New York, New York (Special Edition)
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Movie Reviews of New York, New York (Special Edition)
Movie Review: Underrated
Summary: 5 Stars
This is one of the most underrated films in the history of cinema. The first time I saw it I didn't know what to think. I wondered, why the fake looking sets and unbelievable costumes? Why did Scorsese seemingly overproduce a film that has such a great and raw script? This dvd helped me see why. Scorsese says that he wanted to put a raw, dramatic script into an old, early 40's style setting. He wanted to contrast the new with the old. The script is real, raw, and dramatic. The sets, costumes, and musical numbers are very highly produced. There's so much detail put into it. The city curb is a just a little high. The collars are just a little big. It really does remind you of an early 40's musical. Liza is the real star of this movie. Although I like Cabaret better as a whole, I would say that Liza as a singer, dancer, and actress is at her best in New York, New York.Movie Review: both a love and dear john letter
Summary: 5 Stars
By combining this hommage to, and critique of, stylized Hollywood musicals with 70's improvisational acting Scorsese achieves a near-ideal marriage of form and content. Those less comfortable with life's complexities may have trouble with this film, the rest of us can revel in its pitch-perfect performances and the treat of having our cake and eating it too. Godard's favorite Scorsese film, and mine.Movie Review: Come on, come through, New York New York
Summary: 5 Stars
In this movie, Scorsese, Liza and Robert derserves the Oscars for the best film, best actress, best song, best actor award. I got the VHS/LD but this DVD version tops it especially the extra special features - director comentary, deleted scenes etc. If only the film was launched at the right time. [...]Movie Review: PROBLEMATIC STORY-TELLING NOT VINTAGE SCORSESE
Summary: 4 Stars
There is something to be said for Martin Scorsese's "New York/New York" (1977). I'm just not exactly sure what. A strange mix of seventies sensibilities and sexual mores, eclectic acting styles a la its two mismatched leads, and forties kitsch billed as tributary to the decade of returning war heroes and the big band sound, the film abounds with complications that make for a generally uneasy, often heavy narrative structure. Truthfully, the film neither emulates or celebrates the great musicals of the 1940s. Instead it somehow manages to impose a contemporary strain on vintage material, which from the vantage of 30 years removed today, seems ludicrous and tacky.
Robert DeNiro stars as Jimmy Doyle, a gregarious sax player who's all thumbs when it comes to impressing WAC officer, Francine Evans (Liza Minnelli). But, as many of the male machismo flicks of the seventies teach us, if at first you don't succeed with the fairer sex, simply badger her into submission. This tactic works for Jimmy, but only superficially and temporarily as the film charts Jimmy's rise to big band leader status, his explosive romance with Francine, their trials and tribulations, his spiral into professional oblivion and their ultimate break up and loose reconciliation after Francine has made it big on her own. Clearly uneasy with the musical as a genre, Scorsese lets the first twenty minutes of his film slip by without any music, and then junkets a string of stagy numbers that are not memorable or apt at recapturing the effervescence of the 40s. The one big production number, "Happy Endings" comes much too late to make a difference in the film's musical repository and draws a direct and scathing comparison between Liza and her mother, Judy Garland's performance from "A Star Is Born" (1954). "Happy Endings" is a sort of "Born in A Trunk" ballet that unfolds with Liza encountering a Broadway producer while working as an usherette in a movie house. But the juxtaposition of several musical snippets is clumsily staged. The mileau of bits comes to a head with Liza flouncing down a great glittering and mirror staircase in a costume that can only be described as over the top in its gaudy red and white texture.The most outstanding aspect of the musical program is undoubtedly the title number, sung against a backdrop that again, looks much too contemporary for 40s chic.
Again, about the leads; the banter and chemistry between DeNiro and Minnelli is, at times, quite good - but never more engaging or hilarious than during their initial meet in a posh New York nightclub. Hence, their burgeoning romance seems oddly off balance with the two growing less comfortable with one another on camera as the fictional relationship progresses. At times, Minnelli looks ill and withdrawn, her heavy make up and "Mildred Pierce" style hair pieces almost swallowing her face whole and often masking her inate ability to do comedy or drama as well as we all know she is capable of. As a direct result, only in her vocal abilities throughout the film does she truly excel; that rich Garland-esque bravado rocking the speakers with a powerful zest for the material she's been given.Ultimately the film did not find favor at the box office and, in hindsight, it seems little wonder.
