20 thoughts on “Liza Minnelli Movies”

1. Happy New Year to all of you!
   I have seen 8 Liza movies, favorite is of course Cabaret. NY NY was a major disappointment for me back in the day, I was really looking forward to that one and remember leaving the cinema thinking that with that cast and director I really had expected more. Arthur was funny, but didn’t work for me on second viewing. Lucky Lady was a bore, Rent a Cop had a capital “B” written all over it, A Matter of Time an interesting failure, Silent Movie is one of her better films, but I am hard pressed to remember her in it…I like Stepping Out with wonderful support from Julie Walters. Again, my favorite Minnelli moment is not on the screen, but at a live concert in the 80’s, when she gave one “Encore” after the other to a crowd that wasn’t willing to let her go. I remember that she was wet from sweat, saying she had no more material to offer but would, if the audience wanted, be willing to sing some of “Mummy’s songs”. The ensuing applause was tremendous. What made this worth mentioning is the fact that the concert hadn’t been selling and was transferred from a 18.000 seat capacity into a 2.000 seat one (the upgrade I got was astounding, btw.). I had witnessed the same during Dionne Warwick’s “Heartbreaker” tour, and HER reaction was to leave the stage after what everyone thought was a break…only when a male voice asked us to leave because “Miss Warwick has already left the building” we understood that the Lady had obviously not been amused by the lack in attendance.

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2. I have seen 4 Liza Minelli movies. That is a low total, I know, but 3 of them are the top 3 movies:

   Cabaret – I watch this movie about once a year and it is easily my favourite of hers
   Arthur – a fun comedy I haven’t seen in a while
   Silent Movie – another favourite comedy of mine
   Muppets Take Manhattan – I’ve always enjoyed the muppets

   Of the films I haven’t seen, New York, New York interests me the most. In regards to Steve’s comment about the movie and the title song, I knew it came from this movie. In fact, Liza Minelli thanked Sinatra for making the song a standard as it was not popular when the film first came out. This song is not to be confused with another song of the same title that appeared in the Sinatra/Gene Kelly musical On the Town.

   RE: Bob’s post: I had forgotten this information, but yes I am familiar with the joint statement by
   Peck and Heston about Brando turning down his Oscar.

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   1. HI FLORA

      Thanks for vindicating my memory. As one gets older the finer details are not always recollected as clearly as they used to be and I don’t like misleading people.

      I think that Chuck and Greg may have made the statement because they had some organisational role at the 1973 Oscar ceremony and therefore felt they had a duty to comment on the controversy.

      Hope your New Year is going well. Take care BOB

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      1. Hey Bob…your memory is doing great. The only time I see it failing is when your forget how big a fan of Joel Hirschhorn you are….lol.

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         1. HI Bruce

            Glad to see you are practising your sense-of-humour side so early in the New Year.

            I’m a big fan of Colman’s 1942 Random Harvest and he got his memory back at the end of that so possibly some day I’ll remember how much Joel really once meant to me!

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   2. Hey Flora….I have seen 5 of her movies. So my total is only slightly higher than your 4. Seen Cabaret a couple of times. She is good in movie, but movie is ok in my book.

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      1. Hey Flora…..Wow….actually fell asleep as I was commenting back. Getting old? Just lack of sleep? Probably a combination of both.

         I think you would like New York, New York. It is one of Danny Peary’s Cult Movie book movies. So I have seen it a few times. On the first viewing….one gets the impression it is DeNiro’s character’s overbearing personality that dooms the relationship….but on repeat viewings….you see it is Liza’s character’s decisions and actions that doom the relationship. Still….the ending which features the song New York, New York is pretty impressive…and that comes from a person that does not like musicals at all.

         Thanks for the info on the Chuck Peck Brando statement….interesting stuff.

