New York, New York (30th Anniversary Edition)
by Martin Scorsese
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Actor: Barry Primus, Lionel Stander, Liza Minnelli, Mary Kay Place, Robert De NiroDirector: Martin Scorsese
Brand: MINNELLI,LIZA
Cinematographer: L?szl? Kov?cs
Editor: Bert Lovitt
Producer: Gene Kirkwood
Producer: Irwin Winkler
Producer: Robert Chartoff
Writer: Earl Mac Rauch
Writer: Mardik Martin
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); Spanish (Dubbed)
Format: AC-3, Anamorphic, Color, Dolby
Picture Format: 1.77:1
Running Time: 155 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-12-04
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
DVD Reviews of New York, New York (30th Anniversary Edition)
DVD Review: You Can't Make a Silk Purse From a Sow's Ear
Summary: 3 Stars
Oh my. Where do I begin? If I had been Martin Scorsese's assistant during pre-production of "New York, New York", I might have said something like "Marty, you know I love your movies. I suspect you walk on water in your spare time, and can film just about any film genre known to humanity, but you gotta pass on this screenplay, because you can't make a silk purse from a sow's ear."
There's a lot to like and a lot not to like in "New York, New York", but the unlikeable parts boil down to: bad screenplay.
The basic premise of the film is simple. Jimmy (Robert DeNiro), a saxophone player just out of the military in 1945 meets and falls in love with Francine (Liza Minnelli), a small-time singer with a touring big band. Francine becomes much more famous than Jimmy, things don't work out between Francine and Jimmy. So far, so good. More about what's good and what's bad about the movie.
What's good: The music is great. Big band and jazz from the 1940s, excellent musicianship. The singing by Liza Minnelli is also superb. A musical medley taking up the last half-hour of the film is also sensational. Set design is perfect for re-creating the mood of some of the lavish musicals from the 1940s and 1950s.
What's bad: The biggest problem with the film is that Jimmy's character is completely unlikeable. He spends the first part of the film at a VJ day (WW II end of war victory) celebration party where he's asking women for a date. Jimmy focuses on Francine and unrelentingly bothers her for a full fifteen minutes of screen time asking her out, trying out every line he can think of. Essentially, Jimmy comes across as a crazed stalker who will not take no for an answer. DeNiro's performance is really creepy, but I'm not sure if he intended it to be. He appears to be channeling the Travis Bickle character from Taxi Driver. The Bickle character is believable because we know he's a psychopath, but we also know he wants to "clean up the city" from all the bad elements. The Jimmy character comes across as just a manipulative, self-centered egomaniac who only thinks of himself.
Eventually, Jimmy and Francine marry, but that doesn't mean Jimmy becomes a better person. A few thoughts came to my mind when I watched their relationship develop: Jimmy is a chauvinist pig, arrogant, controlling, and despicable. Francine allows herself to be treated like a doormat by Jimmy. She's emotionally abused constantly, yet maintains a strange acceptance of her mistreatment, wearing a bemused, detached expression like she's the Buddha who has been reincarnated as a dancing girl. I wanted to warn Francine, "Stand up for yourself, you don't have to take this from him. Read "Women Who Love Too Much", can't you see that you have a toxic relationship with this man?" (Oh, where's Oprah or Dr. Phil when you need them?)
DeNiro's performance in New York, New York is similar to his previous film with Scorsese, Taxi Driver. What works for a mentally unstable loner in Taxi Driver simply does not translate to a married saxophone player in a respected band. I for one, did not accept that the Jimmy character should have been given a single second of respect. Minnelli's performance, as previously noted, is a little strange; extremely calm and quiet, and almost under-acted. It's like she was afraid to let the Francine character ever let her emotions show. I suspect she was told to play the part like a woman with battered wife syndrome - very shut down emotionally.
I believe that the main reason this film did not do well is because American audiences were not willing to embrace the two main characters of the film; the man is emotionally abusive, and the woman is meekly accepting of her abuse. The story isn't even really a tragedy, it's a pathetic reminder that some people should never meet and fall in love. I suspect also that American audiences craved a stronger female lead who wouldn't take any guff from anybody - hence the great success of two films with very strong female characters made shortly after New York, New York; namely, Karen Allen in Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Sigourney Weaver in Alien.
