View source for New York Stories

{{short description|1989 film by Woody Allen, Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese}}
{{about||the 2010 opera|New York Stories (opera)}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2021}}
{{Infobox film
| name = New York Stories
| image = Newyorkstories.jpg
| alt =
| caption = Theatrical release poster
| director = {{Plainlist|
* [[Woody Allen]]
* [[Francis Ford Coppola]]
* [[Martin Scorsese]]
}}
| producer = {{Plainlist|
* [[Jack Rollins (producer)|Jack Rollins]]
* [[Charles H. Joffe]]
* [[Robert Greenhut]]
* [[Barbara De Fina]]
* [[Fred Roos]]
* [[Fred Fuchs]]
}}
| writer = {{Plainlist|
* [[Richard Price (writer)|Richard Price]]
* Francis Ford Coppola
* [[Sofia Coppola]]
* Woody Allen
}}
| starring = {{Plainlist|
* Woody Allen
* [[Rosanna Arquette]]
* [[Mia Farrow]]
* [[Giancarlo Giannini]]
* [[Julie Kavner]]
* [[Nick Nolte]]
* [[Talia Shire]]
}}
| music = {{Plainlist|
* [[Carmine Coppola]]
* [[Kid Creole and the Coconuts]]
}}
| cinematography = {{Plainlist|
* [[Néstor Almendros]]
* [[Vittorio Storaro]]
* [[Sven Nykvist]]
}}
| editing = {{Plainlist|
* [[Thelma Schoonmaker]]
* [[Barry Malkin]]
* [[Susan E. Morse]]
}}
| production_companies = {{Plainlist|
* [[Touchstone Pictures]]
* [[Silver Screen Partners IV]]
* [[American Zoetrope]]{{efn|''Life Without Zoë''}}
}}
| distributor = [[Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures|Buena Vista Pictures Distribution]]
| released = {{Film date|1989|3|10|United States}}
| runtime = 124 minutes
| country = United States
| language = English
| budget = $15 million
| gross = $10.7 million
}}
'''''New York Stories''''' is a 1989 American [[anthology film]] consisting of three segments with the central theme being [[New York City]].

The first is ''Life Lessons'', directed by [[Martin Scorsese]], written by [[Richard Price (writer)|Richard Price]] and starring [[Nick Nolte]]. The second is ''Life Without Zoë'', directed by [[Francis Ford Coppola]] and written by Coppola with his daughter, [[Sofia Coppola]]. The last is ''Oedipus Wrecks'', directed, written by and starring [[Woody Allen]]. In foreign theatrical releases, the order of the three films was altered, Coppola's being first, followed by Allen's, and finishing with Scorsese's. This movie also marks the film debuts of [[Adrien Brody]] and [[Kirsten Dunst]].

The film was screened out of competition at the [[1989 Cannes Film Festival]].<ref name="festival-cannes.com">{{cite web |url=http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/ficheFilm/id/215/year/1989.html |title=Festival de Cannes: New York Stories |work=Festival de Cannes |access-date=2009-08-04 |publisher=[[Cannes Film Festival]] |archive-date=June 16, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120616212409/http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/ficheFilm/id/215/year/1989.html |url-status=live }}</ref> It was released to theaters on March 10, 1989.

==Plot==
===''Life Lessons''===
Lionel Dobie is an acclaimed [[abstract art]]ist who finds himself unable to paint during the days before a scheduled gallery exhibition of his new work. Paulette is Lionel's assistant and former lover. Lionel is still infatuated with her, but Paulette wants only his tutelage, which makes things difficult since they live in the same studio-loft. Paulette dates other people, including a performance artist and a painter.

These deliberate provocations on Paulette's part make Lionel insanely jealous—and fuel his creativity. Lionel and Paulette, it becomes clear, have been using each other: Lionel using her sexually, Paulette using him as a means of entry into the higher spheres of the New York social and art scene. Paulette wants to give up and go home to her parents but Lionel persuades her to stay because New York is where a painter needs to be.

Lionel pours his anxiety and repressed passion into his work. Paintings around the studio show visual metaphors from relations past: stormy skies, burning bridges, and tormented clowns. Lionel realizes that he needs the emotional turmoil of his destructive relationships in order to fuel his art. At the art exhibit, Lionel meets another attractive young woman, a struggling painter. He persuades her to become his assistant and potentially his lover, beginning the cycle anew.

===''Life Without Zoë''===
Zoë is a 12-year-old schoolgirl who lives in a luxury hotel. She helps return to an Arab princess a valuable piece of jewelry that the princess had given to Zoë's father and had been subsequently stolen and recovered. Zoë tries to reconcile her divorced mother, a photographer, and father, a flautist.

===''Oedipus Wrecks''===
New York lawyer Sheldon Mills has problems with his overly critical mother Sadie Millstein. Sheldon complains constantly to his therapist about her, wishing aloud that she would just disappear. Sheldon takes his ''[[shiksa]]'' fiancée, Lisa, to meet his mother, who immediately embarrasses him. The three, as well as Lisa's children from a previous marriage, go to a magic show. His mother is invited on stage to be a part of the magician's act. She is put inside a box that has swords stuck through it and she disappears, just as she is supposed to, but then she never reappears.

