In 1899, 17-year-old Jack "Cowboy" Kelly lives with other struggling newspaper hawkers ("newsies") in New York City, selling copies of the New York World on the Manhattan streets ("Carrying the Banner"). When David Jacobs and his younger brother Les join the group, Jack notices David's intelligence and Les's marketable cuteness, and egotistically takes them under his wing. Unlike most newsies, the brothers work to financially support their family, as their father Mayer lost his factory job after being injured. Invited to the Jacobs' home for dinner, Jack becomes enamored with their sister Sarah. He later laments his isolation due to lacking his own family and fantasizes about traveling to New Mexico ("Santa Fe").
After New York World publisher Joseph Pulitzer raises the prices required for newsies to buy newspapers from taking the idea and credit from his right hand man Bunsen from his distribution centers, Jack and David angrily galvanize the other Manhattan newsies to go on strike ("The World Will Know"). While the others notify newsies in New York's other boroughs, Jack and Les confront Pulitzer, who ejects them from his office. Bryan Denton, a reporter for The Sun, takes an interest in the boys' story. Jack and David inform the Brooklyn newsies, whose leader, "Spot" Conlon, reluctantly opposes the strike. David motivates the dejected Manhattan newsies ("Seize the Day"), who consequently ambush the distribution center and destroy the newspapers. Pulitzer's enforcers, brothers Oscar and Morris Delancey, capture disabled newsie "Crutchie", who is placed in an orphanage and juvenile detention center called the Refuge, where the sketchy Warden Snyder neglects the orphans to embezzle money the city provides him for their care.
The newsies attempt deterring strikebreakers, but the violent struggle is revealed as a trap set by the Delancey brothers. Before the newsies can be arrested, Spot Conlon arrives with the Brooklyn newsies and the two groups repel the police. After Denton puts the story on the front page of The Sun, the ecstatic newsies imagine potential fame ("King of New York") before planning a rally. Snyder informs Pulitzer that Jack is an escapee from the Refuge, inspiring Pulitzer to have Jack arrested. During breakfast with Sarah atop the Jacobs' apartment building, Jack explains his desire to flee to Santa Fe, and wonders if she would miss him.
At Medda Larkson's Bowery, Jack, David, and Spot encourage the gathered newsies from around the city to stick together for their cause. Before they all return to their own boroughs, Medda cheers them up with a song ("High Times, Hard Times"). The police then arrive and arrest the newsies, but Denton pays their legal fines for them. Snyder testifies against Jack, revealing his real name as Francis Sullivan; his mother is deceased and his father incarcerated. Jack is sentenced to four years of rehabilitation in the Refuge, while Denton is reassigned as a war correspondent, unable to report on the strike. Pulitzer offers to waive Jack's sentence and pay him a salary if he works despite the strike, or he will have the other newsies thrown into the Refuge. The boys attempt to rescue Jack, who tells them to leave.
Though the newsies are shocked and dismayed to see Jack at work the next day, he rescues the Jacobs brothers when the Delanceys attack, knowingly breaking his deal with Pulitzer. Denton notifies the newsies that their strike has not swayed public opinion, since the city thrives on child labor and Pulitzer has warned newspapers against reporting on the strike. Using an old printing press of Pulitzer's, they publish a "Newsie Banner" which they distribute to child workers citywide ("Once and For All"). Denton shares the paper with Governor Theodore Roosevelt, exposing the mistreatment of children at the Refuge. Numerous child laborers join the strike, stalling the city's workforce. Jack and David confront Pulitzer, who finally concedes.
Roosevelt has Snyder arrested, releases the children from the Refuge, and thanks Jack for alerting him to the situation. He offers Jack a ride, who asks to be taken to the train yards so he can head to Santa Fe. The newsies are disheartened by this, but Jack returns shortly, with Roosevelt having convinced him that he belongs in New York. As the newsies celebrate his return, Sarah and Jack kiss, and Roosevelt returns Spot to Brooklyn.
Cast
Christian Bale as Jack "Cowboy" Kelly / Francis Sullivan
Walt Disney Pictures tapped its film financing partner, Touchwood Pacific Partners, to fund the production of the film.[4] The production had a $15 million budget.[5] Alan Menken's longtime collaborator, Howard Ashman, was too sick from AIDS to work with Menken on this film, and he would eventually die on March 14, 1991. Menken brought in lyricist Jack Feldman to help.
Newsies was released on April 10, 1992, via distributor Buena Vista Pictures. The film did not recoup its $15 million budget, making less than a fifth of that at the box office.[5]Newsies has since gained a measurable fan base.[2]
In 1992, the film was released on Walt Disney Home Video, while a collector's edition DVD was released in 2002. Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment released the film, while a 14th Anniversary Edition DVD, on May 30, 2006. on Blu-ray, as a 20th Anniversary Edition, on June 19, 2012.
Reception
Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film's average score is 39% based on 38 reviews, with an average rating of 5/10. The critical consensus reads: "Extra! Extra! Read all about Newsies instead of suffering through its underwhelming musical interludes, although Christian Bale makes for a spirited hero."[6] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 46 out of 100, based on 19 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[7] Film critic and historian Leonard Maltin called it Howard the Paperboy, noting "This ambitious (up to a point) project is done in by a lackluster score, and by cramped production numbers that seem cheap despite the movie's hefty production budget -- not to mention its bloated running time."[8]
Box office
The film grossed $2,819,485 domestically. The film did not recoup its $15 million budget, making less than a fifth of that at the box office.[5] It also ranks among the lowest-grossing live-action films produced by the Walt Disney Studios. This is due to the film being pulled from many theaters after a poor opening weekend.
The actual newsboys' strike of 1899 lasted from July 20 to August 2. The leader of the strike was a one-eyed young man named Louis Balletti, nicknamed "Kid Blink", who spoke with a heavy Brooklyn accent that was often phonetically transcribed when he was quoted by newspapers. Kid Blink is featured in the film as a minor supporting character, while the role of strike leader is given to the fictional Jack "Cowboy" Kelly. Kid Blink and another real-life newsie, Morris Cohen, were the inspiration for Kelly. The actual strike ended with a compromise: the World and Journal agreed to buy back all unsold copies of the newspapers.
The musical opened to previews on Broadway at the Nederlander Theatre for a limited engagement from March 15, 2012, to March 28, 2012, in previews and from March 29, 2012, to June 10, 2012, in its official engagement.[12] This was later extended through August 19, 2012, after the first weekend of previews and then extended again, this time to an open-ended run.[13] The show went on to earn eight Tony Award nominations, including Best Musical,[14] winning Best Choreography and Best Original Score.[15] The show closed on August 24, 2014, having played 1,004 performances.[16][17]
