Newsies
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Kenny Ortega
Produced by	Michael Finnell
Written by	Bob Tzudiker Noni White
Starring	Christian Bale David Moscow Luke Edwards Max Casella Gabriel Damon Marty Belafsky Bill Pullman Ann-Margret Ele Keats
Music by	Alan Menken
Cinematography	Andrew Laszlo
Editing by	William H. Reynolds
Distributed by	Walt Disney Pictures
Release date(s)	April 10 1992
Running time	121 minutes (approx.)
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$15 million USD (estimated)
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Newsies is a 1992 Disney live action film 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 Dirty Dancing choreographer Kenny Ortega (High School Musical) and featured the music of composer Alan Menken (Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, Aladdin).

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," 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. 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 cult following.^{[citation needed]}

Taglines:

• A Thousand Voices. A Single Dream.
• They Found the Courage to Challenge the Powerful! (DVD release)

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 Kelly (Christian Bale), who is a regular newsboy selling newspapers for Joseph Pulitzer (Robert Duvall) and his paper, the New York World. Jack "Cowboy" Kelly has a dream of escaping NYC to go to Santa Fe, NM. David Jacobs (David Moscow) 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 because of a broken arm. Soon, Jack and David become good friends, David introduces Jack to his family, and Jack falls in love with Sarah, David's sister. Shortly afterward, the price of newspapers for purchase by the newsboys is raised 10 cents per 100 papers, decided by joint decision of Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst.

Feeling they will be unable to bear the added cost, Jack Kelly organizes a strike with the aid of David Jacobs. As the protagonist, Jack Kelly 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, New Mexico, and currently wanting to help his friends, he faces lots of difficult decisions involving money and lodging. Along the way, the boys are aided by newspaper reporter Bryan Denton (Bill Pullman) and vaudeville performer Medda Larkin (Ann-Margret), as well as being hindered by Snyder, warden of "The Refuge" juvenile detention facility (Kevin Tighe). Jack and the newsies gain the cooperation of every newsie from New York and Brooklyn to team up and strike against the big-shot newspapermen.

Cast

• Christian Bale as Jack Kelly/Francis Sullivan
• David Moscow as David Jacobs
• Bill Pullman as Bryan Denton
• Robert Duvall as Joseph Pulitzer
• Ann-Margret as Medda Larkin
• Luke Edwards as Les Jacobs
• Max Casella as Racetrack Higgins
• Marty Belafsky as Crutchy
• Gabriel Damon as Spot Conlon
• Aaron Lohr as Mush Meyers
• Dominic Lucero as Bumlets
• Mark David as Specs
• Ivan Dudynsky as Dutchy
• Arvie Lowe Jr. as Boots
• Kevin Stea as Swifty
• Michael A. Goorjian as Skittery
• Trey Parker (II) as Kid Blink
• Joseph Conrad as Jake
• Robert Feeney as Snoddy
• Dominic Maldonado as Itey
• Dee Caspary as Snitch
• Matthew Fields as Snipeshooter
• Shon Greenblatt as Oscar Delancey
• Ele Keats as Sarah Jacobs
• Michael Lerner as Weasel

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.

Track listing

1. Prologue – 0:48
2. Carrying the Banner – 6:15
3. Santa Fe – 4:18
4. My 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, and became a box office bomb. On Rotten Tomatoes, its average score was 29%.

See also

• Newsboys Strike of 1899
• Kenny Ortega

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Newsies

• Newsies at the Internet Movie Database
• NML: Newsies Mailing List
• NJ: Newsies Junkie

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