Although he is furious at first, this development turns out to be great for Sheldon because, with her out of his life, he can finally relax. But soon, to his horror, his mother reappears in the sky over New York City. She begins to annoy Sheldon and Lisa (with the whole city now watching) by constantly talking to strangers about his most embarrassing moments. This puts a strain on his relationship with Lisa, who leaves him. Sheldon is persuaded by his psychiatrist to see a psychic, Treva, to try to get his mother back to reality. Treva's experiments fail, but Sheldon falls for her. When he introduces Treva to his mother, she approves and comes back to Earth.

==Cast==
{{col-begin}}
{{col-3}}

=== ''Life Lessons'' ===
* [[Nick Nolte]] as Lionel Dobie
* [[Rosanna Arquette]] as Paulette
* [[Steve Buscemi]] as Gregory Stark
* [[Jesse Borrego]] as Reuben Toro
* [[Peter Gabriel]] as Himself
* [[Illeana Douglas]] as Paulette's Friend
* [[Debbie Harry|Deborah Harry]] as Girl at Blind Alley
* [[Paul Herman]] and [[Victor Argo]] as Cops
* [[Brigitte Bako]] as Young Woman

{{col-2}}

=== ''Life Without Zoë'' ===
* [[Heather McComb]] as Zoë Montez
* [[Talia Shire]] as Charlotte Montez
* [[Giancarlo Giannini]] as Claudio Montez
* [[Don Novello]] as Hector
* [[Adrien Brody]] as Mel
* [[Chris Elliott]] as The Robber
* [[Carmine Coppola]] as Street Musician
* [[Carole Bouquet]] as Princess Soraya
* [[Holly Marie Combs]] as Costume Party Guest (uncredited)

{{col-3}}

=== ''Oedipus Wrecks'' ===
* [[Woody Allen]] as Sheldon Mills
* [[Mae Questel]] as Mother
* [[Mia Farrow]] as Lisa
* [[Julie Kavner]] as Treva
* [[George Schindler]] as Shandu, The Magician
* [[Larry David]] as Theater Manager
* [[Mike Starr (actor)|Mike Starr]] as The Hardhat
* [[Kirsten Dunst]] as Lisa's Daughter
* Ira Wheeler as Mr. Bates

{{col-end}}

==Soundtracks==
{{col-begin}}{{col-break}}
===''Life Lessons''===
* "[[A Whiter Shade of Pale]]" by [[Procol Harum]]
* "Politician" by [[Cream (band)|Cream]]
* "[[Night Time Is the Right Time|The Right Time]]" by [[Ray Charles]]
* "[[Like a Rolling Stone]]" by [[Bob Dylan]]/The Band
* "[[It Could Happen to You (song)|It Could Happen to You]]" written by [[Johnny Burke (lyricist)|Johnny Burke]] and [[Jimmy Van Heusen]]
* "[[That Old Black Magic]]" written by [[Johnny Mercer]] and [[Harold Arlen]]
* "[[Stella by Starlight]]" written by [[Ned Washington]] and [[Victor Young]]
* "Conquistador" by Procol Harum
* "[[Nessun dorma]]" by [[Mario Del Monaco]]
* "Sex Kick" by [[Transvision Vamp]]
* "[[What Is This Thing Called Love?]]" performed by The Hot Club of France with [[Django Reinhardt]] and [[Stéphane Grappelli]]
* "Bolero de Django" by The Hot Club of France with Django Reinhardt and Stéphane Grappelli
{{col-break}}

===''Life Without Zoe''===
This segment's music was almost written in its entirety by [[Kid Creole]] (August Darnell) and performed by [[Kid Creole and the Coconuts]], except where noted.

* "Zoe"
* "Daiquiri Daiquira"
* "Schoolin"
* "Abu"
* "The Robbery"
* "My Love"
* "People Will Talk"
* "Party Girl"
* "Don't Lead Me On"
* "March of the Waiters"
* "Takin' a Holiday"
* "12th Street" by Thick as Thieves
* "[[Blue Suede Shoes]]" by [[Carl Perkins|Carl Lee Perkins]]
* "Back to School" by [[Pianosaurus]]
{{col-break}}

===''Oedipus Wrecks''===
* "[[I Want a Girl (Just Like the Girl That Married Dear Old Dad)]]" by [[Frankie Carle]]
* "Mother" by [[Bernie Leighton]]
* "[[Sing, Sing, Sing (With a Swing)|Sing, Sing, Sing]]" by [[Benny Goodman]]
* "[[In a Persian Market]]" by [[Wilbur de Paris]]
* "[[I'll Be Seeing You (song)|I'll Be Seeing You]]" by [[Liberace]]
* "[[I've Found a New Baby]]" by Wilbur de Paris
* "[[All the Things You Are]]" by [[David Rose (songwriter)|David Rose]] & His Orchestra
* "[[June in January]]" by David Rose & His Orchestra<ref>{{cite book |last= Harvey |first= Adam|date= 2007|title= The Soundtracks of Woody Allen |publisher= Macfarland & Company |page=101 |isbn=978-0-786-42968-4}}</ref>
{{col-end}}

