''New York, New York'' is a 1977 American

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a sub-genre of comedy and Romance novel, romance fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount all obstacles. Ro ...

musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the Character (arts), characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, but in some cases, they serv ...

directed by

Martin Scorsese Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November17, 1942) is an American filmmaker. One of the major figures of the New Hollywood era, he has received List of awards and nominations received by Martin Scorsese, many accolades, including an Academ ...

from a screenplay by Earl Mac Rauch and

Mardik Martin Mardik Martin (September 16, 1934 – September 11, 2019) was an Armenia, Armenian United States, American screenwriter, known for ''Mean Streets'', ''New York, New York (1977 film), New York, New York'' and ''Raging Bull –'' all directed by hi ...

, based on a story by Rauch.

John Kander John Harold Kander (born March 18, 1927) is an American composer, known largely for his work in the musical theater. As part of the songwriting team Kander and Ebb (with lyricist Fred Ebb), Kander wrote the scores for 15 musicals, including ''Cab ...

and

Fred Ebb Fred Ebb (April 8, 1928 – September 11, 2004) was an American musical theatre lyricist who had many successful collaborations with composer John Kander. The Kander and Ebb team frequently wrote for such performers as Liza Minnelli and Chita ...

wrote several songs for the film, including "

New York, New York New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on New York Harbor, one of the world's largest natural harb ...

", which became a worldwide hit and standard. A tribute to Scorsese's home town of

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, the film stars Liza Minnelli and

Robert De Niro Robert Anthony De Niro ( , ; born August 17, 1943) is an American actor, director, and film producer. He is considered to be one of the greatest and most influential actors of his generation. De Niro is the recipient of List of awards and ...

as a pair of musicians and lovers.

Plot

On V-J Day in 1945, a celebration in a New York City nightclub is underway, with music provided by the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra. While there, selfish and smooth-talking

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to p ...

player Jimmy Doyle meets small-time

USO The United Service Organizations Inc. (USO) is an American nonprofit-charitable corporation that provides live entertainment, such as comedians, actors and musicians, social facilities, and other programs to members of the United States Armed F ...

singer Francine Evans, who, although lonely, wants nothing to do with Jimmy, who pesters her for her phone number. The next morning, they end up sharing a cab, and, against her will, Francine accompanies Jimmy to an audition, at which he argues with the club owner. Francine, in an attempt to get the audition back on track, begins to sing the old standard " You Brought a New Kind of Love to Me". Jimmy joins on his sax. The club owner is impressed and, to Francine's astonishment, they are both offered a job as a traveling boy-girl act. From that moment, Jimmy and Francine's relationship deepens into a mix of obsession and love. But there are problems—mainly, Jimmy's tendency to fight with his co-workers, his overly dramatic behavior, and his increasingly violent arguments with Francine, who becomes pregnant with their child. An especially harsh shouting match between them results in Francine going into labor. Jimmy rushes her to the hospital, where she delivers a boy. However, Jimmy is not ready to be a father nor a good husband, so he abandons his wife, declining to see his newborn son as he leaves the hospital. Several years later, in a recording studio, Francine records "But the World Goes Round", a powerful anthem that makes the charts and helps her become a popular entertainment figure. In the years that follow, Jimmy and Francine both find success in the music industry; he becomes a renowned jazz musician and club owner, while she becomes a successful singer and film actress. Jimmy records a self-written song on his saxophone that tops the

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

charts, and Francine cements her stardom after singing "New York, New York", for which she has provided lyrics. Her performance, received by a wildly appreciative audience, takes place in the same nightclub where, years earlier, she and Jimmy had met. After the show, Jimmy telephones his ex-wife, suggesting that they get together for dinner. Francine is tempted, heads toward the stage-door exit, but, at the last moment, changes her mind. Jimmy, waiting on the sidewalk, realizes that he has been stood up and walks down the street.

Cast

* Liza Minnelli as Francine Evans *

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 * Jack Haley as Master Of Ceremonies * Adam David Winkler as Jimmy Doyle Jr.