MGM's DVD is not anamorphically enhanced but it is widescreen. Colors are rich, vibrant and, at times, gaudy. Blacks are deep, rich and solid. Whites are generally clean, although there are instances throughout the film where a definite grain structure is noticeable. Overall, the highly stylized visual characteristics of this musical stinker will not disappoint. The audio is 5.1 surround and engaging throughout - showing remarkable clarity for a film of this vintage everywhere, but especially during the musical sequences, if only the original songs by John Kander and Fred Ebb had had something more to offer. Extras include an intro by Scorsese as well as audio commentary that is not particularly engaging. There's also some deleted scenes that are pretty much a bust, but generally show a muted distemper on DeNiro's part for a film in which he clearly felt most out of his element. A theatrical trailer and photo gallery are also present for the asking.
Movie Review: Often Brilliant In Spite of Major Flaws
Summary: 4 Stars
Released in 1977, Martin Scorsese's NEW YORK, NEW YORK instantly divided critical response--and, facing box office competition from no less than STAR WARS, proved a major financial failure. A significantly edited re-release followed not long afterward but proved even less well received and even less profitable. Although a double VHS release eventually brought the film to the home market, the film remained unpopular and made barely a ripple in public consciousness. In 2005, however, NEW YORK, NEW YORK received an unexpected release to DVD. At long last it may begin to reach a significant audience.
As a story, NEW YORK, NEW YORK draws from a number of oddly "Noir-ish" musicals made at Warner Bros. in the late 1940s. Most particularly, according to Scorsese's commentary, it drew from MY DREAM IS YOURS, a film that not only starred Doris Day but actually reflected her life in its tale of a talented big band "girl singer" trapped in an abusive marriage with a musician. Although the film force-fed the audience a happy ending, later films would not. In the mid-1950s, Doris Day's LOVE ME OR LEAVE ME and Judy Garland's A STAR IS BORN offered stories of a gifted female vocalists locked into disastrous romances that played out to a very distinctly unhappy ending, and NEW YORK, NEW YORK draws from them as well.
Scorsese not only repeats the basic stories and themes of these films, he also repeats the artificially heightened visual style typical of Hollywood films of the 1940s and 1950s--it is no accident that Liza Minnelli looks and sings remarkably like mother Judy Garland in this film--but he does so to an entirely unexpected end. The bravado performing style of such films is completely snatched away, and the characters are presented in an almost documentary-like realism. In theory, each aspect of the film would emphasize the other; in fact, however, this was precisely what critics and audiences disliked about the film when it debuted. They considered it extremely grating.
But perhaps the passage of time has opened our eyes on the point. I saw NEW YORK, NEW YORK in its 1977 release and, music aside, I disliked it a great deal. I expected to retain that opinion when I approached the DVD release, but I was greatly surprised. It holds up remarkably well, and most of the time the balance of artifice and reality works very well. But there are significant flaws. In a general sense, the film has a cold feel to it that occasionally becomes so downright chilly you begin to detach from it. But even more difficult is the character of Jimmy Doyle, the abusive husband of the piece.
In his commentary, Scorsese notes that both he and actor Robert De Niro sought to push the character far beyond the extremes of MY DREAM IS YOURS, LOVE ME OR LEAVE ME, or A STAR IS BORN. They were perhaps more successful than they expected. The result is a character you actively do not want to watch or hear, and although we are eventually allowed to see beyond his annoying qualities that moment comes much too late in the film to make him acceptable in any significant way. It makes for more than one bout of uphill viewing.
Even those who didn't like the film in 1977 agreed that it looked good and the music was great, and although it isn't entirely ideal the DVD presentation is quite fine. Scorsese's introduction and commentary are excellent; he is, however, augmented by film critic Carrie Rickey, and while her remarks are often interesting they are a shade to academic in tone for consistent interest. The film has received a director's cut that restores the edits made for the second release as well as the "Happy Ending" number cut before the debut release, so the deleted scenes hold no great treasure; even so, they are interesting to watch.
Overall, I recommend the film--but it is very much a "Hollywood Insider" film that is probably best left to those who know a great deal about film history and who can recognize the numerous antecedents from which it draws.
GFT, Amazon Reviewer