New York, New York

A musical that begins on the day the Second World War ends. Jimmy plays the saxophone. In the hall where the victory is being celebrated he sees Francine in the crowd and will not leave her alone. She is not interested. He insists, tries to be funny, and behaves like an outright nuisance. The next day they go to an audition together. Jimmy plays, Francine sings, and the job is given to both. From there the film is a story of touring. Buses, halls, hotels, rehearsals and a marriage. Francine rises. Her voice comes forward, she becomes the band's singer, and recording offers arrive. Jimmy cannot carry it. He wants to make his own music, wants to work for nobody, and sees her success as his own loss. What the narrative is interested in is not love but incompatibility: both are good musicians and precisely for that reason cannot build the same life. The form is deliberately artificial. The streets are built in a studio, the light is that of old musicals, and the sets do not hide being sets. The content is not artificial. The narrative takes the shell of the classical musical and puts a bad relationship inside it, and that contradiction is its whole idea. De Niro plays the part hard. The character is not charming; he shouts constantly, is jealous, and in one scene inside a car becomes genuinely frightening. The title song was written for this film. The number later became known worldwide in another performance and is known today more from that recording than from the film. The film was not well received on release. A long musical section was cut before it opened and was restored later. Liza Minnelli, Robert De Niro and Lionel Stander are in the cast. Martin Scorsese directed. Who it is for: anyone who knows classical musicals and is curious about Scorsese's experimental side. Who it is not for: anyone expecting an enjoyable musical; the film is long, the relationship suffocating, and its main character almost impossible to like.