Production

Irwin Winkler's purchase of the screenplay for ''New York, New York'' caught Martin Scorsese's attention before he began filming ''

Taxi Driver ''Taxi Driver'' is a 1976 American neo-noir psychological drama film directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Paul Schrader. Set in a morally decaying New York City following the Vietnam War, it stars Robert De Niro as veteran Marine and ...

''. Winkler and Robert Chartoff had agreed to a four-year contract with United Artists, at which they would release a minimum of 12 films, and ''New York, New York'' was the first that was produced under the deal. They announced Scorsese as the director in April 1975, with a budget of $3.5 million. Lynn Stalmaster was the casting director. Filming began on June 14, 1976. Scorsese wanted to marry the movie musical of his parents' generation with a

documentary A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

style. He hoped that the

juxtaposition Juxtaposition is an act or instance of placing two opposing elements close together or side by side. This is often done in order to Comparison, compare/contrast the two, to show similarities or differences, etc. Speech Juxtaposition in literary ...

would emphasize the continuity between human relationships through history. The actors would improvise on the script in front of the massive, unrealistic sets that fit the musical style. Having recently won the Palme d'Or, Scorsese felt that he could improve the script during filming, but his excesses led to mistakes, such as the opening V-J Day sequence being overly long. The initial cut of the film was four and a half hours.Scorses, Martin.
Scorsese on Scorsese
'. Faber, 1996. 68–73. Scorsese's

cocaine Cocaine is a tropane alkaloid and central nervous system stimulant, derived primarily from the leaves of two South American coca plants, ''Erythroxylum coca'' and ''Erythroxylum novogranatense, E. novogranatense'', which are cultivated a ...

addiction made matters worse, and according to Peter Biskind, the director was also taking

lithium Lithium (from , , ) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Li and atomic number 3. It is a soft, silvery-white alkali metal. Under standard temperature and pressure, standard conditions, it is the least dense metal and the ...

to control his anger. Scorsese lamented, "I was just too drugged out to resolve the structure." He stopped press interviews one day short because, as he explained, he had run out of cocaine.Power, Ed. "A Cocaine-Fuelled Folly: Why New York, New York almost Killed Martin Scorsese." Telegraph.co.uk. May 8, 2023. He concluded, "It's a miracle that the film makes any kind of sense." The director had an affair with Liza Minnelli during filming, and his second wife Julia Cameron was often onset in an attempt to catch them. The improvisation of dialogue was an additional strain on Minnelli, who was not used to

method acting Method acting, known as the Method, is a range of rehearsal techniques, as formulated by a number of different theatre practitioners, that seeks to encourage sincere and expressive performances through identifying with, understanding, and expe ...

. The stress is sometimes visible in her scenes with De Niro. Before their relationship ended, Scorsese directed Minnelli in '' The Act'', a

Kander and Ebb Kander and Ebb were a highly successful American songwriting team consisting of composer John Kander (born March 18, 1927) and lyricist Fred Ebb (April 8, 1928 – September 11, 2004). Known primarily for their stage musical theatre, musicals, whi ...

musical that some saw as a spinoff of this film. Robert De Niro studied the saxophone with Georgie Auld, a veteran of swing giants Artie Shaw and Benny Goodman's bands. Auld also played bandleader Frankie Hart in the film. De Niro was so demanding of Auld's time that the musician felt like a "slave", and his wife worried that the actor would be joining them in bed with the instrument. Auld recorded the saxophone parts in the film, and De Niro mimed to them on set. Auld stood off-camera and would make a slashing motion if De Niro made a fingering or breathing mistake. The film cost $9 million, which was $2 million over the original budget, and was a much larger amount than the budgets for Scorsese's previous films. George Lucas predicted that the gross would improve by $10 million if Scorsese would change the ending to a happy one. Scorsese considered having a

cameo appearance A cameo appearance, also called a cameo role and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief guest appearance of a well-known person or character in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking on ...

in the film, but declined because he would have had to shave his beard.

