Official Synopsis:
Britt Ekland, Jason Robards, Elliott Gould, Forrest Tucker, Denholm Elliot and Bert Lahr star in this raucously funny comedy produced and cowritten by Norman Lear (TV's All in the Family)! Britt Ekland portrays Rachel, a beautiful young Amish woman who leaves her Pennsylvania home and comes to New York City in hopes of becoming a dancer, and ends up doing something quite different: inventing the striptease! Jason Robards gives a wonderful performance as Raymond Paine, the somewhat sleazy star of Minsky's burlesque show, who takes on interest in Rachel's many charms. But his admiration is challenged by Chick Williams (Norman Wisdom), Raymond's comedy partner for the past ten years. And when Rachel's dress is torn accidentally, she plays it up and finds herself the object of even more affection - from the very appreciative audience! The leader of an anti-vice group has everyone arrested, but not before Rachel becomes the toast of the town, in this hilarious - and scandalous - hit!
  
Our Take:
The Night They Raided Minsky’s is a light-as-air film about a burlesque show that was unexpectedly directed by prolific 70’s director William Friedkin, whose output during that decade was not exactly light as air.  The film succeeds in utilizing on-location New York City shooting to recreate The Lower East Side during the 1920’s, but unlike Friedkin’s The French Connection, the New York City location is not supporting a great film, but simply there.  The action of the film is uneventful. 

Britt Ekland plays an Amish virgin who wanders into a burlesque show theater wanting to dance scenes out of the Bible, so naturally the slick city actors quickly concoct a plan to exploit this religious bumpkin as city-folk are known to do.  What ensues is about 99 minutes of “will she or wont she?” which turns the film about a burlesque show into itself a burlesque show with Britt Ekland as its main attraction.  The final sequence is the highlight of the film on a few levels, the most obvious being the scintillating conclusion of this rather long burlesque act, but also the fact that Friedkin turns the mirror towards the audience by showing the burlesque audience within the movie clamoring for “More! More! More!”  This final sequence is a quick summation of film from the Production Code era to today, when the cries of the masses for “more” are routinely answered at the expense of artistic integrity.

There are no special features contained on this disc, which is a damn shame.  MGM dropped the ball by not snagging William Friedkin to reflect about this film from the dawn of his career.  Nevertheless, it still nice to finally have The Night They Raided Minsky’s available on DVD.

Overall Picture:
Movie: C+
DVD: C

- Matthew Orlando
Staff Writer