- Joined
- Feb 8, 1999
- Messages
- 18,424
- Real Name
- Robert Harris
"Take ten terrific girls and only nine costumes..."
The William Friedkin directed The Night They Raided Minsky's in an anomaly in every sense of the word. It was written by Arnold Schulman and Norman Lear
From what I'm aware, it was re-structured by editor Ralph Rosenblum, given its frenetic style, and patched together when the great Bert Lahr, who was to have a far larger role in the film, sadly passed away during production.
The cast is superb. Jason Robards, Britt Ekland (Mrs. Peter Sellers), Norman Wisdom, Forrest Tucker, Harry Andrews, Joseph Wiseman (you'll recognize him as Dr. No), Denholm Elliott, Elliot Gould (his debut performance), and those ten girls, the average age of whom would be the same as your grandmother at the time of filming.
The setup is sweet. Burlesque vs those who would hold up morality, with a young Amish girl thrown in, who wants to be a dancer.
An MGM release via Olive, it looks and sounds terrific. There are some audio problem, but they're original source related.
The film works, as it lives within a worts and all world, especially to the dancers, for which every one could be the producer's niece or someone's girlfriend. The talent of the actors involved was to make them appear untalented.
Bottom line, it's a fun way to spend 99 minutes, and a sweet way to say goodbye to the man who will always be known as the cowardly lion.
The image is stellar. Grain, color, black levels, resolution (which generally goes along with grain) are all superb.
Image - 5
Audio - 5
Pass / Fail - Pass
Recommended
RAH
