Under the Rainbow (1981)

"We're starting a film next week, and I'm anticipating a few small problems."

Director

Steve Rash

Cast

Chevy Chase - Bruce Thorpe

Carrie Fisher - Annie Clark

Joseph Maher - The Duke

Eve Arden - The Duchess

Robert Donner - The Assassin 

Billy Barty - Otto Kriegling

Mako - Nakomuri
Cork Hubbert - Rollo Sweet

A few weekends ago, I took my five-year old daughter to the Oz Museum in Wamego, Kan. She, being a fan of the classic 1939 film, was anxious to visit. Her favorite character happens to be the Wicked Witch, whom she dressed as for Halloween in 2020. I don't understand how this witch appreciation developed, but it is what it is.

Last Halloween, she decided to dress as Dorothy - ruby slippers, and all. So, she dawned her Dorothy outfit at the museum, which of course scored her a lot of compliments. A doting father like myself is allowed to boast about his daughter on his own blog.
Anyways, walking through the exhibits and seeing props and paraphernalia from various Oz movies and Oz history, I was especially glued to the small window with stuff pertaining to Disney's 1985 dark fantasy "Return to Oz." 
I'm very familiar with "Return to Oz." It's a sequel to the 1939 movie, though it's not a musical nor is it filmed in the same atmosphere and style. While the ruby slippers remain in the story, "Return to Oz" captures the world of the books (particularly "The Marvelous Land of Oz" and "Ozma of Oz") so much better than "The Wizard of Oz." Plus, it's quite a bold movie. It doesn't hold back as it treats its young audience with maturity. In other words, it doesn't pander to them.
I watched it quite a bit in my youth, especially on days I stayed home sick from school. Back then, mom would rent a couple movies from the video store on sick days. "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory," "Pinocchio," "Where the Red Fern Grows," and "Return to Oz" are the titles I remember most. 
I was originally going to write commentary on "Return to Oz" because I've met too many people who've never heard of it, or simply haven't seen it. It's a favorite film of mine. My appreciation isn't necessarily based on the nostalgic value I've placed on it. 

The museum visit brought it back to the forefront of my mind as far as this blog goes. Just the other day, I was talking with a co-worker about the Oz Musuem, and I mentioned the film. This co-worker said they couldn't remember if they had heard of it before or not. 
With its availability on the Disney + streaming app, I decided to search for something more obscure as far as Oz content goes. I considered the 1976 movie "Oz – A Rock 'n' Roll Road Movie" (also known as "20th Century Oz") from Australia. I just couldn't find a copy. Not yet, anyway.
A YouTube channel I enjoy from time to time called "grimmlifecollective" posted a video titled "Secret Wizard of OZ Munchkin Tunnel." The video showcases the Culver Hotel in Culver City, Calif. The YouTuber mentions the 1981 movie "Under the Rainbow." I never heard of it before. And what especially got my attention is that it stars Carrie Fisher and Chevy Chase. 
The story is full of sub-plots. Just thinking about summarizing the storyline is a little overwhelming.
"Under the Rainbow" begins with a little person named Rollo Sweet (Cork Hubbert) who lives in a homeless shelter somewhere in rural Kansas back in 1938. 
Rollo is eagerly waiting for Hollywood to contact him for a film role fit for a person of his stature. 
As residents at the shelter gather around a radio to hear President Roosevelt's Fireside Chat, the reception goes out. So, Rollo volunteers to climb to the roof to fix the antenna. 
However, he falls off and crashes into some crates. 
Meanwhile, groups of all kinds of people are checking into the Culver Hotel. 
Annie Clark (Carrie Fisher), who works for MGM Studios, is working on reserving rooms for a crowd of little people who are in town for MGM's next movie, "The Wizard of Oz." Among them is Rollo Sweet. 

Chevy Chase, Eve Arden, Billy Barty, and Carrie Fisher
in "Under the Rainbow."

Clark's boss, Louis (Jack Kruschen)- as in Louis B. Mayer, I guess- wants her to look after all 150 Munchkin extras. 

He has his dopey nephew, Homer (Peter Issacksen), assist her as best he can.
Also checking in are an Austrian Duke (Joseph Maher) and Duchess (Eve Arden) along with their U.S. Secret Service escort, Bruce Thorpe (Chevy Chase). 

