Newsies

Newsies
Theatrical release poster by John Alvin
Directed by	Kenny Ortega
Produced by	Michael Finnell
Written by	Bob Tzudiker Noni White
Starring	Christian Bale David Moscow Bill Pullman Robert Duvall Ann-Margret
Music by	Music Alan Menken Lyrics Jack Feldman
Cinematography	Andrew Laszlo
Editing by	William H. Reynolds
Distributed by	Walt Disney Pictures
Release date(s)	April 10, 1992
Running time	121 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$15 million (est.)
Gross revenue	$2,819,485

Newsies is a 1992 American Disney musical starring Christian Bale, David Moscow, and Bill Pullman. Robert Duvall and Ann-Margret also appeared in supporting roles. The movie gained a cult following after its initial failure at the box office. The film marked the directorial debut of choreographer Kenny Ortega (Dirty Dancing and High School Musical) and featured the music of composer Alan Menken (Little Shop of Horrors, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Enchanted).

Although the film was not originally intended to be a musical, it contains twelve songs and multiple dance sequences (for which the young cast trained for approximately 10 weeks). Musical highlights include "Carrying the Banner," "Santa Fe," "Seize the Day," "The World Will Know," and "King of New York."

Newsies was not a commercial success when first released; in fact, it ranked among the highest-costing and lowest-grossing Disney live-action films in the studio's history (due to it being released on the same day as FernGully: The Last Rainforest which also failed).^{[citation needed]} Movie critic/historian Leonard Maltin even christened it "Howard the Paperboy" (in reference to another infamous box-office flop, Howard the Duck).

However, the picture gained fans when it was released on VHS and was played on the Disney Channel. After much petitioning, Newsies was released on DVD in 2002. It has since gained a modest yet enthusiastic following.^[1][2][3]

Plot

Newsies is based on the true story of the Newsboys Strike of 1899 in New York City. Thousands of homeless children are living in Newsboys lodging houses, including Manhattan newsboy Jack "Cowboy" Kelly (Christian Bale), who is a regular newsboy selling newspapers for Joseph Pulitzer (Robert Duvall) and his paper, the New York World. The newsboys wake up and get ready to sell papers ("Carrying the Banner"). Jack meets David Jacobs (David Moscow) who leaves school temporarily and joins the newsies along with his little brother Les (Luke Edwards) to help his family while his father is out of work with a broken arm. Though the injury was work-related, he lacked the protection of a union; he was deemed useless and fired with no severance. Les looks up to the older Jack. Jack seeing this as an opportunity to make money by using Les because he is younger and cute. Jack teaches Les how to trick people into buying a paper by pretending to be sick and making up headlines. The 3 of them duck into Irving Hall to escape being chased by a cop. Jack introduces Les and David to Medda "Swedish Meadowlark" Larkson (Ann-Margret), a vaudeville star who performs at Irving Hall ("Lovey Dovey Baby"). After they witness a violent part of the trolley strike and Les begins to fall asleep, David invites Jack back to his house to meet his family and sister Sarah. After declining to spend the night Jack confesses his desire to escape to Santa Fe ("Santa Fe"). Soon, Jack and David become good friends, Shortly afterward, the price of newspapers for purchase by the newsboys is raised 1/10 of a cent, decided by joint decision of Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst.

Feeling they will be unable to bear the added cost, Jack organizes a strike with the aid of David. As the protagonist, Jack struggles with his past as he forms an important friendship with David and his family. Between his dream of one day going to Santa Fe and currently wanting to help his friends, he faces many difficult decisions involving money and loyalty. Along the way, the boys are aided by newspaper reporter Bryan Denton (Bill Pullman) and Medda, as well as being hindered by Snyder (Kevin Tighe), warden of "The Refuge" juvenile detention facility. Jack and the newsies gain the cooperation of rival newsboy groups from New York and Brooklyn to team up and strike against the big-shot newspapermen. They eventually win their hard-fought demands after self-publishing and distributing a sympathetic newspaper flier and gaining the support of other non-union child workers around the city.^[4][5]

Cast

• Christian Bale as Jack "Cowboy" Kelly / Francis Sullivan
• David Moscow as David Jacobs
• Luke Edwards as Les Jacobs
• Max Casella as Racetrack Higgins
• Gabriel Damon as Spot Conlon
• Michael A. Goorjian as Skittery
• Marty Belafsky as Crutchy
• Arvie Lowe Jr. as Boots
• Aaron Lohr as Mush
• Bill Pullman as Bryan Denton
• Ann-Margret as Medda Larkson
• Jeffrey DeMunn as Mayer Jacobs
• Deborra-Lee Furness as Esther Jacobs
• Ele Keats as Sarah Jacobs
• Kevin Tighe as "Mistuh Snieder"
• Michael Lerner as Weasel
• Robert Duvall as Joseph Pulitzer

Soundtrack

The album cover from the soundtrack.

The soundtrack to Newsies was released in 1992 by Disney. A remastered reissue was released in 2001. The music was composed by Alan Menken and the lyrics were written by Jack Feldman.

1. "Prologue" – 0:48
2. "Carrying the Banner" – 6:15
3. "Santa Fe" – 4:18
4. "Lovey-Dovey Baby" – 1:30
5. "Fightin' Irish: Strike Action" – 1:50
6. "The World Will Know" – 3:20
7. "Escape from Snyder" – 2:08
8. "Seize the Day" – 2:01
9. "King of New York" – 2:25
10. "High Times, Hard Times" – 2:54
11. "Seize the Day (Chorale)" – 1:12
12. "Santa Fe (Reprise)" – 1:50
13. "Rooftop" – 3:13
14. "Once and for All" – 2:24
15. "The World Will Know (Reprise)" – 1:50
16. "Carrying the Banner (Finale)" – 6:22

Reaction

Newsies received harsh reviews from most critics and audiences and made $2,819,485 at the U.S. box office, becoming a box office bomb. On Rotten Tomatoes, its average score was 29%. However, Newsies has gained a considerable cultural fan base. Christian Bale is reportedly not a fan of the film. He said: "Time healed those wounds. But it took a while."^[6]

Awards

Young Artist Award (1993)

Nomination

"Outstanding Young Ensemble Cast in a Motion Picture"

• Christian Bale
• David Moscow
• Luke Edwards
• Max Casella
• Marty Belafsky
• Arvie Lowe Jr.
• Aaron Lohr
• Trey Parker
• Gabriel Damon
• Shon Greenblatt
• Ele Keats

Golden Raspberry Awards (1993)

Nominations

• Worst Picture
• Worst Director
• Worst Supporting Actor - Robert Duvall
• Worst Supporting Actress - Ann-Margret

Wins

• Worst Original Song - "High Times, Hard Times"

See also

• Newsboys Strike of 1899
• Union Organizer

References

1. ^ AV Club - Newsies DVD Review
2. ^ Toon Talk - Newsies
3. ^ Christian Bale - Newsies
4. ^ IMDb - Newsies
5. ^ Newsies VHS/DVD case
6. ^ EW - Spotlight on Christian Bale

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Newsies

• Newsies at the Internet Movie Database
• Newsies at Allmovie
• Newsies at Box Office Mojo
• Newsies at Rotten Tomatoes
• NML: Newsies mailing list
• NJ: Newsies Junkie
• Film stills
• New York Newsies Awards