New York, New York (1977)

nTitle: New York,n New York (1977)

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nDirector: Martin Scorsese

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nCast:nRobert De Niro, Liza Minelli

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nReview:

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nConsidering the legendary status of filmmaker MartinnScorsese, it is extremely difficult for me to fathom that any of his films haventanked at the box office, i.e. made no money, i.e. flopped. To me, eachnScorsese film is like a gift from the film gods. But low and behold, even annepic love story like New York,n New York can fail. I guess a lotnof it has to do with the fact that Newn York, New York wasnmade early in Scorsese’s career and he still wasn’t a house hold name yet. Apparentlynback then, even though he’d already made Taxi Driver (1976) and Mean Streets (1973),nScorsese still had a ways to go before becoming the Scorsese we know today,nbefore reaching legendary status. Maybe Newn York, New York failednat the box office because audiences expected something grittier from Scorsese?nOr maybe it was the 155 minutes of running time that scared audiences away? Ornmaybe it was the fact that it was a musical? Maybe it failed because it was a bleaknout look on love? Whatever the case, this film failed to capture audiences’nattention back in 1977. It failed to make its money back upon its originalnrelease, so much so that it threw director Martin Scorsese in a downward spiralnof depression and drug abuse.

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nIt’s too bad audiences didn’t flock to check this one out inntheaters, it is such an epic love story! The films catch phrase is “A lovenstory is like a song, it’s beautiful while it lasts” and in my book, it this catchnphrase that captures what New York,n New York is really all about. New York, Newn York is a film that covers all the different phasesnthat one goes through when falling in love. The first meeting, the excitementnof the first kiss, the passion that follows, glimpses of true love. But there’snalso that bitter sweet time when two people fall out of love, when two livesnaren’t clicking anymore; when peoples lives start heading in different directions.nBut oh, the joy of those first few moments when it works! Maybe this is whatnscared audiences away from discovering this film, how it isn’t your typicalnlove story.

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nNew York,n New York is a film that was madenin a very old school sort of way. Some of you might know that Scorsese is notnonly a filmmaker, he is also a true film lover and with New York, New York henwas paying homage to all those Hollywood musicals he grew up loving, those oldnHollywood films with fake looking sets and actors who over acted. This is thenreason why some of the backgrounds in New York, New York look fake; the film was emulating the old Hollywood productions and it was doing it on purpose.nScorsese was trying to capture that certain look and feel, that certain artificiality of old Hollywoodnfilms. At the same time, Newn York, New York was anfilm that was very truthful about love. Not all love stories have a happynendings, not all films end with the couple kissing, fade to black. This beingnScorsese, he offers us a film that pays homage to his favorite films, while atnthe same time infusing it with a bit of his own dark side, so the film isnbitter sweet that way.  

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nIt’s no secret that Scorsese loves The Red Shoes (1948) andnconsiders it to be one of his favorite films ever, which is why it didn’tnsurprise me to see him tackling some of the same themes that The Red Shoesnaddressed. New York, New York is a film that explores thatndichotomy between the dedicated and sacrificed life of an artist vs. the allntoo familiar path of love, marriage and a family. Same as ballerina VictorianPage in The Red Shoes, Jimmy Doyle and Francine Evans are torn between becomingnparents or living the life of an artist. Jimmy is a saxophone player andnFrancine is a singer, both are looking for a way to make it. For a while, thenfilm explores the competition that derives between the two. Who is better? Whonis bigger? Who’s in charge? Ultimately, the love between the two is stronger,nbut what happens when a baby comes along? Will they sacrifice it all to becomenparents? Are they willing to sacrifice what defines them as human beings? Thesenare the themes explored in this fantastic film.

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nThe colors in this film are amazing, I devoured the way the filmnlooks. Scorsese never just makes a film, with Scorsese it’s always somethingnspecial and you can tell it’s obviously a Scorsese movie because of thosenspecial shots, the way he swoops that camera, the way he sets up the lighting,nthe colors, this film was just eye candy for me. There are these scenes thatntake place inside of a Jazz Club, just colorful, colorful visuals. And somenscenes just scream “classic”, like the scene with which the film opens up with;nthis grand party right smack in the middle of a ballroom somewhere in thenmiddle of New York City,njust as every American was celebrating their victory over the Japanese. Thenparty atmosphere is really absorbed here. These are scenes with hundreds of extras,nconfetti flying everywhere, people dancing, a ballroom full of life, a scenenripped right out of a Fellini film. It actually brought to mind a similar scenenin Fellini’s I Vitelloni (1953). Same as in Fellini’s film, these scenes in New York, Newn York are all about a huge party going on with a bignband playing as everyone is going on about their respective debaucheries. Andnthe debauchery continued even behind the scenes, where Scorsese was having annaffair with Minelli. It was not a peaceful shoot that’s for sure, there’snnightmare stories about the making of this film, and yet, the results wherenamazing in my book.

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nFinally, De Niro and Liza Minelli are magic together. Withntheir characters you can feel a relationship developing in a rather rockynfashion. De Niro’s Jimmy Boyle is that ultimate macho dude from the 50’s, younknow, the kind that loves his wife but will have no trouble smacking her aroundnin order to knock some sense into her; you get the feeling he’s the kind of guynwho’s about to blow up any second. Minelli is beautiful, extremely talented andnalways questioning, always defying Jimmy’s authority. Sadly, though they loveneach other intensely, their lives begin to drift apart. You feel the love, butnyou feel fate tearing them away from each other. It’s a sad tale at the end ofnthe day, but all the more realistic because of it. And even though one of thenfinal musical numbers in the film is called “Happy Endings” we soon discovernthat, same as life itself, this just isn’t so. A word about the music in thisnfilm: the song “Theme from New York,n New York” composed by John Kendernwent on to become one of the most famous songs ever. Liza Minelli sings it onnthe film, and later Frank Sinatra did a take on it as well. The song went on tonbecome world famous. Who doesn’t know the lyrics to it? “I want to be a part ofnit! New York, New York!” It’s not very often that a song becomesnso closely associated with a place itself, when people think of New York City; chancesnare this song will pop into their heads. The film itself captures the magic of the city, glamorizing as is to be expected from Scorsese, a director enamored with The Big Apple. So for all these reasons stated abovenmy friends, it feels to me that Newn York, New York is a truenclassic of American cinema, the kind of film you want to watch before you die.

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nRating: 5 out of 5

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