The Five Pennies

1959
Approved
1h 57m

IMDb RATING

7.1/10

2.1K

YOUR RATING

Danny Kaye cuts loose with his trademark musical clowning. Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong plays his horn and croons in that famed gargling-granite voice. Big Band icons Bob Crosby, Ray Anthony and Shelly Manne join the fun.

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Danny Kaye cuts loose with his trademark musical clowning. Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong plays his horn and croons in that famed gargling-granite voice. Big Band icons Bob Crosby, Ray Anthony an... Read allDanny Kaye cuts loose with his trademark musical clowning. Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong plays his horn and croons in that famed gargling-granite voice. Big Band icons Bob Crosby, Ray Anthony and Shelly Manne join the fun.Danny Kaye cuts loose with his trademark musical clowning. Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong plays his horn and croons in that famed gargling-granite voice. Big Band icons Bob Crosby, Ray Anthony and Shelly Manne join the fun.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.1/10

2.1K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Nominated for 4 Oscars
- 2 wins & 8 nominations total

Trivia
While Danny Kaye worked hard to be able to accurately fake playing cornet (he practiced for months learning the fingering of the instrument), it was the real Red Nichols who provided all of the cornet playing for Kaye in this movie.

Goofs
After Red and Willa have left the club and are traveling home, the cars seen through the rear window of the taxicab are distinctly 1940's to 1950's vehicles which were nonexistent in 1924.

Quotes
Louis Armstrong: Excuse it, folks. Somebody must have put alcohol in our liquor.

Connections
Featured in American Masters: Danny Kaye: A Legacy of Laughter (1996)

Soundtracks
The Five Pennies
(1959)
Words and Music by Sylvia Fine
Sung by Danny Kaye (uncredited) to Dorothy
Performed by Eileen Wilson (uncredited) at the comeback show

User reviews32

Review

Featured review

7/10

I can't recall a film that's split my feelings from start-to-finish as much as this did

This is an odd one.

I look back on 'The Five Pennies' in two parts. The first half of the film is uninteresting and slow, but once the story gets set and the second half comes to fruition it turns into something rather touching - which I didn't expect at all. By the end, I felt truly attached to the characters and their story - but that's weird, given how I didn't enjoy the early stages.

Danny Kaye is very good in the lead role of Red, especially towards the end. Susan Gordon (Dorothy, as a kid) impressed me a bunch, she has one fantastic poker scene with Kaye. Barbara Bel Geddes, meanwhile, plays the role of Willa well.

The film, a loose biopic on the real Red Nichols, is music-heavy. Early on I think that affects things from a film point of view, but you can at least tell the cast - particularly Kaye and Louis Armstrong (as himself) - are having a fun time.

Overall, I think it's lovely - but I can't recall a film that's split my feelings from start-to-finish as much as this did.