Finian's Rainbow (1968) review

Finian McLonergan (Fred Astaire) and his daughter Sharon (Petula Clark) leave their native Ireland with a crock of gold and decide to live in Rainbow Valley (which is supposedly close to Fort Knox in Kentucky) where they encounter a leprechaun named Og (Tommy Steele), politically-active singer Woody (Don Francks), African-American botanist Howard (Al Freeman Jr.), mute dancer Susan the Silent (Barbara Hancock) and racist Senator Billboard Rawkins (Keenan Wynn), who wants their land (because he believes there are riches in the soil).  It's based on the 1947 musical by E. Y. Harburg and Fred Saidy but it's not exactly one of Broadway's finest productions: the depiction of "Irish culture" is so corny it's like a TV ad for soap (British rock star Steele prances around wildly in his green outfit) and its treatment of race relations in the American South is downright cartoonish, as Sharon, possessing the power of a witch, temporarily transforms Rawkins into a black man (and yes, there's face paint involved).  The songs are fine (Clark has a nice voice) although none of them are so catchy they can't be forgotten immediately, and it's a delight to see a nearly 70-year-old Astaire just as agile and smooth as his more youthful cast.  As for Howard's hybrid tobacco experiment: I'm glad cigarettes don't taste like mint juleps, since those would be impossible to quit.