Film: "Newsies" (1992).
Francis Sullivan (played by Christian Bale) who has escaped from a boys'
reform school, operates under the assumed name of Jack Kelly and is the top "newsie"
in New York City in the 1890s. Newsies, young immigrant boys who struggle
for survival in the filthy slums of the inner city, hawk newspapers for a half a cent each.
When greedy newspaper magnate Joseph Pulitzer (played by Robert Duvall) raises the price of newspapers
by one-tenth of a cent, Jack organises the newsies and leads a strike against the city's
newspapers. Things get complicated for him while he tries to lead a double life as a union
organiser, and yet retain his anonymity to avoid being again confined to the
boys' reform school.
Newsies has a good story, and the actors generally give fine performances,
but the musical aspects of this movie seem totally out of place. The singing is mediocre,
and although the 1990s style of modern dancing is technically well done, it seems out of place being
performed by these tough, street wise newsies in an 1890s New York City slum.
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