Blank Check with Griffin & David is covering Martin Scorsese’s entire filmography, and the MVD Marquee Collection coincidently puts out this new 4K of New York, New York, a true Scorsese blindspot for me. New York is a film I forgot even existed. Once this one arrived in the mail, I thought, “Oh yeah, that terrible musical flop he made.” That’s a bit reductive, and wrong, but I imagine others feel the same way about this film.
First off, this isn’t a musical. Yes, there is a lot of music in it, and there is a full on musical segment near the end, but it’s not as if characters are walking around singing the plot. I’m not a fan of musicals, so it relieved me when it turned out to be a film about musicians rather than a musical. But it is Scorsese’s tribute to the classic MGM musicals of the 1940s and ‘50s that he grew up on. And that’s the most enjoyable element.
This is a film clearly filmed on giant sets with tons of extras and choreography. Plenty of scenes look comically fake, but that’s the intention. I loved the look of the film in its intended 1.66:1 ratio and the softness of the film grain showcased in 4K. It truly feels like a film from another time. I can see why it was dismissed at the time, but looking at it now, I appreciate the homage to the period. And of course anything Scorsese shoots is going to be visually interesting. My favorite segment from a visual standpoint has to be the club scene in which they discuss Liza Minnelli’s contract and Robert De Niro ends up getting kicked out. It all looks great already, but then De Niro gets shoved into this tunnel of light bulbs, and you can appreciate the entire film.
To go to that extreme for a simple scene of a drunken De Niro getting tossed out of a club requires a kind of maniac, and coked-up 1970s Martin Scorsese was indeed that coked-up maniac (the failure of this film coupled with his drug use nearly ruined him).
New York, New York is simply one of those rare films in which a filmmaker is able to cash in on the success of his previous film (in this case Taxi Driver), and he takes that leverage and goes all in on a passion project (which is why Scorsese is the perfect fit for a Blank Check series). Of course, any passion project is not going to be without fault.
I found the run time of 164 minutes to be excessive, partly because De Niro plays such a piece of shit in this. It’s tough to see him be a complete asshole for the fiftieth time when you’re already over two hours in. But Minnelli’s sympathetic performance helps balance it a bit. Still, it’s a slog at times.
Despite my quibbles with the film, I’m glad I finally got to check it out, in a new 4K transfer, no less. Any Scorsese fan should check it out, too.
Transfer and Special Features
I already mentioned the transfer above, but I’ll just reiterate that this isn’t one of those brilliantly sharp transfers. Instead, it’s one that captures the original vision of the film, which is necessarily on the soft side.
The special features are all ported over from the previous blu-ray release. There’s an introduction from Scorsese, a commentary, a making-of doc, a featurette on Minnelli, and (somehow) deleted scenes.
The included blu-ray disc also contains the shorter International Version of the film.
And there is a slipcover and a reversible sleeve for the case.
In all honesty, I didn’t check out many of the special features because I was kind of exhausted by the film, but I imagine any true fan of the film will want to check them out.