New York, New York (1977)

Directed by Martin Scorsese. Starring Robert De Niro, Liza Minnelli, Barry Primus, Mary Kay Place, Lionel Stander, Leonard Gaines, Frank Sivero, Dick Miller, Clarence Clemons, George Memmoli. [PG]

Rare fizzle for director Scorsese is a lavish but uninvolving tribute to Old Hollywood and post-war NYC during the Big Band era, with saxophonist De Niro and singer Minnelli falling in love and fighting for more than two-and-a-half hours. There’s no faulting the stars, and there’s good music throughout (including Minnelli’s effusive show-stopper “But the World Goes ‘Round” and the now-ubiquitous title theme), but there’s very little story to latch onto and the repetitive nature of the mostly one-sided bickering—he’s too boorish and egotistical, she’s too timid and appeasing—renders a good portion of the second half redundant (largely improvised, the dialogue has a tendency to meander and even exhaust). Despite dark and gritty undercurrents, Scorsese favors nostalgic artificiality in the production, with candy-colored sets shot on back lots instead of genuine locations; as a quasi-musical, this angle favors the glamour of the song numbers and settings, but makes the human drama even less convincing. Ambitious and not lacking in sensational moments, it’s still an experiment that simply never coheres.

46/100