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Newsies
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Newsies | |
|---|---|
 DVD cover |
|
| 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 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. It has since gained a modest yet enthusiastic cult following and was released on DVD in 2002.
Taglines:
- A Thousand Voices. A Single Dream.
- They Found the Courage to Challenge the Powerful! (DVD release)
Contents |
Newsies is based on the true story of the Newsboys Strike of 1899 in New York City. Thousands of homeless kids 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 had lost his mother at a young age and his father was in jail. Jack had pride so he lied about his whole life to everyone even his name. 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 in the factory because of a broken arm. Shortly afterwards the price of newspapers to the newsboys is raised by 10 cents per 100 papers 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 wanting to help his friends, he faces lots of tough decisions involving money and a good place to sleep. Along the way the boys are aided by newspaper reporter Bryan Denton (Bill Pullman) and vaudeville performer Medda (Ann-Margret), as well as being hindered by Snyder, warden of "The Refuge" juvenile detention facility (Kevin Tighe), and Pulitzer. They get every newsie from all of New York to team up and strike against the big-shot newspapermen.
- 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
- 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 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
- Newsies at the Internet Movie Database
- Newsiespedia.com: the Newsies wiki
- NML: Newsies Mailing List
- NewsiesJunkie: | FanSite