Releases

The film was released on June 21, 1977, with a running time of 155 minutes. The box-office failure of the film prompted United Artists to shorten the film to 136 minutes for

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

. In 1981, the film was re-released with a runtime of 163 minutes. Scorsese had spent $350,000 of the budget on filming a musical-within-a-musical called "Happy Endings", which depicts Francine Evans as a movie star. The twelve-minute sequence was choreographed by Ron Field. The scene was restored in the 1981 version, and the expanded film earned praise for its ironic look at Hollywood musicals.

Music

Theme Song

and

's initial submission for the theme song was deemed so bad that Robert De Niro rejected it outright. The lyrics began, "They always say it's a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live here", and the melody was completely different.Leve, James. ''Kander and Ebb''. Yale University Press, 2009. The eventual song, " Theme from ''New York, New York''", begins with one of Kander's famous vamps, derived from the

ragtime Ragtime, also spelled rag-time or rag time, is a musical style that had its peak from the 1890s to 1910s. Its cardinal trait is its Syncopation, syncopated or "ragged" rhythm. Ragtime was popularized during the early 20th century by composers ...

practice of putting the melody underneath a repeated note. The song was released as a single from the soundtrack album, and peaked at #104 on the ''Billboard'' chart. Two years later,

Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Honorific nicknames in popular music, Nicknamed the "Chairman of the Board" and "Ol' Blue Eyes", he is regarded as one of the Time 100: The Most I ...

recorded a

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

for his triple album '' Trilogy: Past Present Future''. On June 14, 1980, the single reached #32 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and was Sinatra's last

Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is a list of the 40 currently most popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "To ...

hit. Both Sinatra's and Minnelli's versions have become closely associated with Manhattan in New York City. Sinatra performed the number at nearly all of his concerts until his retirement in 1995, and Minnelli continues to perform it at nearly all of hers.

Soundtrack

The LP soundtrack for ''New York, New York'' is a double album. It is produced, conducted and arranged by Ralph Burns. "Happy Endings" was recorded for the film but edited out of the theatrical release.

Personnel

* Abe Most - Clarinet * Bob Tricarico,

Jerome Richardson Jerome Richardson (December 25, 1920 – June 23, 2000) was an American jazz musician and woodwind player. He is cited as playing one of the earliest jazz flute recordings with his work on the 1949 Quincy Jones arranged song "Kingfish". Caree ...

- Saxophone * Chauncy Welsh, Jim Cleveland - Trombone * Conte Condoli, Snooky Young, Warren Luening - Trumpet * Russ Freeman - Piano * Jim Hughart - Bass * Bill LaVorgna, Sol Gubin - Drums * John Neal - Engineer

Charts

Reception

Box office

The film underperformed to expectations at the box office, grossing $16.4 million against a $9 million budget. The disappointment depressed Scorsese and worsened his drug addiction. Certain that ''New York, New York'' would be a hit, United Artists structured the film's box office as a bulwark against the flop that they had expected in '' Rocky''. The two productions pooled their profits, but ''Rocky'' ended up covering the losses of Scorsese's movie. In his introduction to the film's DVD release, Scorsese explains that he intended for the film, which he saw as an homage to the

musicals Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movement ...

Classical Hollywood cinema In film criticism, Classical Hollywood cinema is both a narrative and visual style of filmmaking that first developed in the 1910s to 1920s during the later years of the Silent film#Silent film era, silent film era. It then became characteristi ...

, to break from the gritty realism for which he had become famous, hence the deliberately artificial sets and storyline. He acknowledges that the experiment did not please everyone.

Critical response

The film has an overall critical score of 57% on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, based on 49 reviews; the site's consensus explains, "Martin Scorsese's technical virtuosity and Liza Minelli's magnetic presence are on full display in ''New York, New York'', although this ambitious musical's blend of swooning style and hard-bitten realism makes for a queasy mixture." Christopher Porterfield wrote in ''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

'', "If this movie were a big-band arrangement, it would be a duet for a sax man and a girl singer, but with the soloists in a different key from the band."