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3. I was going to do a video on Liza Minnelli some time last year but she’s done so few movies! [Cue Bruce and Bob gasping]

   I’ve seen… 3 of her movies… oh dear I thought it’d be more than that. The three I saw are – Cabaret, Arthur and Silent Movie. And it’s been ages since I watched them.

   From the rest I wouldn’t mind watching ‘Lucky Lady’ for Burt and Gene though it’s one of their lowest rated movies.

   ‘New York New York’ might be interesting, I didn’t know until a few years ago that the popular Sinatra song of the same title originated from that movie and was first sang by Liza.

   Good stuff Bruce. Vote Up!

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   1. Hey Steve
      1. Thanks for the feedback on Liza Minnelli page.
      2. Wow….our tally counts are pretty low….me 5, Flora 4 and you 3……goodness my 9 year old is only slightly behind us with her 0….lol.
      3. New York, New York (movie) actually ends with New York, New York (song) see attached video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ge7NiJuSpac
      4. Ok…..those that know…there are a couple of quick scenes after she sings the song before the credit roll.
      5. Lucky Lady looks like it could be really bad…..in many ways it looks like Burt’s City Heat with Clint…which has a few nice moments….but not the finest for Burt or Clint. But Liza, Gene and Burt were near there peak when it got made…so it was a box office winner.
      6. This is one of the times….glad I have the trailer attached.
      7. Good stuff!

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      1. Liza could really belt them out Bruce, thanks for the link.

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4. I actually saw Stepping Out in a cinema in London. Liza Minnelli has never been on the Oracle of Bacon Top 1000 Center of the Hollywood Universe list. These are the actors she has worked with on the December 15, 2018 list.

   6 ROBERT DE NIRO New York, New York (1977)
   18 JOHN GIELGUD Arthur (1981)
   18 JOHN GIELGUD Arthur 2: On the Rocks (1988)
   27 FRANK WELKER Pinocchio and the Emperor of the Night (1987)
   41 MICHAEL HORDERN Lucky Lady (1975)
   46 KEITH DAVID The Oh in Ohio (2006)
   62 JAMES CAAN SILENT MOVIE (1976)
   73 BURT REYNOLDS Lucky Lady (1975)
   73 BURT REYNOLDS Rent-a-Cop (1987)
   73 BURT REYNOLDS SILENT MOVIE (1976)
   74 GENE HACKMAN Lucky Lady (1975)
   94 PAUL NEWMAN SILENT MOVIE (1976)
   95 JAMES EARL JONES Pinocchio and the Emperor of the Night (1987)
   117 MICHAEL YORK Cabaret (1972)
   137 SHELLEY WINTERS Stepping Out (1991)
   154 KATHY BATES Arthur 2: On the Rocks (1988)
   172 MICKEY ROONEY Journey Back to Oz (1974)
   213 DANNY DEVITO The Oh in Ohio (2006)
   221 GEOFFREY LEWIS Lucky Lady (1975)
   291 ANNE BANCROFT SILENT MOVIE (1976)
   303 MARK MARGOLIS Arthur (1981)
   325 ALBERT FINNEY Charlie Bubbles (1967)
   382 ROBERT DOWNEY JR. A Century of Cinema (1994)
   393 JAMES REMAR Rent-a-Cop (1987)
   430 GABRIELE FERZETTI A Matter of Time (1976)
   489 DICK MILLER New York, New York (1977)
   532 HEATHER GRAHAM The Oh in Ohio (2006)
   540 DOM DELUISE Silent Movie (1976)
   545 ISABELLA ROSSELLINI A Matter of Time (1976)
   585 PAUL RUDD The Oh in Ohio (2006)
   605 LIONEL STANDER New York, New York (1977)
   679 RICHARD MASUR Rent-a-Cop (1987)
   680 PARKER POSEY The Oh in Ohio (2006)
   788 MICHAEL ROOKER Rent-a-Cop (1987)
   947 MARY KAY PLACE NEW YORK, NEW YORK (1977)

   Sad to say Liza has only appeared with 10 Oscar winners.

