Pennies from Heaven

directed by Herbert Ross
Category: "Musical"
Year of Release:1981
Date Added:05/23/2024
Date Watched:05/23/2024
Description:Arthur Parker (Steve Martin) is a traveling music salesman in the 1930s. He's unhappy in his marriage because his wife, Joan, is frigid and because she refuses to let him use his money to open a music store. On the road, he meets schoolteacher Eileen (Bernadette Peters) and seduces her. She gets pregnant and loses her job. She meets Tom (Christopher Walken), and he convinces her to become a prostitute. Meanwhile, Joan realizes Arthur's having an affair and gives him her money to keep him. Arthur opens a store, but it soon fails. He meets Eileen on the street, and they fun off together, but they have no money and she has to go back to prostitution. Meanwhile, Arthur has been accused (falsely) of raping and murdering a blind girl. He's arrested and hung. All of this in interspersed with happy musical numbers from the 1930s, portrayed as fantasies and lip-synced by the actors.
My Rating:5

Reviews for Pennies from Heaven

Review - Pennies from Heaven

Interesting idea, with upbeat songs about love and happiness mixed in with depressing reality. But there's nobody to root for. Everybody is either frigid or immoral. Martin's character destroys everybody he comes in contact with.
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