Pennies from Heaven (1981)
During the Great Depression, a sheet music salesman seeks to escape his dreary life through popular music and a love affair with an innocent school teacher.
- Herbert Ross
- Emmitt-Leon O'Neill
- L. Andrew Stone
- Hal Bell
- Dennis Potter
Rating: 6/10 by 88 users
Alternative Title:
La plata viene del cielo - AR
Dinheiro do Céu - BR
Пари от небето - BG
Pennejä taivaasta - FI
Tout l'or du ciel - FR
Tanz in den Wolken - DE
Αναπάντεχα δολάρια - GR
Filléreső - HU
Spiccioli dal cielo - IT
ペニーズ・フロム・ヘブン - JP
La plata viene del cielo - PE
Grosz z nieba - PL
Dinheiro do Céu - PT
Гроши с неба - RU
Dinero caído del cielo - ES
Country:
United States of America
Language:
English
Runtime: 01 hour 48 minutes
Budget: $22,000,000
Revenue: $9,171,289
Plot Keyword: chicago, illinois, marriage, musical, great depression, teacher, traveling salesman, 1930s
***Imagination helps endure the harsh realities of the Depression*** In the 1930s a struggling sheet music salesman (Steve Martin) tries to escape his dreary existence with his prudish wife (Jessica Harper) to pursue his dream and a cute schoolmarm (Bernadette Peters). The imaginations of the characters help them deal with the harsh realities of the Great Depression. Vernel Bagneris plays a homeless accordion player while Christopher Walken is on hand as a pimp. “Pennies from Heaven” (1981) is a drama/musical based on the 1978 British mini-series and written by the same guy. The song & dance routines occur about every 7 minutes and are an amusingly kinetic counterpoint to the sad Depression-era dramatics. Martin is his usual comical self, but the drama is definitely not a comedy and contains some seriously unsavory moments. “Pennies from Heaven” was the precursor to musicals like “Chicago” (2002) and “Nine” (2009), but those films have superior reality-based stories and far better women, especially “Chicago” as far as the women go. But Bernadette is a joy to behold as usual; and Martin is charismatic despite playing a man of dubious character. The movie runs 1 hour, 48 minutes and was shot in Illinois (Chicago & Galena) and Southern Cal (the Los Angeles area & Wasco). GRADE: C
