Congress has cut federal funding for public media — a $3.4 million loss for LAist. We count on readers like you to protect our nonprofit newsroom. Become a monthly member and sustain local journalism.
This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
Takin' Off the Ritz
()
Checking out Pennies From Heaven with no idea what to expect was an interesting experience. This 1981 movie is not the minor comedy we'd vaguely anticipated, but an artsy quasi-musical whose dramatic turning point involves a tap-dance striptease by Christopher Walken.
Steve Martin stars in the movie but didn't write it; Dennis Potter did. It's a very visual musical (an American remake of a British television miniseries) that replaces the usual perky storyline with a grim tale of the Great Depression. The idea is to make a point about the sorts of woes people were trying to escape in that era by going to movie musicals. Though set in Chicago, much of the movie was filmed in downtown LA; the bridges featured in several scenes, for instance, will look very familiar to Angelenos. The DVD includes several commentaries that go on and on about how original the film is. In fact, the components are spectacularly unoriginal: the songs are lip-synched to vintage recordings, various scenes replicate the art of Edward Hopper, Dorothea Lange, and other Thirties artists, and they're held together by an Arthur Miller-esque story as well as a very stylized, conceptual tone. And a tap-dancing, strip-teasing Christopher Walken, whose scene is as menacing and as funny as you'd expect - neither total escape nor total nightmare, but a perfect blend of both.
As Editor-in-Chief of our newsroom, I’m extremely proud of the work our top-notch journalists are doing here at LAist. We’re doing more hard-hitting watchdog journalism than ever before — powerful reporting on the economy, elections, climate and the homelessness crisis that is making a difference in your lives. At the same time, it’s never been more difficult to maintain a paywall-free, independent news source that informs, inspires, and engages everyone.
Simply put, we cannot do this essential work without your help. Federal funding for public media has been clawed back by Congress and that means LAist has lost $3.4 million in federal funding over the next two years. So we’re asking for your help. LAist has been there for you and we’re asking you to be here for us.
We rely on donations from readers like you to stay independent, which keeps our nonprofit newsroom strong and accountable to you.
No matter where you stand on the political spectrum, press freedom is at the core of keeping our nation free and fair. And as the landscape of free press changes, LAist will remain a voice you know and trust, but the amount of reader support we receive will help determine how strong of a newsroom we are going forward to cover the important news from our community.
Please take action today to support your trusted source for local news with a donation that makes sense for your budget.
Thank you for your generous support and believing in independent news.
Chip in now to fund your local journalism
(
LAist
)
Trending on LAist
-
With less to prove than LA, the city is becoming a center of impressive culinary creativity. -
Nearly 470 sections of guardrailing were stolen in the last fiscal year in L.A. and Ventura counties.
-
Monarch butterflies are on a path to extinction, but there is a way to support them — and maybe see them in your own yard — by planting milkweed.
-
With California voters facing a decision on redistricting this November, Surf City is poised to join the brewing battle over Congressional voting districts.
-
The drug dealer, the last of five defendants to plead guilty to federal charges linked to the 'Friends' actor’s death, will face a maximum sentence of 65 years in prison.
-
The weather’s been a little different lately, with humidity, isolated rain and wind gusts throughout much of Southern California. What’s causing the late-summer bout of gray?
Best of LAist