Under the Rainbow (1981)

Director: Steve Rash

Writers: Fred Bauer, Pat Bradley, Pat McCormick, Harry Hurwitz, Martin Smith

Composer: Joe Renzetti

Starring: Chevy Chase, Carrie Fisher, Eve Arden, Joseph Maher, Robert Donner, Billy Barty, Mako, Cort Hubbert, Pat McCormick, Adam Arkin, Richard Stahl, Freeman King, Peter Isacksen, Jack Krushen, Gary Friedkin, Michael Lee Gogin, Pam Vance, Louisa Moritz, Zelda Rubinstein, Tony Cox, Felix Silla

More info: IMDb

Tagline: A Giant Comedy.

Plot: A visiting dignitary, a CIA agent, a Nazi spy, Japanese tourists, an assassin and a group of "midget" actors from The Wizard of Oz (1939) all check into an elite Los Angeles hotel.

My rating: 6/10

Will I watch it again?  No.

I last saw this on HBO in the early 80s and I didn't remember much about it.  There are some great gags in the movie but you've got to sit through a lot of really bad ones, overly corny music and some over the top performances to get them.  Is it worth sitting through the whole thing for a few great laughs?  I think so.  Chevy Chase has his moments and I reckon he's doing the best he can with the material.  Carrie Fisher, on the other hand, is absolutely delightful.  Forget for a moment that she needs to have my babies.  She's funny and utterly adorable here and she still had that innocent look and sweet voice that she'd soon lose to drugs and alcohol in just a couple of years.

She's so scrummy in this picture.  She's really the best thing in the movie.  There are A LOT of familiar faces and it's a reasonably fast-paced flick.  The big problem is the overacting on the part of every one of the bad guys.  It would be fine for a silent film but not for this (which takes place in 1938) for the period it was set or filmed.  It elicits a fair number of groans and eye rolling.