Newsies (1992)

32% of critics liked it
(25 reviews)
87% of users liked it
(48,912 ratings)

A failed effort to revive the big-budget movie musical, Newsies attempted to create toe-tapping, song-and-dance excitement out of the true story of an 1899 strike by newspaper boys against publishing magnate Joseph Pulitzer. The "newsies" band together to protest a pay cut by Pulitzer (Robert… More A failed effort to revive the big-budget movie musical, Newsies attempted to create toe-tapping, song-and-dance excitement out of the true story of an 1899 strike by newspaper boys against publishing magnate Joseph Pulitzer. The "newsies" band together to protest a pay cut by Pulitzer (Robert Duvall), organizing a union to protect their rights and ensure fair wages. They are helped along the way by Medda (Ann-Margret), a local dance-hall performer who befriends the boys and provides an opportunity for an additional song or two. Director Kenny Ortega had previously choreographed Dirty Dancing, and composer Alan Menken had provided the acclaimed scores for Beauty and the Beast and Little Shop of Horrors, but their work here failed to capture the spark of their popular successes. Unable to connect with older or younger viewers, Newsies gained a reputation as a major bomb that cut short an attempt to bring back the live-action musical, though in the intervening years it has gained a small but appreciative cult. ~ Judd Blaise, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: PG, 2 hr. 1 min.
Directed By: Kenny Ortega
Genres: Musical & Performing Arts, Kids & Family

In Theaters: Apr 10, 1992 Wide
On DVD: Jan 15, 2002
Studio: Buena Vista Pictures

Critic Reviews

Variety Staff, Variety
The writers have created cardboard cutouts instead of flesh-and-blood characters.
James Berardinelli, ReelViews
It's a bit of a throwback and a solid family film and, at the time, represented a well-intentioned leap of faith of the sort that studios rarely take.
Janet Maslin, New York Times
This film's real trouble lies in its joyless, pointless execution.
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
Although the material does indeed involve young protagonists, no effort is made to show their lives in a way today's kids can identify with. This movie must seem as odd to them as a foreign film.
Hal Hinson, Washington Post
Its intentions seem fairly modest, and so are its achievements. It's a modestly enjoyable diversion.
Desson Thomson, Washington Post
It looks like its own rehearsal -- an early one at that.
Charles Cassady, Common Sense Media
Kids go on strike in gritty, historical musical.
, TV Guide's Movie Guide
Making his directorial bow, choreographer Kenny Ortega strains valiantly to breathe life into this misguided musical.
Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out
If you have a soft spot for feisty, back-talking bambini with cute squints, backwards caps and names like Crutchy, Dutchy and Bumlets, your heart will melt.
Steve Crum, Kansas City Kansan
Overdone, splashy period Disney musical.
Alex Sandell, Juicy Cerebellum
Pretty much "sucksies."
Jeffrey Westhoff, Northwest Herald (Crystal Lake, IL)
Looks exactly like what it is, a spectacularly bad idea.
Walter Chaw, Film Freak Central
If the crick in my neck is any indication, I watched Kenny Ortega's Newsies like a dog hears a new sound. Most probably, my eyebrow was also arched.
Christopher Null, Filmcritic.com
People need heroes and uplifting tales, I suppose, but why alter history to give them to the masses?

Read all 14 critic reviews

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Featured Audience Ratings

Nelson P

An extremely odd and bizarre musical that still doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. Why Christian Bale was in this is beyond me.
danny d

really the last good musical before a huge death period for musicals in hollywood. great dancing and fun.
Martin B

Believe it or not, I'm actually a fan of modern movie musicals. But I had never seen this one, and only finally caved out of sheer curiosity to see Christian Bale sing and dance. Boy am I glad I did. Watching Bale was every bit as hilarious as I expected it to be. No wonder… More
Believe it or not, I'm actually a fan of modern movie musicals. But I had never seen this one, and only finally caved out of sheer curiosity to see Christian Bale sing and dance. Boy am I glad I did. Watching Bale was every bit as hilarious as I expected it to be. No wonder he's a bit embarrassed by this (in his defense, he signed on before it was changed to a musical, and was none too happy about it). Though he doesn't need to be. Even in something this silly, his acting talent really showed. The movie itself? Wasn't horrible, but probably isn't anything I'll ever watch again either. (and hey, I recognized at least 3 kids that went on to be on <i>Hull High</i>!)
Michael S

I really enjoyed it.
Jason S

A good musical. It's a good movie and I didn't think there was anything wrong with it.
Curtis L

Cheesy feel good movie, but I love it. love the dance and music and story.
Cameron J

