Everything about Newsies totally explained
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
choreographer Kenny Ortega (
Dirty Dancing,
High School Musical) and featured the music of
composer Alan Menken (
Little Shop of Horrors,
The Little Mermaid,
Beauty and the Beast,
Aladdin).
Although the film wasn't 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 wasn't 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 day as ). 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.
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. 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 that'll 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 Larkson (
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
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
Prologue – 0:48
Carrying the Banner – 6:15
Santa Fe – 4:18
My Lovey-Dovey Baby – 1:30
Fightin' Irish: Strike Action – 1:50
The World Will Know – 3:20
Escape from Snyder – 2:08
Seize the Day – 2:01
King of New York – 2:25
High Times, Hard Times – 2:54
Seize the Day (Chorale) – 1:12
Santa Fe (Reprise) – 1:50
Rooftop – 3:13
Once and for All – 2:24
The World Will Know (Reprise) – 1:50
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%.
The movie briefly garnered some controversy for featuring a heavily male-dominated cast. Many feminists protested the film during screenings because of the lack of strong female characters, especially since it was released a year after Thelma & Louise. After it was explained that the movie was set in a time when women didn't have many rights and was based on actual events, the feminists eventually backed off. However, the controversy hurt the film's popularity. The movie has gained popularity in recent years.
Stage Adaptation
Music Theater International is currently working on a stage adaptation of Newsies. In an e-mail response to a question, an MTI employee stated that "at this time, the performance rights to NEWSIES are still not available and a release date hasn't been set, although we're hopeful that a stage adaptation might finally be available sometime in 2008-2009".
Historical Basis
The film is loosely based on the actual New York City Newsboys Strike of 1899, which began on July 20 and ended on August 2. The conflict was resolved when the newspapers agreed to buy back all unsold newspapers.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Newsies'.
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