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New York, New York
An egotistical saxophone player and a young singer meet on V-J Day and embark upon a strained and rocky romance, even as their careers begin a long uphill climb.
Release : | 1977 |
Rating : | 6.6 |
Studio : | United Artists, Winkler Films, |
Crew : | Art Direction, Production Design, |
Cast : | Liza Minnelli Robert De Niro Lionel Stander Barry Primus Dick Miller |
Genre : | Drama Music Romance |
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Reviews
When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.
A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.
The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.
This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.
New York New York is a musical about a passionate jazz player and his struggles with love and career with a Hollywood love letter thrown in as well. Now which film does this remind everyone of? Just like La La Land, New York New York is a homage to the golden age of musicals but packs Scorsese's intensity. Robert DeNiro is in his 70's prime and knocks it out of the park with his performance, easily the best feature of the film. Liza Minelli does a decent job but she's there for her singing and does great in that. However this is easily the most flawed film I have seen from Scorsese, it stands at an enormous run-time of nearly three hours, there's more than a few scenes which could be trimmed down, especially during the first hour and a half, I think a lot can be blamed on Scorsese unable to handle a big budget film back then, the sets were expensive so were the cars and the props but he was spending way too much time in pointless scenes. However the film really picks up and the last one hour is where this movie truly shines. DeNiro was just brilliant in his role of an insecure but ambitious saxophonist. A film despite it's flaws should give you a handful of scenes which will stay with you once the film is over, one scene in particular will always stay with me, DeNiro is angry and frustrated with his wife Minnelli but keeps it bottled in and it comes out during a magnificent scene with him and his saxophone playing an energetic and a furious melody while his eyes rain down fireballs on her, no dialogue just music and body language.
I know that some people consider New York, New York (NYNY, for short) extraordinary. OK. Fine. But, you can bet, Derringer here ain't one of 'em. No way.When NYNY was first released, back in 1977, it was a super-staggering 4 1/2 hours in length. Like, can you just imagine having to tolerate listening to the vocal "talents" of Miss Liza Minnelli for that unendurable period of time? Phew! Now, that would've been pure torture to the 10th power! At present NYNY has a lengthy enough running time of 2 1/2 hours, which, to be sure, is unbearable enough as it is. But still much easier on the eyes, ears, nose, and, yes, stomach, than a super-deadly 4 1/2 hours.Directed by Martin Scorsese (of all people), NYNY may, in fact, be a super-duper, splashy-dashy musical extravaganza alright, but, by the same token, I found its story to be so utterly insipid that it quickly put me off completely even before I realized what was happening.Set in 1945, during the "Big Band Era" - NYNY amounted to being nothing more than a total "rags-to-riches" story with lots'n'lots'n'lots of musical interludes thrown in for good measure.Insufferably arrogant saxophonist, Jimmy Doyle (Robert De Niro), and infuriatingly naive VSO singer, Francine Evans (Liza Minnelli), a couple of typical "nobodies", meet in (where else?) New York on V-J Day at the end of WW2. These 2 bozos end up loving a little, bickering a lot, but most of the time spending their lives apart, just clawing their own way to the top of the heap, as "wannabe" big-time celebrities.This relationship between Jimmy and Francine was so irritatingly strained and rocky at times that it all got real tiresome, real fast.And, how was I feeling after watching this gruelingly-long picture? Well, let me tell ya' - I was certainly not in any "New-York-State-Of-Mind" by the end of it, that's for sure - No way - I mean, it was more like a splitting head-ache state of mind, if you wanna know the truth about it.Uh..... Pass the aspirins, please.
While some reviewers were raving over the newer, restored length version, I, for one, would like it cut down again. This film is an adaptation of What Price Hollywood and the later remakes titled A Star Is Born. Two talented individuals meet and the woman soon surpasses her husband in fame; something he cannot endure. Unfortunately unlike the predecessor films, the male lead (DeNiro) doesn't walk out into the sea and spare us anymore of his vile character. He is petty, childish, jealous, lying, manipulative, angry....there wasn't a redeeming aspect to this character. And Liza Minelli's character was the polar opposite. She was a weak co-dependent that just couldn't swallow enough abuse. Hard characters to sit with for 3 hours. The story takes place in the 40's just after the war but you often feel the staginess of it. It has that very 70's feel to the look and sound. It looks dated, but not to the 40's sadly. While Ms. Minelli does some nice renditions of standards, there is a very long montage of songs in the last hour as we watch a movie within a movie that goes on forever. Minelli belting one out after the other with all stops removed accompanied by lavish dancing and scenery a la those big MGM movies of the period. The songs, however, are not memorable and I was squirming for it to end already. A quick blend of each song would have sufficed but we got one full song after another. And of course, the big show stopper of NY,NY at the end. Personally, I don't like the song, even when Frank sings it. It's a let down. This is the big number that both people have been lovingly slaving over for years to get just right? There are a few great moments where the real Scorcese comes through such as a scene where DeNiro is hauled out of a nightclub down a hallway of light bulbs. Nicely composed with that touch of grunge as a struggling DeNiro kicks out bulbs. Another is a fantastic screaming match in the car between the two stars. Otherwise, the director gets lost in all the production and staging.
OK, so Martin Scorsese took a break from his gritty movies to make an homage to old-time musicals. The result has its strengths and weaknesses. I liked how the movie ended (the ending proves that Scorsese didn't throw his dignity out the window), but I would have liked the movie better had it focused on political issues affecting the world after WWII, like "The Way We Were" did. Otherwise, "New York, New York" is worth seeing, if far from Scorsese's best movie. Liza Minnelli's small-time singer comes across as sort of silly, but Robert DeNiro's sax player makes you feel as if you're walking on eggshells (it's basically Jake LaMotta with a sax).Obviously, a lot of the scenes are clearly filmed on sets. In an introduction on the special edition DVD, Scorsese notes that it's deliberate: he wanted the movie to have the look of an old-time musical, right down to the sets. All in all, it's not a bad movie. Also starring Lionel Stander, Barry Primus, Mary Kay Place, Dick Miller (a character actor known for appearances in Roger Corman's and Joe Dante's movies), Don Calfa and Jack Haley in an uncredited cameo.Oh, and if you're wondering about the title of my review, it's a reference to "Scooby-Doo", since Casey Kasem (the voice of Shaggy) appears in "New York, New York" as a DJ.