A club of Japanese amateur photographers are also staying at the hotel. And to add to the fun, Adolf Hitler has sent a Nazi Secret Agent, Otto Kriegling (Billy Barty), who also happens to be a little person, to rendezvous with a Japanese contact named Nakomuri (Mako) at the same hotel. Hitler wants Kriegling to obtain a map of U.S. military locations from their Japanese liaison. 
All these characters mix and mingle in a variety of shenanigans and mishaps. Kriegling is told to look for a Japanese man wearing a white suit when he gets to the hotel. Of course, all the Japanese guys in the photography club are wearing white suits. 

And Nakomuri is looking out for a small person to hand over the map to. The hotel is filled with little people when he arrives. So, confusion and hilarity ensue.
Homer assumes Kriegling is one of the Munchkin extras and has him fitted for a costume. 
The Duke is paranoid that someone is trying to assassinate him. Thorpe doesn't think so. However, there is actually an assassin (Robert Donner) following the Duke. He wants murder him as an act of revenge.
And the map Kriegling is after ends up in Clark's copy of the Oz script. So, he goes after her all over the hotel. Thorpe ends up trying to protect her while also protecting the Duke and Duchess. The movie is all over the place.
The Munchkin extras are rowdy and unruly, filled with alcohol and hormones. They wreak havoc all over the hotel. 
And in the end, Rollo wakes up back at the shelter. It was all a dream, just like at the end of "The Wizard of Oz." All those in his dream were people currently in his life. Sure enough, a bus is waiting for him outside ready to whisk him off to Hollywood. The end. 

Sadly, all the well-known talented actors do nothing for "Under the Rainbow." 
I heard through various sources and interviews, including one of Judy Garland herself who plays Dorothy in "The Wizard of Oz," that many of the adult actors playing the Munchkins were often unruly. Many tried hitting on Garland during filming, according to her own words. 
If the movie stuck to that aspect of Oz's production without being a slapstick comedy with pointless sub-plots, I think the movie could have been alright. Granted, it would portray little people as such. But that's how it was. 
With all the over-the-top subplots, "Under the Rainbow" has no clear direction. It doesn't know where to go with everything it's carrying. All these sub-plots get in the way of the premise of having all these rambunctious actors who, it's true, were precisely that. I was more interested in that particular fact in "The Wizard of Oz" production history.
Instead, we got a film loaded with stereotypes, terribly dated and eye-roll inducing humor, superfluous slapstick, dumb one-liners and lazy sight gags. Most of the jokes are at the expense of the size of the Munchkin actors. The writers made the assumption that people of short stature are easy to poke fun of. So, that's where they went. 
Chase's performance is completely lackluster. Enough said.

Munchkin actors run amok at the Culver Hotel in 
the film "Under the Rainbow."

And Carrie, whom I truly appreciate as an actress, seems like she's just trying to get to the end of the movie. Her appearance in "Under the Rainbow" is sandwiched between her performances in "The Blues Brothers" and "Return of the Jedi." 
Jerry Maren, who played one of the Lollipop Guild Munchkins in "The Wizard of Oz" also appears in the film. 

Zelda Rubinstein plays a rowdy extra named Iris who wants to drink and party. I'm most familiar with her refined and respectable performance as Tangina in "Poltergeist" which was released the following year. Seeing her in this role is quite a change. 

Some scenes were shot at the real Culver Hotel where Munchkin actors had stayed during Oz's production back in 1938. I learned that tidbit of information from "grimmlifecollective."

Director Steve Rash directed "The Buddy Holly Story" two years before, which is a highly praised movie. 

Film composer Joe Renzetti worked on the musical score for "The Buddy Holly Story." He won an Academy Award for best adaptation score.
Unfortunately, Renzetti's work on "Under the Rainbow" earned him a Razzie Award for worst musical score. And Billy Barty earned one as well for worst supporting actor.

Evidently, Rash had signed a deal to make a movie for Orion Pictures, which was a new company at the time. He was contractually obligated to cast Chevy Chase. The result was this movie.
"Under the Rainbow" is a lousy movie, and a waste of talent. The moral of this story is supposed to be that no person's dream is too big to accomplish. That's completely lost on me with all the cheap humor, nonsense, and sub-plot after sub-plot...after sub-plot. Sadly, when I woke up, none of it was a dream. If only that were the case.