New York, New York

Plot synopsis:
The story opens on V-J Day in 1945. A massive celebration in a New York City nightclub is underway, music provided by the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra. While there, selfish and smooth-talking saxophone player Jimmy Doyle (De Niro), meets small-time USO singer Francine Evans (Minnelli), who, although lonely, still wants nothing to do with Jimmy, who keeps pestering her for her phone number.
The next morning, they end up sharing a cab, and, against her will, Francine accompanies Jimmy to an audition. There he gets into an argument with the club owner. Francine, to get the audition back on track, begins to sing the old standard, "You Brought a New Kind of Love to Me"; Jimmy joins in on his sax. The club owner is impressed and, to Francine's astonishment, they are both offered a job—a boy-girl act. From that moment on, 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, and his increasingly violent arguments with Francine, who becomes pregnant with his child. An especially bad shouting match between them results in Francine going into labor. Jimmy rushes her to the hospital, where she delivers a baby boy. But Jimmy is not ready to be a father, or a good husband, and he abandons his wife, declining even 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 which makes the charts and turns her into 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 song of his on his saxophone which tops the jazz charts, and Francine cements her stardom after singing that same song, "New York, New York," for which she has provided the 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 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 he has been stood up and heads off down the street, accompanied by the song he has written—the "Theme from New York, New York".
An alternate ending sees the pair reunite and walk off to dinner, sharing conversation about their son.

Tags: romantic

Review:
Too bad--it's actually good.It's about clarinet player Jimmy Doyle (Robert De Niro) falling in love with Francine Evans (Liza Minnelli).
In the mid-1950s, Doris Day's LOVE ME OR LEAVE ME and Judy Garland's A STAR IS BORN offered stories of a gifted female vocalists locked into disastrous romances that played out to a very distinctly unhappy ending, and NEW YORK, NEW YORK draws from them as well.Scorsese not only repeats the basic stories and themes of these films, he also repeats the artificially heightened visual style typical of Hollywood films of the 1940s and 1950s--it is no accident that Liza Minnelli looks and sings remarkably like mother Judy Garland in this film--but he does so to an entirely unexpected end.
But even more difficult is the character of Jimmy Doyle, the abusive husband of the piece.The recent DVD release includes a noteworthy director's commentary, and Scorsese states that both he and actor Robert De Niro sought to push the character far beyond the extremes of MY DREAM IS YOURS, LOVE ME OR LEAVE ME, or A STAR IS BORN.
Like any couple caught in the disease of romantic addiction and career obsession, Jimmy Doyle (DeNiro) and Francine Evans (Minnelli) depict flaws that approach hyper-visibility within the context of fake scenery, big brassy musical numbers, a slow pace, and sparse dialogue.
Even though I despised Jimmy Doyle and was aghast at Francine's glossy eyed belief in every thing that came out of this con man's platinum tonsiled throat, I still enjoyed the film, especially the big band music....and Liza can really belt out a song...besides being pretty..
Her character has vaulted to film stardom and left her loser husband in the dust; Scorsese devotes what feels like half an hour to a movie within a movie featuring Minelli in one of those epic ballet scenes that always derailed Gene Kelly musicals.
By that point, the film had been going on for far too long, yet at the same time I couldn't believe it would be ending in 10 minutes because it didn't seem to be moving toward any kind of resolution.Scorsese seemed to be unaware that this story had already been told -- maybe he'd never heard of "A Star Is Born." More likely, he was paying homage to that film, but he created something that on its own terms has no reason for existence.Grade: D.
The destructive relationship of lead characters Francine Evans and Jimmy Doyle (Liza Minelli and Robert DeNiro) does not obscure their obvious love for each other and their music.
Scorsese certainly came up with a brilliant idea - Contrasting the glitz and glamour of the 1940s and 1950s movie musicals and jazz nightclubs with a harsly realistic story about a can't-live-with, can't-live-without relationship between a charming but abusive jazz saxophonist and a vulnerable but strong singer - and in many ways it pays off.