   ANNE BANCROFT SILENT MOVIE (1976)
   GENE HACKMAN Lucky Lady (1975)
   GEORGE BURNS A Century of Cinema (1994)
   INGRID BERGMAN A Matter of Time (1976)
   JESSICA TANDY A Century of Cinema (1994)
   JOHN GIELGUD Arthur (1981)
   JOHN GIELGUD Arthur 2: On the Rocks (1988)
   KATHY BATES Arthur 2: On the Rocks (1988)
   PAUL NEWMAN SILENT MOVIE (1976)
   ROBERT DE NIRO New York, New York (1977)
   SHELLEY WINTERS Stepping Out (1991)

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   1. Hey Dan. Very cool that you saw Stepping Out in London….maybe Steve was in the same theater at the same time….lol. Looking at your lists…..so Burt and Liza were in three movies together. I do not think I would have ever guessed that before doing this page. Only one in the Top 10….and only 5 in the Top 50…not very stellar numbers at all. Seems I have been aware of her all my life….yet….did not realize she did not make many movies. 10 Oscar winners is low….but not too bad when you realize she made so few movies. As always…thanks for sharing this information.

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5. To an extent I have always been in 2 minds about Liza. On the one hand I have (1) regarded her as a talented performer (2) was hugely entertained by her in Cabaret (3) liked her in the Arthur movies and thought she and little Dud made good chemistry and (4) I respect her as Judy’s daughter.

   However as most film buffs probably know Marlon Brando caused a commotion at the 1973 Academy Awards by sending a 26 year old Indian girl [Marie Louise Cruz – aka Sacheen Littlefeather] to reject on his behalf his Godpop Oscar as a protest about his personal perception of mistreatment of the American Indian Community.

   When it came to Liza’s turn to receive her well-deserved Oscar she made an issue of stressing that SHE certainly wasn’t going to insult the Academy by turning down an Oscar – ie she took a sideways swipe at my idol.

   I think that it’s been a while since I had the opportunity to plug The Duke in any serious way so I’ll make hay while the sun shines. A few years ago Marie Louise, approaching 70, gave an interview in which she told how the animosity from the Oscars audience terrified her and she claimed the most frightening incident was when Big John tried to get onto the stage to eject her for making “unpatriotic” comments about “real Americans” and “it took six strong security guards to restrain him.”

   Indeed idol-wise that was a sad time for me because not many regulars on this site, with the possible exception of Flora, will know that Our Greg and my Chuck gave a joint press conference after the Oscars ceremony to denounce Brando’s actions – ie 3 of my idols were lining up against a 4th. Indeed I think it was Chuck who said something like “It shows that being a great actor doesn’t stop you from doing dumb things.” And Chuck was of course a close personal friend of the Great Mumbler.

   However I would no doubt have felt worse if I had known that there was lurking in the shadows somewhere a Master who would also be throwing stones at some stage at Ole Mumbles. Anyway short though the table above is it gives a wider summary of Liza’s career which will benefit those who know her for just Cabaret/Arthur – so “Vote Up” to daughter now joining mother in securing a Cogerson page. Liza has overall received 20 acting awards and 17 nominations and has a reported net worth of $50 million. Another fine New Year treat!

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   1. Hey Bob.
      1. Good information on Liza’s career and her connection to Brando.
      2. I think she falls in the “she’s a celebrity” versus being a “movie” star.
      3. If you look at her career….she peaked at Cabaret which was her 5th movie….and then for the next 47 years she made 12 movies….and one of those was a cameo.
      4. I imagine an upset, mad John Wayne could be slightly intimidating.
      5. Sorry that many of your idols were ganging up on poor Marlon…..at least Marlon was happy to get his first Oscar….no matter what you think about his decision….you gotta give Marlon credit for creating a memorable memory. Seems…even though George C. Scott did it first…everybody remembers Marlon doing it more.
      Thanks for the vote up and the feedback.

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