Every Francis Ford Coppola Movie Ranked Worst To Best

Fred Astaire remains one of the all-time greats of cinema; a performer whose work with fellow dancer Ginger Rogers inspired a generation of future stars and defined an era. Finian's Rainbow, filmed just before he turned 70, was his first movie project in over a decade.

With a loose structure and breezy musical tone, the film follows Astaire's Finian McLonergan, an optimistic Irishman who buries a pot of gold around Fort Knox, believing it will multiply, whilst tackling a fraught political landscape, the safety of his daughter (Petula Clark) and the leprechaun (Tommy Steele) on their tail.

Finian's Rainbow is a colourful spectacle that tackles some surprisingly lofty themes, and though Astaire shines as the film's vulnerable hero, there is a sense of predictability and overcooked strangeness that keeps it from greatness. It's a fun film, all-in-all, but maybe not as memorable or affecting as it should have been.