NEWSIES
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1992 Mark R. Leeper
Capsule review: The story of the 1899 newsboy strike
in New York City is told with about the same liberty that
MATEWAN took. At the same time it is half-heartedly a
musical. As a musical it is perhaps a misfire, but the
historical tale is worth seeing. Rating: high +1 (-4 to +4).
It is New York City, 1899. Life is hard if you are a boy on your own with no money. But if a boy is poor and needs work, he could buy newspapers at a cent each and sell them on the street for two cents a piece. You might earn a dollar a day that way. Or you might not be able to sell what you have and end up losing money. A really good newsie might get $50 a week. Joseph Pulitzer (played by Robert Duvall) decides to raise the price to the newsboys by 10%. Seeing their livelihood drying up, newsboys Jack Kelly and David Jacobs (played by Christian Bale of EMPIRE OF THE SUN and David Moscow) decide to organize the New York City newsboys into a strike against the local newspapers. Pulitzer, deciding he has a fight on his hands, decides to play as dirty as he needs to win. NEWSIES is the story of that strike.
Disney Studios tried something a little different with NEWSIES. The historical film is currently at a low ebb since historical education is also at a low ebb. For once more films being made are set *after* the 20th Century than *before*. Still, Disney did make a historical film about an 1899 newsboy strike. Then they tried to aim it at both adults and children. Then on top of that they decided to make it a musical. This is an idea that is either audacious or nutty, depending on your point of view. So, does it all work? Well, sort of. My impression of the trailer is that it all sounded like a good idea except for making it a musical. Certainly once I saw the film I would say that its biggest problem is that it is a musical. The idea of a big pro-labor musical has a nostalgic feel reminiscent of Broadway shows like PINS AND NEEDLES. This certainly is a more engaging theme for a musical than "I'm in love" or "Let's put on a show" Like the vast majority of musicals. The problem here is that this is only half-heartedly a musical. There are only about six songs, so the viewer is generally thinking straight drama when a character or group of characters starts acting funny and with a jolt the viewer realizes they are going into a song. It may well be that making this a musical was an afterthought after Menken's success with BEAUTY AND THE BEAST. I noted without minding that the film used Bale's and Moscow's real singing voices--if you really want to call them singing voices. David Fristrom, in a review of the film, noted the dances were not very well filmed and he is probably right, thought I might not have picked up on it. I did like the song "The World Will Know," which had almost some of the force of LES MISERABLES. Incidentally, please note that the name of Pulitzer's newspaper is "The New York World." The script has some fun with that name; if you miss the name, you miss the point of some of the word-play. When Pulitzer says, "When I created the World..." it is intended as a subtle statement that Pulitzer is a megalomaniac. Instead it sounds like he is certifiably insane.
As for the story of the strike, it has a minor Dickensian tone crossed with obvious Disney touches. Visually the old New York was created with perhaps too many obvious matte shots, but maybe in a musical we expect a pat plot and make allowances for some of the visuals being less than authentic- looking. In spite of the nits that can be picked, there is enough substance to appreciate here. I might not recommend NEWSIES but I rate it a high +1 on the -4 to +4 scale.
Mark R. Leeper
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