Read all about it! Read all about it! "Disney" is unbearably cheesy! World in shock! Man, the only thing more annoying than sarcasm is "Disney". Now, that's doesn't mean that this film is bad, but it is certainly damaged by its being so blasted… More
Read all about it! Read all about it! "Disney" is unbearably cheesy! World in shock! Man, the only thing more annoying than sarcasm is "Disney". Now, that's doesn't mean that this film is bad, but it is certainly damaged by its being so blasted "Disney". It's bad enough that this is cheesy, but it's cheesy in a way that we've seen before. The storyline is both concieved and told in a way that hardly drifts from the traditional "Disney" film. Okay, so the tone is different by a little bit. Of course, that's another flaw, as the tone is just different enough for the cheesy score and forced, overdrawn and musical numbers - which are also too similar to fellow "Disney" films - to not fit. Getting to other flaws, a lot of the acting is really, really bad. Don't worry Christian Bale fans, your man manages to work around that, as we'll discuss later, but most everyone else is embarassing. Really, when you think about it, the film's real problem is that it's just so animated and for it to be in live-action, it makes all of the cartoony themes that work in "Disney's" animated universe, fall flat and not fit. Outside of being cheesy and overly "Disney", the film is pretty slow and will often fail to hold your interest, but it's not tedious, because there's still plenty to get you back into the film, such as the cinematography and production designs. The designs in this film are excellent, really capturing the period, but still being very dazzling and fun to watch, mostly because it's captured so well by the cinematography. Also, as overdrawn, forced and overly "Disney" as the musical numbers are, that doesn't mean that they're not very entertaining, being well-choregraphed, fairly well-sung and overall very well-directed. Of course, with the guy who was behind the moves in "Dirty Dancing" directing, what can you expect? I mean, it's a bit embarassing to see the great Christian Bale having singing and dance solos, but it's still pretty fun, regardless. Come to think of it, Batman might not be the best thing to evoke, because not matter how cheesy as this film is, it's almost infinitely less cheesy than any line in "Batman Begins". Speaking of Christian Bale, he also keeps the film going, not just because he can sure bust a move, but because he's still got that charm and charisma to carry the film and keep it rather interesting, because his character, generic though, he may be, is so interesting. In the end, in spite of its slowness and being too "Disney", "Newsies", carried by its excellent production value, fun musical sequences and charismatic lead performance by Christian Bale, remains a dazzling-looking and rather charming little number.
Sunil J

Ugh. Something about this movie always bugged me. Maybe it was just too campy.
Marion R

I thought this was a good musical. The songs were good and unforced. Upside Christian Bale! Downside you have to hear Bill Pullman sing...

Read all 9 featured audience ratings

Cast

            Christian Bale as Jack Kelly

            David Moscow as David Jacobs

            Luke Edwards as Les Jacobs

            Ann-Margret as Medda Larkson

            Max Casella as Racetrack

            Ele Keats as Sarah Jacobs

            Marty Belafsky as Crutchy

            Arvie Lowe Jr. as Boots

            Robert Duvall as Joseph Pulitzer

            Aaron Lohr as Mush

            Bill Pullman as Bryan Denton

            David James Alexander as Gov. Teddy Roosevelt

            Michael Lerner as Weasel

            Kevin Tighe as Snyder

            Charles Cioffi as Seitz

            Ogie Banks III as Newsies Dancer

            Christopher Bonomo as Newsies Dancer

            William Boyett as Judge Movealong Monahan

            Damon Butler as Newsies Dancer

            Daxon Calloway as Newsies Dancer

            Dee Caspary as Snitch

            Scott Caudill as Newsies Dancer

            Joseph Conrad as Jake

            Gabriel Damon as Spot Conlon

            Jeffrey DeMunn as Mayer Jacobs

            D.J. Dellos as Newsies Dancer

            Bret Dieball as Newsies Dancer

            Ivan Dudynsky as Dutchy

            Shay Duffin as Captain McSwain

            Chris Dupre as Newsies Dancer

            Dak Eubanks as Newsies Dancer

            Robert Feeney as Snoddy

            Matthew Fields as Snipeshooter

            Tom Finnegan as Bunsen

            Brian Friedman as Newsies Dancer

            Jesus Fuentes as Newsies Dancer

            Deborra-Lee Furness as Esther Jacobs

            Frank Girardeau as Chief of Police Devery

            Tony Gonzales as Newsies Dancer

            Michael A. Goorjian as Skittery

            Rob Grayson as Newsies Dancer

            Shon Greenblatt as Oscar Delancey

            Jo Ann Harris as Patrick's Mother

            I.M. Hobson as Gammon

            Michael Irvin as Newsies Dancer

            Robert Jaquez as Newsies Dancer

            Todd Jenkins as Newsies Dancer

            Larry Jones as Newsies Dancer

            Gregg Kent-Smith as Toby the Candy Butcher

            Terry Kohl as Bailiff

            Kevin Kruger as Newsies Dancer

            David Larson as Newsies Dancer

            Terry Lindholm as Newsies Dancer

            Mark Lowenthal as Jonathan

            Dominic Lucero as Bumlets

            Alan Luzietti as Newsies Dancer

            Ryan MacDonald as Mayor Van Wyck

            Dominic Maldonado as Itey

            Kevin McCasland as Newsies Dancer

            Dean McFliker as Newsies Dancer

            James Earl Miller as Newsies Dancer

            Patrick Lars Olsen as Newsies Dancer

            Travis Payne as Newsies Dancer

            Eric Pesqueira as Newsies Dancer

            Craig Raclawski as Newsies Dancer

            Jim Raposa as Newsies Dancer

            Michael Rohrbacher as Newsies Dancer

            Greg E. Russell as Newsies Dancer

            Melody Santangelo as Nun

            David Sheinkopf as Morris Delancey

            Sylvia Short as Nun

            David Sidoni as Pie Eater

            Kevin Stea as Swifty

            Jeff Thysell as Newsies Dancer

            Wes Veldink as Newsies Dancer

            Michael Warwick as Newsies Dancer

            Joshua Wiener as Newsies Dancer

            Lois Young as Nun

            Jason Yribar as Newsies Dancer

            Marc Lawrence I as Kloppman

            Frank Novak as Polieman

            David Evans as Newsies Dancer

            Trey Parker as Kid Blink

            Kevin Michaels as Ten Pin

            Mark David as Specs
See full cast