Review of New York, New York

I wouldn't describe "New York,New York" as a musical,rather it's a film about music that uses some of the conventions of the musical. One of the leads,Mr Robert de Niro neither sings nor dances.The other, Miss Liza Minelli,does both. Mr de Niro plays a jazz musician,a good one but not a great one. Jazz musicians tend to be obsessive about their music.This can interfere with their acquisition of social skills.Mr de Niro's character possesses poor social skills. Miss Minelli's character is a little more polished and a lot more talented.I can understand her admiring Mr de Niro's saxophone playing but I cannot accept her marrying him.He is,basically,a pig. She is going to go far - he is going to go to Butte,Montana.That is patently obvious very early on.He might be a good sideman,but he's a lousy leader.If he were to be honest with her he'd say "Stick with me kid and I'll drag you down". He is no better a father than he is a husband and they split up. Mr Scorsese is not in the happy endings business. Mr de Niro carries on playing his saxophone in 3rd rate venues,Miss Minelli becomes a big star. There is not a lot of plot to get in the way of the music. Mr de Niro considers he has musical integrity - jazzspeak for earning peanuts,Miss Minelli has sparkly dresses and big hair. The "big number",later adopted by Mr Frank Sinatra as his own,is full of N.Y. slick self-regard,but undeniably well done. Mr Scorsese doesn't seem much interested in "nice" characters although there are a few dotted about in some of his films,rather like "token" presences.The token count in "New York,New York" is quite low. It is not a film I watched with much pleasure.