Although Scorsese went on to make the brilliant Raging Bull, again with DeNiro as an abusive man, at least in that film, his character's relationship with his wife Vicky is easier to accept because Vicky is one tough broad who can stand up for herself, who gives as good as she gets, dishing it right back out. The Minnelli character is just a sad, pathetic character. One of Scorsese's weakest efforts, recommend you skip this film.
DVD Review: It's pretty empty, and by that I mean it's `pretty' empty...
Summary: 3 Stars
I have mixed feelings about this movie. The performances are stellar but the characters are very hard to love. The direction is sharp yet the plot if rather flimsy. The set pieces and costumes are delicious to the eye, but the film overstays its welcome by about forty minutes. The music is jazz at its finest yet the musical numbers themselves seem to be lacking for me.
It is a big plate of good and bad with no real proper balance of the two.
The film stars Liza Minnelli and Robert De Niro as a struggling couple trying to make it big in `Big Band Era' New York. Francine Evans is a dynamite singer, and Jimmy Doyle is a stubborn yet savvy sax player. Together they make one sensational act that draws quite a crowd, but when you mix personal life with business things start to grow sour. When Francine gets pregnant and leaves the tour, Jimmy finds his band diminishing under the strain of a new singer (who just can't hold a candle to Francine) and his fizzling career sends a shock of distain through his body. When Francine, while pregnant and in New York, starts striking up conversations of record deals, Jimmy finds that jealously can corrupt and even kill a relationship.
The films plot (rocky relationship inside a jazz group) is far too hollow to sustain the films near three-hour running time. If the film had been maybe a third shorter it wouldn't have led way to the films flaws so much. By giving us a whole lot of nothing so-to-speak you give us time to realize that `New York, New York' doesn't have a lot to offer.
What `New York, New York' doesn't have in substance it makes up for in charisma. The two stars are sensational here, both of them working off the other with ferocity. We all know that De Niro is a brilliant actor, but for me at least, I was only aware of one performance by the mighty Minnelli; `Cabaret'. I consider her dynamic performance one of the best in the history of cinema; but even I knew that one brilliant performance does not equal brilliant actress. As good as De Niro is, this movie is all about Liza. She is phenomenal here, completely sinking into her character's spunk and drive; delivering chilling dramatic tension while never losing Francine's bubbly persona and unforgettable heart. De Niro is cheeky, funny and keeps up with Minnelli rather well, but she is clearly best-in-show here.
I can't say that either character is really all that likable, despite that fact that they are both played very well. Jimmy is a creep; a self absorbed user who fails to garner any of the audiences respect; and Francine is far too forgiving. As one already said, you just want to smack some sense into her. But this is a testament to Minnelli's marvelous performance, for Francine is a character written in a way that almost forces her to come across as weak, yet she never does. She comes off as foolish and blinded by what she considers to be love, but Minnelli conveys the right amount of understanding to make keep her from looking weak.
There is no denying that Minnelli's voice is impeccable, and if you like jazz then you will swoon over the countless jazz songs littering this film; but, if you love musicals you may not be too impressed with the actual musical numbers. They lack a certain spark that comes with the territory, which shocked me a bit. I absolutely ADORED the `Happy Endings' number, but aside from that I found myself expecting more out of each smoky club routine. I found more heart and fire in the musical numbers in `The Fabulous Baker Boys' than I found here.
So, in the end I have to say that `New York, New York' is a real mixed bag. The acting is great (thanks to undeniable chemistry), the look and feel of the film is flawless, but these two components can't really save the film from the weak plot and overlong running time. Going back to my review title (and for a little more clarity), this film is a very glitzy `pretty' film, but that pretty is only here to mask over the films overall emptiness. I'd give it a C+, possibly a B- (but a B seems almost too forgiving for a film that offers little more than some great acting).
I wouldn't avoid it, but I wouldn't seek it out either.
