Film
Movie theaters, reviews and showtimes in New York, plus articles, trailers and more
- Home
- Box Office
- Listings
- Trailers
- Features
Bookmark this page- Edition:
Newsies (1992)
Director: Kenny Ortega
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
Directed by choreographer Ortega, this Disney musical is based on a strike of 1899, in which New York's newsboys rallied against press baron Joseph Pulitzer (Duvall). It espouses the Great Man theory of history, with dynamic young tearaway Jack Kelly (Bale) galvanising the masses with his sheer charisma, sullen jeans-ad looks, and middling ability to carry a tune. If you have a soft spot for feisty, back-talking bambini with cute squints, backwards caps and names like Crutchy, Dutchy and Bumlets, your heart will melt. Frighteningly adept attention-grabbers to a lad, these nouveaux Dead End Kids gambol to a brassy, forgettable score; the anachronistic proto-hip-hop touches rankle, though Jack Feldman's lyrics provide the odd witty touch. Not quite Matewan with tunes; more like Oliver! without them.Author: JRo
Cast & crew
Director: Kenny Ortega
Producer: Michael Finnell
Cast: Christian Bale, Bill Pullman, Ann-Margret, Robert Duvall, David Moscow, Ele Keats, Kevin Tighe, Michael Lerner, Charles Cioffi, Marc Lawrence full cast
Genre(s): Musicals
Duration: 121 mins
Most popular on this site
Features
To the letter
Forty years later, Costa-Gavras's Z still brims with fury.
Mind over matter
David Cronenberg reflects on a most bizarre body: his own corpus of work.
Fool's gold
Can an Oscar win lead to a cursed career? Here are five stories of postaward professional meltdowns.
We are the championed
Terrorists and teens abound in this year's "Film Comment Selects."
A history of violence
Matteo Garrone's kaleidoscopic Gomorrah wallops you with Italy's crime crisis.
True romantic
James Gray exchanges urban amorality for amour in Two Lovers.
Playing in the dark
MoMA salutes pianist Stuart Oderman's 50 years as the one-man sound of silents.
Junk bonds
Cast and crew recall the making of the classic NYC drug drama The Panic in Needle Park.
What do you think?
Post your review now