Cult Flops - New York, New York

United Artists, 1977
Starring Liza Minnelli, Robert De Niro, Lionel Stander, and Barry Primus
Directed by Martin Scorsese
Music by John Kander and others; Lyrics by Fred Ebb and others

This notorious flop has a lot in common with our previous review, Funny Lady. Both were vehicles for divas of the time set in the mid-20th century, had new music by Kander and Ebb mixed in with older songs, paired the diva with a largely non-singing tough guy, had unhappy endings, and were huge productions with major problems at a time when musicals were going out of style. The difference is, this one came out during the summer when Star Wars was on everyone's lips and couldn't find an audience. How does the tale of a singer and a jazz musician whose act works better than their relationship look now? Let's head to a nightclub in New York just as World War II ended and find out...

The Story: Francine Evans (Minnelli) meets Jimmy Doyle (De Niro) in a nightclub on V-J Day. She's not really interested, but he still gives her his phone number. They end up in the same taxi the next day, and Jimmy drags her along to an audition. Jimmy fights with the club manager, but Francine saves the session by joining in. The owner assumes they're an act and offers them a job. One job leads to many jobs at increasingly better clubs and to Jimmy backing his own orchestra. He and Francine eventually fall in love and marry.

Jimmy, however, is an aggressive and abrasive man who tends to fight with everyone around him, including Francine. Francine's thrilled when she gets pregnant, but Jimmy's not sure...and her going into labor early and the birth of their son leads to the end of their marriage. They eventually go separate paths and have separate successes, but they never forget what they had when they were making music together.

The Song and Dance: If you're a fan of Kander & Ebb, Minnelli, or big band music, this will be a real treat for you. The first half does a wonderful job of recreating the world of the traveling small-time orchestra during the tail end of the big band era - grimy hotels, bumpy roads traveled in rickety buses, sour-faced managers, cigarette smoke wreathing around a dingy nightclub. Minnelli is magnetic as Francine, the tough singer who falls for Jimmy almost in spite of himself, then realizes she's moved beyond him. The period-accurate costumes and terrific music add more layers to the realism.

Favorite Number: The title song is by far the most famous number from this one, and the only aspect of this movie to make it big at the time. Minnelli gets to belt the heck out of it several times, notably in the sequence towards the end. She also gets "The Man I Love" on a piano and another Kander and Ebb hit, "But the World Goes 'Round" near the end. De Niro is a better singer than you might think when he joins Mary Kay Place for an unusually upbeat "Blue Moon" with the orchestra. Some of the instrumental orchestra numbers are a blast too, especially "Opus Number One" early on and "Bobby's Dream."

The big number here is "Happy Endings," a spoof of elaborate dance routines in the film musicals of the 40's and 50's and of show business-based melodramas like A Star Is Born. In this spoof-within-a-musical, Francine is an usher who falls for a producer and becomes a star. It hits all the beats, from them meeting cute when he needs her help in the theater to his suddenly departure when she becomes a hit and the sudden return. It's big, bright, and bold...and really kind of funny if you've seen the types of numbers and films Scorsese's making fun of.

Trivia: Like Funny Lady, the movie ran into major production problems, going over budget and deepening Scorsese's decent into drugs and alcohol. He originally released it at 155, but United Artists reedited it to a little over two hours, including dropping the "Happy Endings" number. "Happy Endings" and several other scenes were restored for a 1981 re-release.

What I Don't Like: I know Scorsese was going for a darker version of a musical drama of the 1940's and 50's, but the stylized, obviously fake sets and overwrought romance clash badly with the more realistic on the road sequences and De Niro's explosive performance. Jimmy is such an obnoxious and disagreeable jerk, I frankly wonder why Francine even bothered with him. She was smart to finally ditch him. As cute as "Happy Endings" is, maybe they should have left the movie at two hours. It's way too long, with a thin story drawn out so long, you pretty much stop caring whether or not these two loud, abrasive people are going to stay together in the end or not.

The Big Finale: For all the problems, this is necessary for fans of Minnelli and Scorsese; worth a look for lovers of big band and swing as well.

Home Media: Not on streaming, but the two-disc DVD and Blu-Ray aren't hard to find.

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