Review: The Night They Raided Minsky’s


Humourless ‘Moral Decency’-type Denholm Elliott is clamping down on burlesque joint Minsky’s, frequently raiding the bawdy theatre. Enter wide-eyed and innocent Amish girl Britt Ekland who flees her pious father (Harry Andrews, with the grouchiest-looking brow you’ve seen outside of “Sesame Street”!) to venture to NYC and become a dancer who incorporates bible stories into her routines. She ends up sorta living her dream...working at Minsky’s, but she ain’t tellin’ no bible stories, nor is she wearing much clothing, as a supposedly French burlesque dancer. Meanwhile, comic duo Jason Robards (the quick-thinking opportunistic one) and Norman Wisdom (the sweet-natured, lonely one) both have designs on Minsky’s newest ‘talent’, and for differing reasons. Robards comes up with the idea of promoting a midnight strip show with Ekland the star attraction, but, in a sham designed to make the censors look like buffoons, Ekland will do her biblical routine instead. But, uh-oh, here comes mean-faced ‘ol dad to come and ‘rescue’ his innocent Amish daughter! Elliott Gould (in his debut) is the theatre manager with a wholly disapproving dad of his own to contend with (Joseph Wiseman), an Orthodox Jew who technically owns the joint, but threatens to not renew the lease due to its unholy nature which he so strongly disapproves of. He will, however sell the place to his son for a hefty price, so he’s hardly a righteous man. Bert Lahr turns up as the doorman who originally ‘discovers’ Ekland and brings her into the fold. Forrest Tucker excels as a gangster with a share in Minsky’s himself.



Interesting, amusing, compulsively watchable 1968 William Friedkin (“The French Connection”, “The Exorcist”) look back at the era of vaudeville and burlesque entertainment of the 1920s, with lots of fine performances, memorable characters, and period flavour. I can’t stand this kind of archaic, antiquated entertainment (well, the dancing girls aside), and even I had a jolly good time with it, and it was obviously a labour of love for the filmmaker. Robards is excellent as the straight man, whilst slapstick-y Wisdom (a veteran British music hall comic), Andrews (a comic caricature, but a funny one), Wiseman, Ekland, Gould (perfectly cast), and Tucker are top-notch in support. Final film for cinema’s Cowardly Lion, Bert Lahr, who sadly died during filming. Don’t believe what you’ve read, though, his role isn’t as diminished as you’ve been lead to believe, at least I can’t imagine he was intended to have played a bigger part in things. Scripted by Arnold Schulman (“And the Band Played On”, “Funny Lady”), Sidney Michaels (“Cry of the Innocent”, with Rod Taylor), and Norman Lear (of “All in the Family” fame), it came from a Rowland Barber book.



Rating: B-

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