New York, New York ***** (1977, Robert De Niro, Liza Minnelli, Lionel Stander, Mary Kay Place, Barry Primus) – Classic Movie Review 5213

Martin Scorsese’s stylish 1977 American musical drama film New York, New York is a musical tribute to his home town of New York City and old Hollywood movies, and stars tremendous Liza Minnelli and Robert De Niro as musicians and lovers. 

Director Martin Scorsese’s immensely stylish 1977 show is a wonderful salute to the era and culture of the vintage big band musicals. Robert De Niro stars as Jimmy Doyle, the smooth but selfish and erratic saxophonist involved a love-hate relationship with Francine Evans (played by Liza Minnelli), the lounge singer he meets on V-J Day when World War Two ends. The two have a rocky ride on their romance, as they begin the long, uphill battle for their careers.

The 1940s period is awesomely re-created in Boris Leven’s astounding production designs. The stars are tremendous, both separately and as a pair. The Fred Ebb and John Kander music is superlative, especially of course the evergreen hit title number, as well as the jazz standards. The screenplay by Earl Mac Rauch and Mardik Martin (based on a story by Rauch) is exquisitely honed, while Laszlo Kovacs’s Technicolor cinematography and Ralph Burns’s music arrangements are both immaculate.

They just could not be better. Nothing about this film could be better. It is perfect. It is one of Scorsese’s best and least appreciated movies.

Alas, it did not connect with the paying public when it was released at 155 minutes, and then again in a cut version edited down to 136 minutes. But it has since been properly re-evaluated as a masterwork when reissued in 1981 in the complete version of 163 minutes, restoring and retaining the whole of the extraordinary ‘Happy Endings’ sequence. This is the version to see.

Also in the cast are Lionel Stander, Mary Kay Place, George Memmoli, Murray Moston, Barry Primus, Georgie Auld, Dick Miller, Diahnne Abbott, and Don Calfa, with an uncredited cameo appearance by Jack Haley in his final screen role as the Master of Ceremonies.

De Niro learned to play the saxophone for the film.

The 1947 film noir melodrama The Man I Love is Martin Scorsese’s main inspiration for his 1977 film New York, New York. The Man I Love is based on the novel Night Shift by Maritta Wolff, and stars Ida Lupino and Robert Alda.

The film was a box-office failure. Its budget was a high $14 million and it grossed only $16.4 million. It is made by Chartoff-Winkler Productions and released by United Artists, who recouped their losses by a share agreement with Rocky, which executives had expected to flop.

The theme song found success when Frank Sinatra recorded a cover version in 1979, while Minnelli performed it at nearly all of her concerts.

Scorsese says he intended the film as a break from gritty realism (it followed his 1976 Taxi Driver) and as an homage to the musical films of classical Hollywood. He planned the film’s sets and story to be artificial in the style of those old films, and accepts that this experiment did not please everyone.

The cast are Liza Minnelli as Francine Evans, Robert De Niro as Jimmy Doyle, Lionel Stander as Tony Harwell, Barry Primus as Paul Wilson, Mary Kay Place as Bernice Bennett, Frank Sivero as Eddie DiMuzio, Georgie Auld as Frankie Harte, George Memmoli as Nicky, Harry Northup as Alabama, Dick Miller as Palm Club Owner, Clarence Clemons as Cecil Powell, Casey Kasem as DJ aka Midnight Bird, Adam David Winkler as Jimmy Doyle Jr, Jack Haley as Master of Ceremonies, Murray Moston, Diahnne Abbott, and Don Calfa.

The film brings to mind Francis Coppola’s similar 1982 Old Hollywood homage One from the Heart, another costly critical success but box office failure.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 5213

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