Newsies (1992)

Director:

Kenny Ortega

Writers (WGA):

Bob Tzudiker (written by) &
Noni White (written by)

Release Date:

10 April 1992 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Family | Musical

Tagline:

A Thousand Voices. A Single Dream.

Plot:

July, 1899: When Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst raise the distribution price one-tenth of a cent per paper...

Plot Keywords:

Newspaper | Publisher | Fight | New York City | Orphan

Awards:

1 win & 5 nominations

Cast

Christian Bale	...	Jack 'Cowboy' Kelly
David Moscow	...	David Jacobs
Luke Edwards	...	Les Jacobs
Max Casella	...	Racetrack Higgins
Gabriel Damon	...	Spot Conlon
Marty Belafsky	...	Crutchy
Arvie Lowe Jr.	...	Boots
Aaron Lohr	...	Mush
Trey Parker	...	Kid Blink
Dee Caspary	...	Snitch
Joseph Conrad	...	Jake
Dominic Maldonado	...	Itey
Matthew Schoenfeld	...	Snipeshooter (as Matthew Fields)
Mark David	...	Specs
Ivan Dudynsky	...	Dutchy

Also Known As:

Newsboys
The News Boys (UK)

Runtime:

121 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Iceland:L | UK:PG | Australia:PG | Singapore:PG | Spain:T | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Burbank, California, USA

Company:

Touchwood Pacific Partners 1

Trivia:

While Jack Kelly (Christian Bale) is singing "Santa Fe", there's a part where he's riding a horse. The part when his arms are thrown out and he is bent back, he is actually riding on the shoulders of his stunt master.

Goofs:

Continuity: Dutchy enters the stall twice during the beginning of "Carryin' the Banner".

Quotes:

David Jacobs: Come on, keep running!
Jack Kelly: You shouldn't have done this, Dave. They could put you in jail!
David Jacobs: I don't care.
Jack Kelly: C'mere.
[pushes him against the wall]
Jack Kelly: What about your family? What happens to them if you go to jail? You don't know nothin' about jail. Now, thanks for what you done, but you get out of here.
David Jacobs: I don't understand.
Jack Kelly: I don't understand either, but just get outta here!
[pushes him away]
David Jacobs: No!
[...]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Mystery Science Theater 3000: Werewolf (#10.4)" (1998)

Lots of Fun, and Tuneful Too!

Waaaaaaaaaaaay back in the early 1990's, when Jeffrey Katzenberg was still a top exec at Disney, he had one of his less successful ideas -- to bring back the break-into-song musical. So, as the story goes, he selected three scripts that were about to go into production and gave them to Disney Music Maestro Alan Menken and asked him which of the scripts could be turned into a musical.

And that's how NEWSIES was born.

It's a great story, too, being a fictionalized account of the newsboy strike in New York at the turn of the century. It follows the exploits of a ragtag band of teenage boys, including Cowboy (Christian Bale), who dreams of becoming a ranch hand in Santa Fe, and David & Les (David Moscow & Luke Edwards), brothers who take up selling newspapers when their father is injured on the job.

Conflict arises when Joseph Pulitzer (Robert Duval) gets greedy and raises the price of his newspapers to the newsboys, but not to the public. The outraged "newsies" decide to go on strike, which eventually galvanizes all the working children in the city to stand up for themselves.

It's a fun film, with Duval playing his villain to the hilt, but Ann-Margret is wasted in her role as a showgirl (both of her musical numbers are badly edited down to just snippets of song). Bale is the real wonder here, though, singing and dancing with surprising aplomb. The songs overall are quite good, but a couple of them are hard to distinguish from each other. My favorites are the opening number, "Carrying the Banner," and the rousing "The World Will Know." It seems odd, though, that Duval doesn't get a musical number of his own, considering in Disney's animated musicals the villains usually get the best songs ("Poor Unfortunate Souls" or "Be Prepared" anyone?).

It's a shame that the film didn't do better financially, since as a result of its dismal box office Disney declined to ever make another like it. First time director Kenny Ortega, who also choreographed (he was known for his choreography of DIRTY DANCING), directed one more feature after this, the underrated Bette Midler flick HOCUS POCUS; since that film also failed to find an audience, he hasn't directed a movie since. And that's a shame; he has a very distinctive kinetic style that served both films well.

Seek out a copy of NEWSIES, and go for the widescreen version. You won't be disappointed!