DVD Review: Art, but the world goes `round
Summary: 3 Stars
I really wanted to love "New York, New York", but, I guess I am not an intellectual movie watcher. Gritty "real life-like" stories do not entertain me. BUT, the music, costumes and sets tip the balance to "like". I understand what Scorsese wanted to accomplish and he succeeded. DeNiro's character is so very unlikeable; it is difficult to root for his success. Minnelli's character is such a doormat, I just want to shake her and say "Snap out of it!" I guess the movie's point is there are no real "happy endings", they are reserved for the MGM musicals of the 1950s. This realism might be artistic but not entertaining. If I want "real", I would stay home and watch real people doing real things for free. Liza's musical numbers brought the movie up a star. The special features told me some things I never knew about the film, but the Scorsese commentary would be better served in a separate interview, NOT running through the film. He was so intent on convincing us he was an "artist", it got boring.
Granted, the characters should never be together and I do not want a "sappy ending", but after several hours, I really wanted to like someone in the movie.
DVD Review: One of the Great Films
Summary: 5 Stars
If you look up this film on Wikipedia you find it is on several "100 Greatest Films" lists by several groups including Time magazine and various film groups. It is a tribute to all the great Hollywood musicals and noir films of the 1940s and 1950s and as Sorcese explains in the commentary everything is a little brighter, cleaner, neater than real life, to capture that sound stage feel of the studio era.
De Niro plays a tough new Yorker whose main love is Be Bop, a pure musical jazz form with little commercial appeal but he cares for the music and an appreciative audience more than money. Minelli plays a singer of mainstream Broadway style hits of the 1950s with great commercial and audience appeal. Both excel at their art form but it takes them down different roads and as much as De Niro's character loves Minelli's he loves his art more than her, and in the end it looks like she feels the same.
The movie opens with "Sing, Sing, Sing", the quintessential swing era hit, and moves through the music of the era to the fifties. The music is terrific, and the move treats it like one of the principal actors, letting the other actors and the audience pause and take note while the music takes center stage, which it often does. All the production values are terrific, including the clothing, and the sets.
Highly recommended.
DVD Review: Worth the double dip only if you crave special features
Summary: 2 Stars
The DVD transfer for this item is NOT enhanced for widescreen TVs, just like the previously released version. It is an excellent film, but because MGM decided to pussyfoot around giving the actual film a better transfer and enhancement, I cannot justify anyone purchasing this piece of repackaged junk. If you love special features, this would be the only reason to double dip. I prefer the pristine transfer over anything else, and was deeply disappointed. As a huge Scorsese fan, this film by far gets the worst treatment of any he has directed. Even bare-bones editions of "The Color of Money" and "The Age of Innocence" are treated with more respect.
Description of New York, New York (30th Anniversary Edition)
Acclaimed director Martin Scorsese teams with Academy Award?(r) winners* Liza Minnelli and Robert De Niro in this splashy, flashy musical spectacle celebrating the glorious days of the Big Band Era in the Big Apple! Jimmy is a joint-jumpin saxophonist on his way to stardom. Francine is a wannabe starlet who dreams of singing in the spotlight. When they meet, sparks flyand when he plays and she sings, they set New York on fire! It's the beginning of a stormy relationship, asthe two struggle to balance their passions for music and each other under the pressures of big-timeshow biz.Martin Scorsese took a daring turn from the mean streets that made his reputation in the early '70s with New York, New York, his homage to the big-band era. And what an homage it is: the dazzling production design by Boris Leven continues to impress over the film's nearly three-hour length. And there's no denying the anthemic appeal of Kander and Ebb's title song, belted with winning bravado by costar Liza Minnelli in a showstopping finale. But as valiantly as Minnelli and Robert De?Niro try, they can't elevate the shaky plot beyond its two-dimensional construct. It purports to be a Star Is Born-like tragedy of colliding careers, but too often it feels like inadvertently eavesdropping on a marriage counselor's most truculent clients. (There are times you want someone--anyone--to slap Minnelli upside the head with a copy of Women Who Love Too Much.) For diehard Minnelli (or Scorsese) fans only. --Anne Hurley
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