NEWSIES (1992)

NEWSIES (1992)

Tagline: For years they've delivered the papers. Now they're about to make the headlines.

(History, Musical) [PG]

You see, it ain't about the money, Dave. If Joe gives in to nobodies like us, it means we got the power. And he can't do that, no matter what it costs.

This one is a musical based on the July 1899 when two newspaper tycoons decide they need more money. Instead of raising the price of the paper, they decide to raise the price to distribute it. The distributors of the paper are all mostly kids that are already dirt poor getting paid almost nothing. They are called “Newsies” in case that wasn’t clear. The “Newsies” decide they have had enough and freakin Batman (just kidding it's Christian Bale who plays Jack Kelly) is going lead the way in doing something about it. At first, he’s getting help from just David Jacobs (played by David Moscow) and the rest of their own “Newsies” circle, however soon other cities are involved. Can they overcome the rich and powerful newspaper creators to regain fair pricing, or will they lose their jobs to new workers who have accepted their fate?

One little known secret might be that I am a bit of a sucker for musicals ever since GREASE came out. So not knowing this was a musical when I started watching it left me pleasantly surprised. I also had no idea Christian Bale was in this and remember saying…” hey, that kid looks like Batman!”. Set in NY this movie has a bit of a GANGS OF NEW YORK feel only with kids picking most of the fights. Almost every time there is a break in the action and sometimes even in between action sequences, someone is going to bust out singing in a thick NY accent and it’s all pretty fantastic. Except for one little slight complaint, I will get to later.

Talent-wise this movie is loaded, and there are some standout performances. The choreography is also pretty solid. Ele Keats plays Sarah Jacobs who ends up being a bit of a love interest for Jack Kelly. She is great in this playing well off Christian Bale and probably does a better job than Milla Jovovich would have. Jovovich also tried out for the part. Like all musicals, this thing has a few pretty fun songs and a few duds, but overall the strongest part of this whole movie is the story. It’s also slightly haunting how relevant it is to how the media operates today. Whatever they don’t like, they edit out. They control the narrative in this movie with an iron and brutal fist. In this thing, they have all the power which makes watching the storyline unfold that much more satisfying (child labor notwithstanding). 

I don’t have any real complaints about this movie outside of some of the dialog is hard to pick up due to the incredibly thick NY accents everyone has. The running time feels just about right and it doesn’t come across as overly preachy or pretentious. They spend just enough time getting you introduced to the characters either in song or in dialog making you want these kids to overcome against incredible odds. 

For me, this movie gets a solid 5 out of 7. It is a movie I would gladly watch again, but it’s quite in my, “this is mind-blowing” wheelhouse. If you love or even like musicals check it out. Even for the glimpse into history, it’s pretty fascinating. 

GRAPHICS ARE THE PROPERTY OF TOUCHWOOD PACIFIC PARTNERS AND ARE USED FOR REVIEW PURPOSES ONLY. 

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