Vincent Canby Vincent Canby (July 27, 1924 – October 15, 2000) was an American film and theatre critic who was the chief film critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1969 until the early 1990s, then its chief theatre critic from 1994 until his death in 2000. ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' wondered, "Why should a man of Mr. Scorsese's talent be giving us what amounts to no more than a film buff's essay on a pop-film form that was never, at any point in film history, of the first freshness?"

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...

of the ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily nonprofit newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has long held the second largest circulation among Chicago newspaper ...

'' lamented, "Scorsese's New York, New York never pulls itself together into a coherent whole, but if we forgive the movie its confusions we're left with a good time." In the ''

Chicago Reader The ''Chicago Reader'', or ''Reader'' (stylized as ЯEADER), is an American alternative newspaper in Chicago, Illinois, noted for its literary style of journalism and coverage of the arts, particularly film and theater. The ''Reader'' has been ...

'', Dave Kehr concluded, "Scorsese created a very handsome and dynamic film, but the spectacular set pieces don't add up to much." '' Variety'' raved, "A final burst from Old Hollywood, Minnelli tears into the title song and it's a wowser." '' Time Out's'' Geoff Andrew enthused, "Scorsese's tribute/parody/critique of the MGM musical is a razor-sharp dissection of the conventions of both meeting-cute romances and rags-to-riches biopics. Independent reviewer Gene Shalit said that the argument between Francine and Jimmy in the parked car was the most realistic he had ever seen on film.Connelly, Marie K. ''The Films of Martin Scorsese: A Critical Study''. Case Western Reserve University. 1991. 103. In '' Cinéaste'', Leonard and Barbara Quart called the film "an interesting and at sometimes exciting failure..." They pointed out the self-conscious parallels with the work of Liza's mother in '' A Star Is Born'', and praised Scorsese's "stylized settings (gold tinsel snowfalls, claustrophobic reddish interiors, and spotlit, dream-like musical solos)", but felt that they were "too calculated and without purpose". William Harding heaped blame on De Niro's performance: " ezooms in on the role as if he were playing

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

. His hard work backfires...The character of Jimmy Doyle is completely obscured by the spectacle of DeNiro attempting to come to grips with an impossibly one-note role."Harding, William. "Screenings" ''New Gay Life'' 1, no. 5 (August 1, 1977).

Accolades

The film is recognized by

American Film Institute The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the History of cinema in the United States, motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private fu ...

in these lists: * 2004: AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs: ** " Theme from ''New York, New York'' – #31 * 2006: AFI's Greatest Movie Musicals – Nominated

Stage musicals

Brazilian musical

The film was adapted into a

stage musical Musical theatre is a form of theatre, theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, ...

in Brazil. It premiered on April 14, 2011, in Teatro Bradesco in

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

, with direction by José Possi Neto. The songs were not translated, instead featuring subtitles projected on a digital panel.

Broadway musical

The film was adapted into a stage musical in the United States. It opened on Broadway on April 26, 2023, at the St. James Theater, following previews that began on March 24. The production received mixed reviews, with ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...

'' saying that the musical was "deeply flawed, but deeply entertaining", and Elisabeth Vincentelli of ''The New York Times'' saying that the show was "The Big Apple, Without Bite". The ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' said that "the film is not good. The new Broadway musical is worse." Due to the poor reviews, lack of Tony Award wins, and high production costs, producers posted a hasty announcement on July 23, 2023, stating that the musical would close on July 30.

References

Works cited

External links

*
''New York, New York'' at AllMovie
* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:New York, New York (Film) 1977 films 1977 romantic drama films 1970s American films 1970s English-language films 1970s musical drama films American musical drama films American romantic drama films American romantic musical films American World War II films Films about music and musicians Films directed by Martin Scorsese Films produced by Irwin Winkler Films produced by Robert Chartoff Films set in 1945 Films set in New York City Films shot in Los Angeles Films shot in New York City Jazz films Liza Minnelli soundtracks Metafictional works United Artists films English-language romantic drama films English-language musical drama films 1977 musical films