==Reception==

===Box office===
''New York Stories'' opened on March 10, 1989, earning $432,337 in 12 theaters during its opening weekend. The film went on to gross $10,763,469 domestically playing in 514 theaters.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=newyorkstories.htm |title=Box Office Information for ''New York Stories'' |publisher=[[Box Office Mojo]] |access-date=May 6, 2014 |archive-date=May 7, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140507012100/http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=newyorkstories.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Critical response===
''New York Stories'' holds a 77% positive rating on [[Rotten Tomatoes]] from 26 reviews.<ref>{{rotten-tomatoes|new_york_stories|New York Stories}}</ref>

[[Hal Hinson]], writing in ''[[The Washington Post]]'', felt that Coppola's segment was "by far the director's worst work yet".<ref>{{cite news|first=Hal|last=Hinson|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/movies/videos/newyorkstoriespghinson_a0a8de.htm|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|date=March 3, 1989|title=New York Stories|access-date=May 20, 2010|archive-date=January 21, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120121124824/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/movies/videos/newyorkstoriespghinson_a0a8de.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Roger Ebert]] of the ''[[Chicago Sun-Times]]'' gave the film two and a half stars out of four, saying, "''New York Stories'' consists of three films, one good, one bad, one disappointing." He further explained, "Of the three films, the only really successful one is ''Life Lessons'', the Scorsese story of a middle-age painter and his young, discontented girlfriend. The Coppola, an updated version of the story of [[Eloise (books)|Eloise]], the little girl who lived in the Plaza Hotel, is surprisingly thin and unfocused. And the Allen, about a 50-year-old man still dominated by his mother, starts well but then takes a wrong turn about halfway through."<ref>{{cite web |last=Ebert |first=Roger |author-link=Roger Ebert |title=New York Stories |work=[[Chicago Sun-Times]] |date=March 3, 1989 |url=http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/new-york-stories-1989 |access-date=May 6, 2014 |archive-date=July 8, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140708194602/http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/new-york-stories-1989 |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Vincent Canby]] of [[The New York Times]] gave it 4 out of 5 stars.<ref name="Canby">{{cite news |date=12 March 1989 |last1=Canby |first1=Vincent |author1-link=Vincent Canby |title=FILM VIEW; Anthologies Can Be A Bargain |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/03/12/movies/film-view-anthologies-can-be-a-bargain.html |website=[[The New York Times]] }}</ref>

[[Stanley Kauffmann]] of ''[[The New Republic]]'' wrote, "The first segment is the best; then comes a sagging second part, during which hope is a thing with fluttering feathers; then hope is rewarded—the third part picks up smartly, if not to the level of the first."<ref>{{cite magazine| title=Stanley Kauffmann on films| url=https://newrepublic.com| publication-date=1989-03-27| magazine=The New Republic| language=en}}</ref>

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
* John Walker. [http://www.artdesigncafe.com/New-York-Stories-Life-Lessons-film-review-1989-Martin-Scorsese-Rosanna-Arquette "''New York Stories: Life Lessons'' film review"]. ''Art Monthly''/''artdesigncafe''. Retrieved 6 January 2012.
* {{IMDb title|0097965}}
<!-- [[WP:EL]] Please try to integrate links into main article instead of adding to External links -->

{{Woody Allen}}
{{Francis Ford Coppola}}
{{Martin Scorsese}}
{{Richard Price}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:New York Stories}}
[[Category:1989 films]]
[[Category:1989 comedy-drama films]]
[[Category:1989 romantic comedy films]]
[[Category:1989 romantic drama films]]
[[Category:1980s American films]]
[[Category:1980s English-language films]]
[[Category:1980s romantic comedy-drama films]]
[[Category:American anthology films]]
[[Category:American romantic comedy-drama films]]
[[Category:Films about fictional painters]]
[[Category:Films about Jews and Judaism]]
[[Category:Films about lawyers]]
[[Category:Films directed by Francis Ford Coppola]]
[[Category:Films directed by Martin Scorsese]]
[[Category:Films directed by Woody Allen]]
[[Category:Films produced by Robert Greenhut]]
[[Category:Films produced by Fred Roos]]
[[Category:Films scored by Carmine Coppola]]
[[Category:Films set in New York City]]
[[Category:Films shot in Greece]]
[[Category:Films shot in New York City]]
[[Category:Films shot in Newark, New Jersey]]
[[Category:Films with screenplays by Francis Ford Coppola]]
[[Category:Films with screenplays by Richard Price (writer)]]
[[Category:Films with screenplays by Sofia Coppola]]
[[Category:Films with screenplays by Woody Allen]]
[[Category:Touchstone Pictures films]]
[[Category:Warner Bros. films]]
[[Category:English-language romantic comedy-drama films]]
[[Category:English-language crime drama films]]