The Night They Raided Minsky's
Dir: William Friedkin
1968
****
The Night They Raided Minsky's is a complete mess. Ralph Rosenblum worked for a whole year trying to edit together something salvageable from the first take which was unanimously considered a disaster. Friedkin walked out after shooting never to return. Credit to Roseblum then but you've still got to give it to young Friedkin for the great footage he did shoot, it's a mess but a brilliant one. Seriously though, William Friedkin directs a film about the invention of the strip-tease starring Jason Robards, Britt Ekland, Norman Wisdom, Forrest Tucker, Harry Andrews, Joseph Wiseman, Denholm Elliott, Elliott Gould, Jack Burns and the wonderful Bert Lahr, there isn't anything there to dislike. I watched it for Norman Wisdom but the rest of the cast were just as brilliant. Sometimes, not often but sometimes no matter how bad the direction or editing, the story wins through. Perfection is in the imperfections and this is one of my favorites.