How dead is the movie musical? On top of the fact that even Broadway juggernaut Andrew Lloyd Webber has managed to film only two of his productions in 30 years, consider The Fantasticks. The longest-running musical in history, it waited 35 years from its 1960 premiere for a film adaptation, which then wound up shelved for another five. Francis Ford Coppola prompted United Artists to release it on a limited basis in late 2000, but most viewers will encounter it for the first time in the local video store. The contemporary state of filmed musicals can't take all the blame, however. Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven proved that it only takes one great film to revive a genre; The Fantasticks, modestly pleasing as it might be, never comes close to greatness. Adapted by original writers Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt and directed by Michael Ritchie (Smile, Fletch), it sets a sugarcoated story of young love and lost innocence against the backdrop of an idealized early-20th-century rural America. Never more than pretty, tuneful stiffs, Jean Louisa Kelly and one-time New Kid On The Block Joe McIntyre play lovers who believe themselves star-crossed thanks to a long-running family feud conducted by fathers Joel Grey and Barnard Hughes—who are in fact carrying out an elaborate, reverse-psychology ruse to bring their children together. They bring their scheme to a head by enlisting Jonathon Morris, the dashing ringmaster of a mysterious circus, to kidnap Kelly and make McIntyre a hero. But unforeseen complications and numerous musical numbers get in the way of their planned happy ending. Though bogged down by its uncompelling leads, Ritchie's film receives able support from Grey, Hughes, and Morris, musical-theater veterans who seem grateful for the rare chance to commit their talents to film. The Fantasticks is mostly done in by its own material: It's an extremely modest, slightly rusty vehicle whose two memorable songs, "They Were You" and "Try To Remember," don't arrive until the end of the film. Ritchie and cinematographer Fred Murphy do create some attractive widescreen location tableaux, which make the DVD version (which also includes deleted songs and scenes) the only one worth watching. As a whole, The Fantasticks goes down as easily as a glass of lemonade, even if its flavor doesn't linger quite as long.