The greatest film you've probably never seen

I recently bought this film in the bargain DVD bin at Big Lots:
I remember when it came out and the hatred it engendered. I remember hearing only one or two critics saying it was good, among them was the most influential American film critic/reviewer of the era Pauline Kael, but the rest of them ripped it apart. I also remember my film crazy college friend Lou loved it and he urged people to see it but his entreaties fell on deaf ears.

Through the years I have gained an appreciation for the works of Dennis Potter and I have sought out his filmed projects from time to time. So when I saw this film in the DVD bin for $3, I snapped it up. Potter adapted this version from his previous version which ran on the BBC and starred Bob Hoskins in one of his first leading roles.

Honestly, if I had seen this film in 1981 when it first came out I would have hated it because I had no real appreciation for great acting, great story telling, or films that made me think too deeply as this film did. I would have made fun of it and rolled my eyes when anyone told me how good it was and I would have been an idiot for doing so. Back in 1981 Steve Martin was king of the comedy world and had been for quite a few years. He was huge. His stand up act played to sold out concert halls and if he wanted to do a stadium tour he would have sold that out as well. Back then when he hosted Saturday Night Live it was an event. You knew it was going to not only be funny but it was going to be ground breaking as well. His first film, The Jerk, a comedy, was not a critical success but instead it was a hit with the movie going public, it made people laugh and it was the perfect Steve Martin cinematic vehicle. So when the word got out that he was following up that film with a Depression era musical, people scratched their heads and said, "Huh?"

Pennies From Heaven is about a sheet music salesman who has a bad marriage, knocks up a small town teacher, and gets mixed up in a life of crime. It's not funny and in fact, it's kind of depressing. The main characters can't express what they really feel about life and each other so they 'break into song' to tell us how they feel about those things. Well, they don't really sing because they lip sync to the period recordings of Depression era songs and most of the time there are big production numbers when they do so. I know, it sounds crazy but it's not. It works. And it works like magic.

I'm not kidding when I say this is probably Steve Martin's finest film role. All those years of having to be funny pushed him to take a role that was not only not funny but was disturbing as well. He is the polar opposite of his usual funny self in this film. He's dark, moody, needy, and an ass. And it all works.

Bernadette Peters as the once innocent small town teacher who is seduced, knocked up, and put out on the street to become a whore is nothing short of astonishing in this film. I've been a fan of hers ever since I first saw her on the Carol Burnett show years ago and my gawd, her talent, her beauty, and her magnetism all hit you like a tsunami in this film. You can't take your eyes off her and when she's not in the shot, you wish she was.

Jessica Harper as Steve Martin's unhappy and unhinged wife is fantastic in this film. She's a brittle beauty with fragile grip on her mental state. When she says, "Cut off his thing!" to the police detective, and yes, she means that thing, it gave me chills.

From Herbert Ross's sure and steady direction to Bob Mackie's costumes to the editing this film is a masterpiece of cinema. We were too stupid to realize it when it first came out because we wanted another wacky Steve Martin comedy. Instead Martin, Ross, Peters, and the rest of the cast and crew gave us a neglected masterpiece, a gem that is waiting for generations of film and movie lovers to discover and be bowled over by.

In the DVD edition I bought there are a few extras. They include a panel discussion with some of the cast and crew of the film and at one point they make mention of scenes that Ross cut to make the film leaner and stronger. I hope someone saved those scenes and they make it onto another DVD edition of this film one day, because I'll gladly pay full price for that edition. Yeah, I love this movie that much.

You need to see this film. If you never have seen it, see it ASAP. If you saw it when it first came out and you hated it, see it again. This film will probably never get remade, thank goodness, so you need to seek this film out and watch it. I'm not kidding. If you don't, then you're dead to me. Do you hear me? DEAD!