In 1938 Los Angeles, the manager of the Culver Hotel leaves his nephew in charge for a weekend. The nephew changes the name to the Hotel Rainbow and overbooks with royalty, assassins, secret agents, Japanese tourists, and munchkins from the cast of 'Wizard of Oz'. Secret Service agent Bruce Thorpe and casting director Annie Clark find romance amidst the intrigue and confusion........So,e films can be very hard to find because the makers of the film had a little disagreement with the studio, so it can be very hard to get a proper release, so it just pops up on TV every now and again (think Michael Mann's The Keep).Others just remain hidden because they are so bad, that everybody involved wants to forget that it ever existed.And this has to be the prime example of such a film.What Chase and Fisher are doing in this film is anyone's guess, maybe the studio had something on them, photographic evidence of some sort of major crime, because they do nothing, absolutely nothing, to add a little depth to the proceedings.But then they must have seen the dailies and realised that whatever they would try, would not add any coherence to the film.Because the film is just an exercise in the offensive, being abhorrent to almost every single character on screen. So the last two acts consist of dog murders, vertically challenged people really showing themselves up, and the entire Asian cast getting murdered for some strange reason.But regarding the dwarf element of the chaos, surely they must have realised that they were having so many liberties taken from them, and their disability. Shouldn't have there have been a spokesperson or something to observe the atrocities that were being committed on screen.It's a woefully unfunny, offensive film, that should have never seen the light of day.Don't search for it, it's not available for a reason.

Though this film has a rather low score here at the internet movie database, I thought this film was a funny light comedy. Nothing great mind you, but to me it worked. Basically, a story of crime and intrigue and the little people who would go on to star in the famous movie "The Wizard of Oz". I enjoyed Chevy Chase in this role as I usually do. I always find him very funny, mainly during the 80's, he kind of disappeared in the 90's. Carrie Fisher is also in this one, one of her few movies outside the "Star Wars" universe. I enjoyed the whole dog subplot and a few of the other jokes like the mistaken identities and such. Billy Barty is in this one too and I usually enjoy seeing him in a movie too. Though not in that Roger Corman film where he played an imp. The film is not perfect though, I did not enjoy the way the film ended as I usually hate the ending presented here as to me it is a cop out. Sure they can try to paint it as a tribute, but I say it is because you do not really have an idea on how to end your movie. Still, while it is nothing really grand, I did enjoy this light comedy.

To first hear of UNDER THE RAINBOW is to disbelieve. No, a big studio wouldn't be dumb enough to fund a spy comedy caper set against the backdrop of the filming of THE WIZARD OF OZ with 150 drunken midgets. You're pulling my leg, right? Wrong! It is real and it is terrible. It feels like every exec's 70s drug binge induced dreams were all wrapped up tightly into one project and spat out at audiences in the early 80s.In 1938, Adolf Hitler (yes, that Adolf Hitler) sends his top spy (Billy Barty!) to the US to meet up with Japan's no. 1 spy (Mako!) to deliver a map of American military targets to get the US into WWII. Unbeknownst to Barty, his rendezvous is a hotel (run by Adam Arkin) across the street from a movie lot where 150 Munchkin extras are staying. Also at the hotel are a Duke and Dutchess (Joseph Maher and Eve Arden) who are being guarded by Secret Service man Bruce Thorpe (Chevy Chase) who also has his eye on OZ midget wrangler Annie Clark (Carrie Fisher). You still with me? You shouldn't be.So how bad is this flick? Well, the opening ten minutes have Billy Barty saluting Hitler and hitting him in the crotch. Nothing like Nazi humor in 1981. Perhaps the filmmakers were influenced by the "success" of Spielberg's 1941? And who exactly is this made for? The reliance on slapstick, dogs and midgets would suggest kids. But the midgets are all boozing it up and there is a brief sojourn through a woman's locker room. There are also some weak attempts at humor involving the Japanese. Get this...the Japanese take lots of pictures and mispronounce things! Amazingly, it took 5 writers to make a movie this unfunny (proving that DATE MOVIE isn't just an age thing). Perhaps the film's biggest copout is that, in the end, it is all just a dream of a guy who got knocked on the head a la THE WIZARD OF OZ. To the film's credit, there is one funny gag involving Tony Cox, who has since gone on to become Hollywood's leading little funnyman. Also featuring Zelda Rubenstein and Phil Fondacaro alongside his brother Sal Fondacaro (who is also a little person despite them being born years apart).

A gloriously promising idea: 1930s movie-studio executives have a difficult time controlling all the "little people" they've hired to play Munchkins for the movie "The Wizard Of Oz". Director Steve Rash opens the film with the right amount of edgy whimsy and queasy sentimentality, hinting this may have been a twisted, funny fracas with a little bit of heart amongst its grosser gags. Unfortunately, the script seems half-completed, and stars Chevy Chase and Carrie Fisher (a likable screen-duo) are lost along the way. Scattered laughs cannot compensate for headache-inducing final third, with Adam Arkin screaming until he's hoarse. Even comedy legend Eve Arden fails to register, which is criminal. * from ****