New York, New York (Special Edition)
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Actor: Barry Primus, Lionel Stander, Liza Minnelli, Mary Kay Place, Robert De NiroBrand: MINNELLI,LIZA
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 1.0; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 1.0; Spanish (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 1.0
Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Letterboxed, NTSC, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.66:1
Running Time: 155 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-02-08
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
DVD Reviews of New York, New York (Special Edition)
DVD Review: Martin's Way We Were
Summary: 2 Stars
The best way to describe this film is "The Way We Were" meets Martin Scorsese. First, take Barbara Streisand and replace her with Liza Minelli--similar talents, both great singers, ok actresses, no problem, thankyou! Now take Robert Redford and replace him with Robert DeNiro playing the character he played in "Goodfellas"--or better yet--playing the Joe Peschi character from "Goodfellas"--that might be closer. Just put a saxophone in his mouth and track over some nice tunes between the tough guy this, tough guy that and... What? And that's what it looks like we see Minelli's character thinking over and over again--"what?" Is somebody kidding? Is this a musical?
The first time I saw "New York, New York" was on television and I didn't know then, and was so surprised to see in the opening credits, that it was directed by Martin Scorsese. I had no idea that this glitzy musical which had been on the periphery of my consciousness for twenty years was directed by the moviemaster El Supremo. AND BELIEVE IT OR NOT, THAT IS IT'S BIGGEST PROBLEM--IT'S A SCORSESE FILM!
Basically, a schizophrenic movie. It could have been Barbara Streisand, or it could have been "Goodfellas," but what it ends up being instead is sadly bizarre. It's Scorsese doing his Scorsese standards, and Scorsese doing other things such as Scorsese the jazz enthusiast putting forward the music he loves and mixing it all up in motifs that are consciously derivative of the golden age of musicals. It's sometimes flashy, sometimes gritty, often tense, most often fabulously designed, and in unexpected ways, often floppy. First Scorsese will put Minelli on the stage to do some nicely projected wonderfuls. Then he'll add DeNiro to the stage with the typical Scorsese/DeNiro streetwise dialogue, gambled emotions, and looming catastrophes. Luckily, or perhaps unluckily, depending on your expectations, these catastrophes get negotiated away from the usual Scorsese violence by Minnelli's clever and loving, but undiscovered character. Why these two people are together is never understandable, and we watch Francine (Minelli) many times just stop and stare at Jimmy (DeNiro), pause, and then resign herself to him. Why does she resign herself to him? Who knows? Because it's a Scorsese film, what else? That could be the only reason. There must be something intelligent about it. If it's because she loves him, then this woman has real problems--but perhaps that was the heart of the plot, along with her ability to see into him and work with him, in spite of his flaws and floating-point sincerity, but what she sees in him is lost to the viewer. We don't really know what's going on in her head--her character, even more than his, is never illuminated--and this dim-lit combination just doesn't sustain interest and doesn't ever go anywhere truly compelling. Just having a jerk for a mate doesn't make a movie. You could call this film, "The Sad Story of the Woman Who Falls for a Line." The conflict-resolution pattern in the relationship was barely interesting at the beginning--and it had a few fun moments--such as during the Justice of the Peace scene--but if this is romance, give me "Sid and Nancy" instead.
By the middle of the picture I basically no longer cared what happened with these two people, just so long as Minnelli sang. The plot flounders propped up next to the music and the pathos at the end was barely a tear, if that. What were the why's and wherefore's, and how did all this narrative amount to almost 3 hours of importance? I suspect it was mostly just a compilation of improvisations within formulas. Scorsese does his improvisation formula, DeNiro does his improvisation formula, the technicians work their wonders, and Minelli does the best she can and actually comes out the shining star.
The music is the saving grace and makes buying the DVD perhaps worthwhile. It was often a true delight to watch Minnelli sing, and the recreations of the big bands and the jazz culture were sometimes wonderful. Tommy Dorsey's band at the beginning of the movie felt like the real McCoy, or at least, how one would fantasize it would've been on VJ Day.
Thus, it's the music that makes the DVD--and in essence, it is a musical, or at least should be appreciated as such, and luckily, with the DVD format, you can easily jump over the other stuff and go straight to the musical moments. As for Scorsese's ambitions with the derivative motifs and the conflict-riddled, deadening plot, I found Steve Martin's film "Pennies from Heaven"--made around the same time with a similar plot and similar ambitions--ten times more successful and poignant--and it's an unusual day when you find comparisons between a Scorsese film and a Steve Martin film, and then find the latter so much more impressive--not to mention a persistent, very strange, and desperate longing while watching this film for a smiling Robert Redford, or perhaps better yet, some loud and bloody Mafioso rough stuff.
Description of New York, New York (Special Edition)
Acclaimed director Martin Scorsese teams with Academy AwardÂ(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. *Minnelli: Actress, Cabaret (1972); De Niro: Actor, Raging Bull (1980), Supporting Actor, The Godfather Part II (1974)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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