An uncomfortable blend of Hollywood artifices, circa 1945, and bitter feminist truths, circa 1970. New York, New York is superficially a musical pastiche, incorporating bits and pieces of Big Band memorabilia, Love Me or Leave Me backstage soap opera, MGM's musical fantasies, and the Judy Garland cult. But its Big Subject is the doomed relationship of a sexist saxist (Robert De Niro) who is remorselessly pushy, callous, and self-centered, and a Big Band vocalist (Liza Minnelli) who is in equal degrees career-oriented, marriage-oriented, and motherhood-oriented, and is basically well-rounded and perfect. Because of director Martin Scorsese's fidgety, two-faced personality (part-time student, fan, copycat, and part-time didact, auteur, revisionist) and also because of the deleted hour and a half of footage, the movie doesn't hang together at all well; but it has a number of entertaining things, in a number of clashing moods. (1977) — Duncan Shepherd
This movie is not currently in theaters.