Night They Raided Minsky's

UPC: 883904106814

Studio: United Artists

MPAA Rating: PG13   Contains:[Adult Situations, Not For Children]

Summary: Narrator Rudy Vallee announces that he knows we are a "real high class audience," thus he has "some swell story to tell." Thus begins The Night They Raided Minsky's, set in the rarefied world of burlesque in the 1920s. Amish girl Rachel Schpitendavel (Britt Ekland) comes to New York in hopes of securing work as a dancing interpreter of religious stories. She gets a job at Minsky's burlesque house, where the dance numbers are "Biblical" only when some gum-chewing stripper performs Salome's Dance of the Seven Veils. The many subplots leading up to Rachel's accidental invention of the striptease during a midnight Minsky's show involve many: top banana Chick Williams (Norman Wisdom) and womanizing straight-man Raymond Paine (Jason Robards Jr.); Billy Minsky (Elliot Gould), whose efforts to stage girlie shows at the National Winter Garden are looked down upon by Minsky Sr. (Joseph Wiseman), who holds the lease on the theater; gangster Trim Houlihan (Forrest Tucker), who intends to shut down Minsky's if he can't get a piece of the action; Ekland's preacher father Harry Andrews, who shows up in New York just in time to see his daughter bare all in front of a cheering audience; and Vance Fowler (Denhom Elliot), self-appointed protector of public morals, whom Paine hopes to embarrass by having Rachel perform her religious dance. A straightforward adaptation of Rowland Barber's novel The Night They Raided Minsky's would seem to be called for here, but novice director William Friedkin and film editor Ralph Rosenblum seem determined to turn the film into a kaleidoscope Hard Day's Night clone. Happily, producer Norman Lear is able to accommodate several nostalgic re-creations of such burlesque chestnuts as "Crazy House" and "Meet Me Round the Corner," as well as six delightful in-period songs penned by Bye Bye Birdie's Charles Strouse and Lee Adams, the best of which is the ribald "Perfect Gentleman." Bert Lahr makes his last appearance on screen in the role of washed-up funnyman Professor Spats; he died during production, and had to be extensively doubled throughout. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Category: Comedy

Features: cc

Night They Raided Minsky's

Format: DVD

Release Date: 05/20/2008

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Theatre Wide-Screen

Audio: DD1 Dolby Digital Mono, DD2 Dolby Digital Stereo

Runtime: 99 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English,Spanish

Subtitles: English,Spanish,French

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Chapters: Disc #1 -- Night They Raided Minsky's
1. New York, 1925 [5:16]
2. Main Titles [3:13]
3. Negative Press [5:06]
4. Potential Investor [2:50]
5. They Jiggle! [4:42]
6. Perfect Gentleman [3:08]
7. Falsies [3:16]
8. Ray's Scheme [2:51]
9. Bonus Book [4:42]
10. Bible Dance [5:01]
11. Fast Talker [2:31]
12. Looking For a Girl [4:54]
13. The Prop Shop [2:36]
14. Best Moment [4:22]
15. Payback [6:30]
16. A Sign From God [6:49]
17. The Midnight Show [5:01]
18. She's Gone [3:46]
19. Trim's Club [3:04]
20. Know Your Fingers [2:12]
21. What a Night [6:13]
22. Rachel's Strip Tease [6:39]
23. Raid on Minsky's [2:34]
24. End Titles [1:35]

Cast and Crew: Richard Libertini  Actor 
Mike Elias  Actor 
Rudy Vallee  Actor 
Herbie Faye  Actor 
Judith Lowry  Actor 
Joe E. Marks  Actor 
William Friedkin  Director 
Norman Lear  Producer 
Norman Lear  Screenwriter 
Arnold Schulman  Screenwriter 
Charles Strouse  Composer (Music Score) 
Bud Yorkin  Producer 
Lee Adams  Composer (Music Score) 
Sidney Michaels  Screenwriter 
Jason Robards, Jr.  Actor 
Britt Ekland  Actor 
Norman Wisdom  Actor 
Forrest Tucker  Actor 
Harry Andrews  Actor 
Joseph Wiseman  Actor 
Denholm Elliott  Actor 
Elliott Gould  Actor 
Jack Burns  Actor 
Bert Lahr  Actor 
Gloria Le Roy  Actor 
Eddie Lawrence  Actor 
Dexter Maitland  Actor 
Lillian Hayman  Actor 
Will B. Able  Actor 
Frank Shaw  Actor 
Chanin Hale  Actor 
Ernestine Barrett  Actor 
Kelsey Collins  Actor 
Marilyn D'Honau  Actor 
Kathryn Doby  Actor 
Joanna Lehmann  Actor 
Dorothea MacFarland  Actor 
Billie Mahoney  Actor 
Carolyn Morris  Actor 
June Eve Story  Actor 
Helen Wood  Actor 

Country: USA