Of course, her singing is incredible - in standards like "The Man I Love," the delightful "You Brought A New Kind Of Love To Me," which in true Hollywood fashion she launches into out of nowhere and performs so well (Backed up by De Niro on sax) that they both land a job at a club, and "You Are My Lucky Star" and new songs written for the film by Kander and Ebb like "But the 'World GOes Round" and, of course, the title tune - and her acting is also subtle, shaded, and sympathetic.
Which is really too bad, because this movie definitly deserves another look, especially in its restored version which includes a fantastic production number cut from the original print, "Happy Endings," performed by Minnelli and Larry Kert, Tony in the original Broadway production of "West Side Story," that does a great job of reiterating the movie's themes.
The first thing that needs to be said about Scorsese's highly underrated "New York, New York" is that it can't possibly be fully appreciated by anyone who hasn't seen films like "An American in Paris" and "Singin' in the Rain".
there is a misconception in audience that marty is good in gangster films alone but it is not like that bec he is the one who experimented himself in all kind of films, he did sports movie, periodic pieces, noir, biographical films, in fact comedy too, so is now; a musical...believe me, i never imagined a musical like this, u can see only in marty's films using intellectual camera movements, using more reds and other contrasty colors and the characterisation of the lead characters, usually in musicals u cant see deep emotional complexed characters, so the description goes on...Bottom Line - a MARTIN SCORSESE'S MUSICAL.....
In one of those stunning displays of illogic that can only exist in truly bad films, Martin Scorsese has slavishly recreated the look and feel of old-time movie musicals only so that he can tell a dark and abusive story designed to show just how artificial those old-time musicals were.
Playing an impatient, hot-headed saxophone player in New York City on VJ Day, De Niro meets lovely Liza Minnelli at a party; she turns out to be a talented songbird, yet his jealousy and paranoia quickly puts their musical romance on the rocks.
Singing "New York, New York" with consummate verve, Liza Minnelli energizes a cinematic production that up to that point is apathetic and dreary.My impression is that this film is a kind of 1970's update of the 1954 film "A Star I Born", a movie revered for its story and for the performance of Liza's mother, Judy Garland.
And in both films, viewers see the dark side of this kind of marital relationship.But whereas Norman Maine (James Mason) is a sympathetic character in "A Star Is Born", Jimmy Doyle (Robert De Niro) in "New York, New York" is not.
The characters are too unlikeable to be residing in a big-budget musical, the old Hollywood sets and design left me confused given the films tone, and by god this movie is about 45 minutes too long.
Neither film has a 'sappy ending' (as De Niro's character mocks the title of Minnelli's movie "Happy Endings" within the film), yet neither mocks the musical genre either (as Scorsese and the characters within New York, New York seem to do).
When World War II ends, singer Liza Minnelli (as Francine Evans) meets saxophonist Robert De Niro (as Jimmy Doyle) during celebrations.
Martin Scorsese's music drama is a tribute to the 'big band' era of America and stars Robert DeNiro and Liza Minnelli as a couple of lovers and musicians.
The film starts off brilliantly, with Robert DeNiro trying to charm his way into getting Liza Minnelli's phone number and, in fact, the first half hour is as good as anything Scorsese ever did; but unfortunately the film quickly loses it's way.
The reason the film doesn't completely work is mostly due to the characters that Scorsese has created; Robert DeNiro's character, Jimmy Doyle, starts off as a likable scallywag who's both amusing and enticing, but he quickly degenerates into one of the most hate-inducing characters ever portrayed in a movie.
The characters are the centrepiece of any movie and a film that has no likable characters will be difficult for the audience to like, and that is where 'New York, New York' fails.The film isn't completely devoid of good moments, however; obviously, Robert DeNiro stars, and that is a credit to any movie.
Liza Minnelli seems to be a strange casting choice to me; she was obviously used to musicals by the time this film was made, so I can see Scorsese's view from that point, but she isn't believable as a romantic interest, mostly because she just isn't attractive enough...she's very funny looking, isn't she?
