New York, New York (1977)
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New York, New York Movie Review
New York, New York is a 1977 romantic musical drama film directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Liza Minnelli and Robert De Niro. It was a messy, but different film for the director that is ultimately quite underrated.
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“Do I look like a gentleman to you in this shirt and these pants?“
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An aspiring saxophonist and a singer begin their romantic journey. They struggle to excel at their craft which starts to affect their relationship. This film is often regarded as one of Scorsese’s worst efforts, but I personally disagree with this assessment. It was a messy, but honorable take on honoring the lavish musicals of the forties, functioning pretty much as a time capsule in and of itself.
I get that this won’t be a film that most Scorsese fans would appreciate as it was quite a tonal departure for him, but I love these musicals from the Golden Age of Hollywood, so this appealed to me. I always appreciate when directors try something different, even if they don’t fully succeed at it as was the case here.
Yes, this is a messy movie, there is no doubt about that. The film was apparently even longer than three hours, so it was cut to three hours. It still felt ridiculously long and padding, but the cuts were quite poor. The editing and pacing on this movie was horrendous, making for a structurally uneven movie that never quite found its groove. It also wasn’t as cinematic as it should have been, though the overall cinematography, production design and costumes were quite good.
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The second half becomes an epic musical that emulated the 40s decade so well, but the first half did not have enough musical numbers, so what we got was an uneven film. The musical numbers are still quite lavish and gorgeously sung by Minnelli. The highlight is of course Theme from New York, New York, which is this wonderfully written and performed song that is a great ode to this city.
The best reason to see this film is for Liza Minnelli’s fantastic performance that should have been considered by the Academy. She’s a magnetic presence throughout and not just in her obviously incredible singing abilities, but also delivering strong work in acting alone. Her line delivery is excellent and she was radiant as this woman who unfortunately got involved with this very toxic man played Robert De Niro.
He was also very strong, though this was a familiar role for him. The two had a great chemistry and their dynamic was complicated and nuanced. The film shined the most when focusing on the two of them either having a great or an absolutely terrible time. Some of the arguments in the third act were quite memorable and so well written. The dialogue is some of the strongest suits of New York, New York. I just wished that it was shorter and more streamlined.
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I get why most Scorsese fans would dislike New York, New York as it was quite a tonal departure for him, but I respect the effort myself and I find it to be quite underrated. Yes, this ode to movie musicals of the past was undeniably messy, structurally uneven and way too long, but the third act featured superb musical numbers and Liza Minnelli’s performance was electric throughout. The romantic elements were the highlights here as the central relationship was so memorable and well explored.
My Rating – 3.5
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