The Movie Musical No One Talks About: Scorcese's NEW YORK, NEW YORK

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 7/5/07 at 1:16pm

Interesting article from Nerve.com's "When Good Directors Go Bad":

The setup: After the critical breakthrough of Mean Streets (1973), the Oscar-winning Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (1974), and the masterful Taxi Driver (1976), Martin Scorsese used his clout to pay homage to classical Hollywood musicals, with his own personal twist.

What went wrong?: While I don’t particularly like the previous films in this series, I actually sort of enjoy New York, New York. There’s a good amount in the film that works, especially the lovingly-directed musical sequences. Scorsese’s always been great with music, and that comes through here, the closest he’s come to making a flat-out musical. And it still boggles my mind that the title song, which sounds and feels like an old standard, is just one year older than I am.

But while it contains some memorable sequences, the film as a whole is kind of a mess. A big problem is the way Scorsese alternates between tightly-controlled musical numbers and loosey-goosey dialogue scenes that feel closer to Cassavetes than to Arthur Freed. Scorsese encouraged stars Robert De Niro and Liza Minnelli to improvise most of their lines, and while some good acting moments result, these scenes tend to drag, destroying the film’s sense of pacing.

It doesn't help that Minnelli is overmatched in these scenes. De Niro was at the height of his acting powers, and try as he might to draw her out, Minnelli couldn’t keep up. Minnelli’s stardom was due to her unique presence — an odd combination of tremulous and brassy, effectively used in everything from Cabaret to her recurring role on Arrested Development — but as an actress, she was limited.

New York, New York feels rudderless, as though Scorsese wasn’t in control of his vision. This is borne out by the film's ever-fluctuating runtime — the rough cut was four-and-a-half hours, then 155 minutes, down to 136 minutes for its original release, then restored to 163 for its present cut, available on DVD. Looking at these seesawing runtimes, it's clear that Scorsese didn’t have a firm handle on the project.

The end result is a movie that feels at war with itself, in which the musical numbers and the dialogue scenes don’t mesh well. Scorsese's aim was to make a musical that trafficked in more complex emotions than its ancestors, telling the story of creative people who were in love but couldn't live with each other. It’s an interesting experiment, and Scorsese admits that he didn’t know whether he could pull it off. Nonetheless, Scorsese should be commended for trying, even if the result didn’t quite pan out.

The fallout: Scorsese's drug problems escalated over the few years until he ended up in the hospital following a near-overdose. Thankfully, he was able to pull himself out of his addiction by committing to his work, creating one of the most storied filmographies of any contemporary filmmaker. — Paul Clark, nerve.com

[PalJoey]

Posted: 7/5/07 at 2:22pm

Face it. There was only one problem with NY,NY: too much cocaine.

But I like the reviewer's point about the contrast between the "tightly controlled" musical numbers and the "loosey-goosey" dialogue scenes. Well put, that.

The dialogue scenes are terrible. The first time I showed this movie and STAR with Julie Andrews to my bf, we skipped all the book scenes and watched only the musical numbers. They were both pretty good movies that way.

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 7/5/07 at 2:27pm

The musical numbers are heaven.

[DG]

Posted: 7/5/07 at 2:39pm

It beats the hell out of Coppola's One from the Heart.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 7/5/07 at 2:47pm

DG - You beat me to it. I was going to say I would love to read a commentary about One From the Heart. I couldn't get through that mess.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 7/5/07 at 4:19pm

I was going to say that there's a reason why nobody talks about NEW YORK NEW YORK: quite simply because the movie's no good. A big bloated overproduced over-acted bore.

I'd rather watch ONE FROM THE HEART anyday, and that's no masterpiece either.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 7/5/07 at 4:34pm

but as an actress, she was limited.
...Really???
No matter how many times I watch Minnelli singing "New York, New York" in this movie, I get goose-bumps; the way it's shot, the way she performs it, everything about this scene makes it so fantastic.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 7/5/07 at 4:47pm

Ray--have you watched her mom's THE CLOCK?

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 7/5/07 at 6:39pm

No, PalJoey, but I just added it to my Netflix queue. I trust your taste

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 7/5/07 at 6:39pm

No, PalJoey, but I just added it to my Netflix queue. I trust your taste

[PalJoey]

Posted: 7/5/07 at 6:45pm

Say it again. ;-}

And, here is Liza's best version of "The World Goes Round," not from the movie, but from the New Orleans concert.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=EJ_tEjYhtRU

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 7/5/07 at 6:50pm

You know the movie really does suck, but the soundtrack is divine.

[sondheimboy2]

Posted: 7/5/07 at 7:10pm

I remember that this was out at roughly the same time as "Escape From New York" and Saturday Night Live couldn't decide how to make fun of the two of them.

So, they had a "commercial" for a double bill of;

"Escape from New York, New York"

and

"Escape from Escape from New York"

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 7/5/07 at 7:46pm

I think the movie is too long, but the songs are great, it should be brought to Broadway, and maybe with the right book, it could work.
"Happy Endings" might be my favorite scene of any movie ever, something ONLY Liza could do, other highlights "The Man I Love", "The World Goes 'Round", "You Brought a New Kind of Love to Me", "You Are my Lucky Star","Honeysuckle Rose" "Just You, Just Me" and the finale number, of course.
Liza playing Francine Evans, and then Peggy Smith in her movie within the movie in "Happy Endings" is an homage to movie musicals of all time.
Did anyone notice that Liza's name is in the credits before DeNiro's? Maybe the only female co-star EVER that got to headline a movie with him.

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 7/5/07 at 7:53pm

That clip is amazing, it gives me goosebumps everytime I watch it, she's the best.

Posted: 7/5/07 at 8:08pm

i really enjoyed ONE FROM THE HEART.

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 7/5/07 at 8:10pm

"Troubles comes between, but in the final scene, count on a happy ending, by the river, happy ending, by the ocean, happy ending in a Broadway show"

Updated On: 7/6/07 at 08:10 PM

[skingdom]

Posted: 7/5/07 at 8:22pm

Liza was fantastic and in fantastic voice. She's never sounded better. I really enjoyed this movie.

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 7/5/07 at 8:39pm

I think she sounds better in the 80's until mid 90's, still, she sounded great.

[DG]

Posted: 7/5/07 at 8:43pm

"i really enjoyed ONE FROM THE HEART."

So does my partner - he just does it alone

[Roscoe]

Posted: 7/6/07 at 7:43am

For a long time I thought ONE FROM THE HEART was very under-rated, and then I saw it again during its most recent re-release (right before it was released on DVD) and I realized that it really isn't that good a movie. I don't think it deserves the contempt that has generally been heaped upon it, and that there's a lot of interesting stuff in it.