At present NYNY has a lengthy enough running time of 2 1/2 hours, which, to be sure, is unbearable enough as it is.Directed by Martin Scorsese (of all people), NYNY may, in fact, be a super-duper, splashy-dashy musical extravaganza alright, but, by the same token, I found its story to be so utterly insipid that it quickly put me off completely even before I realized what was happening.Set in 1945, during the "Big Band Era" - NYNY amounted to being nothing more than a total "rags-to-riches" story with lots'n'lots'n'lots of musical interludes thrown in for good measure.Insufferably arrogant Saxophonist, Jimmy Doyle (Robert De Niro), and infuriatingly naive VSO Singer, Francine Evans (Liza Minnelli), a couple of typical "nobodies", meet in (where else?) New York on V-J Day at the end of WW2.
But still much easier on the eyes, ears, nose, and, yes, stomach, than a super-deadly 4 1/2 hours.Directed by Martin Scorsese (of all people), NYNY may, in fact, be a super-duper, splashy-dashy musical extravaganza alright, but, by the same token, I found its story to be so utterly insipid that it quickly put me off completely even before I realized what was happening.Set in 1945, during the "Big Band Era" - NYNY amounted to being nothing more than a total "rags-to-riches" story with lots'n'lots'n'lots of musical interludes thrown in for good measure.Insufferably arrogant saxophonist, Jimmy Doyle (Robert De Niro), and infuriatingly naive VSO singer, Francine Evans (Liza Minnelli), a couple of typical "nobodies", meet in (where else?) New York on V-J Day at the end of WW2.
Liza Minnelli's small-time singer comes across as sort of silly, but Robert DeNiro's sax player makes you feel as if you're walking on eggshells (it's basically Jake LaMotta with a sax).Obviously, a lot of the scenes are clearly filmed on sets.
As usual she's best in the songs, which actually make up the finest moments of the movie, and even if she doesn't quite bring out the breathtaking earnestness and captivating presence of her finest work in Cabaret, she certainly comes close for The World Goes Round and the title song.Pointing to the critical and commercial failure of New York New York, Scorsese would later assume its blending of classic era ideas with a modern era style was an experiment that didn't work out.
This may seem like a small issue, but as the film stretches on for 164 minutes, those feel like hours.After the brilliance of Taxi Driver, a dark, gritty look at the inner city streets of New York through the eyes of a mentally disturbed Vietnam vet, Scorsese decided to change directions completely and make a musical that would pay homage to the glorious epics Hollywood churned out in the 1940s and 1950s almost effortlessly.
But I would Never let my daughter see this for fear she might think it is OK to be mentally abused by someone who professes to love her.The plot is weak, there are no redeeming qualities of this film....Liza is a wimp.....Robert D even wears the same suit all the time!Its difficult to believe that Martin Scorsese to have created it.Shame on This for even showing it....and for Robert De Niro and Liza Minnelli for agreeing to be a part of it.I wish I could say something positive, but this is a bad message..
I never knew that the classic Frank Sinatra, New York, New York song was sung for the very first time in this film by Liza Minnelli.
New York, New York is a great and interesting musical by the legend Martin Scorsese starring Robert DeNiro and Liza Minnelli.
Scorsese's love and passion for New York is mostly clear in this movie.On V-E Day 1945, World War II has ended, a man (Rober DeNiro) and a woman (Liza Minnelli) meet each other on the exact same day.
If Scorsese had kept the plot tighter, and moved it along at a faster pace, plus cut down on the musical numbers he would have had a very good (approx) 1 3/4 hour movie.Robert De Niro puts in his usual excellent performance, showing his versatility in terms of the characters he takes on..
If you worship Martin Scorsese, then maybe you think this movie is a masterpiece, or whatever.But, if you are anyone else, you are likely going to find two-and-a-half hours of Robert De Niro and Liza Minnelli endlessly yelling at each other VERY hard to take!
Even NEW YORK, NEW YORK is Scorsese's notorious box-office snafu, it is still branded with his undeniable virtuosity of camera compositions and sleek cinematography which can feasibly best most of the films made by his peers in retrospective, the version I watch is a 163-minute re-issue in 1981, it is a veritable ode to the golden era of jazz standards.Along with a chronic but episodic story-telling, our two leads are Francine Evans (Minnelli) and Jimmy Doyle (De Niro), she is a promising lounge singer while he is a saxophone player and they first meet in a party on V-J Day where Jimmy's brazen flirting meets with Francine's feckless cold-shoulder, it is ever a stereotyped gambit to anticipate their romance blossoming although the ill-feeling exuded from a rakish scoundrel ever since Jimmy's very first appearance overtly portends that they' re a misfit match.
