaun and the now black Senator hanging around while Petulia sings in the woods. The racist Senator suddenly becomes a much nicer person now that he is black an begins to see things the right way.
If you watch this expecting to see good dancing from Fred you will be disappointed. Fred was sixty nine when he made this movie, and he may not be as nimble as he once was, but he still is very graceful in all his dance moves. A good musical which I almost didn't watch, because of the low rating it had on IMDB. A silly, nonsensical story, but you have to take it for what it is.
Overall, a decent movie directed by Francis Ford Copolla, with its heart in the right place and some pretty good music.