I'll admit that the ending is good and closes the painfully long story as best it could, but its an ending that shouldn't have taken three hours to arrive at.I wanted to like New York, New York because I adore Scorsese.
Jimmy and Francine are both fiercely career-driven, and the film shows how damaging this can be, but De Niro's egotistical musician is virtually the same character that was developed better in the likes of Mean Streets and Raging Bull.
This film, loosely based on the 1941 film THE MAN I LOVE and the real life relationship of singer Cleo Laine and musician John Dankworth, this throwback to the MGM musicals of the 40's and 50's starred Minnelli as Francine Evans, a band singer in the 40's who has a whirlwind romance with a second rate saxophone player named Jimmy Doyle (Robert DeNiro), an explosive and unpredictable musician whose ego was bigger than his talent but did have a way with the ladies and sweeps Francine off her feet into a whirlwind romance and eventual marriage.
It should be noted that "Happy Endings" was restored to the film during a later re-release and it is spectacular; however, despite all these similarities to the '54 classic, Scorcese does put his own stamp on this, presenting the character of Jimmy Doyle as a violent, sometimes abusive, insensitive heel who thinks women are 2nd class citizens and is never able to accept the fact that Francine became the major star he didn't.
Still, it is one of Scorsese's most _different_ films and when was the last time you thought you could say Robert De Niro acted in a musical?2.5/5.
There are different ways I could try to give criticism of New York, New York, director Martin Scorsese's 1977 (first) 'big-budget' film.
Or I could deal with it the overall way, talking about the things just entertainment and story/character and so forth about why I consider this a lesser Scorsese picture.First though, I want to point out what I did like about the film, and there was a good deal I did.
This story of love and their ups and downs in the middle of all that jazz, those songs and that magnificent city where if you can't make it there, you'll make anywhere, it's up to you, "New York, New York" is really an exuberant work for Scorsese who has some skills in showing his Vincente Minnelli/Stanley Donen side, he manages to make a decent musical in the sense of presenting his audience a musical the way they were back in the Golden era of Hollywood.
This film without the drama, with more musical sequences and the vitality of a "Chicago" (both films have songs written by Ebb & Kander team) then we would have THE movie.Those who wonder in bewilderment how such project failed with public and critics back in 1977, I say this, the reason for this to fail were huge: musicals were dying in that decade, few survived to be considered great; the script is purely improvisation, not solid enough to be good; and Scorsese was coming from the amazing success of "Taxi Driver" still fresh in people's minds, the dark, dangerous and filthy New York he gave us there was more interesting than this colorful and snowy city.
But for jazz saxophonist Jimmy (Robert De Niro) and big-band singer Francine (Liza Minnelli), the story will be a little different.
Here, and in certain other flashy shots, it can seem like he is just showing off.Mostly, what I will take from this movie are the performances of De Niro and Minnelli: acting, singing, dancing, and playing the saxophone with all their heart, two wonderful 1970s actors in a middling 1940s musical..
Though as many mentioned this movie was not Scorsese best but  IMHO worthy one to see especially if your ASPIRING MUSICIAN DESTINED FOR SHOWBIZDespite the so called bad and good parts of acting on the lead roles of theGREAT Robert De Niro as Jimmy Doyle sax player big band era, bad name forItalian actor, and Liza Minnelli as Francine Evans as singer, both struggling in "making it" in showbiz very realistic  of the time plus struggling in making their relationship  work in hopes of a love and a  stable marriage, eventually, or do they?.
The one big production number, "Happy Endings" comes much too late to make a difference in the film's musical repository and draws a direct and scathing comparison between Liza and her mother, Judy Garland's performance from "A Star Is Born" (1954).
Having not seen many of those, I can't say if this was successful as a tribute or not, but on its own terms, it's quite frustrating.The plot is that Jimmy Doyle (Robert De Niro) tries to hook up with Francine Evans (Liza Minnelli) during a V-J Day party (the film starts in 1945).
De Niro and Minnelli showed what true acting is like in that famous car scene near the end of the film.Liza does definitely come across as the subordinate character.