Every Martin Scorsese Film Ranked Worst To Best

The fact that New York, New York came out a year after Taxi Driver shows just how versatile a director Martin Scorsese is.

The epic tells the story of a saxophonist (Robert De Niro) and a singer (Liza Minnelli) who fall in and out of love as their careers begin to blossom.

A massive box office failure upon release, the film's lukewarm reception hit Scorsese hard. And sure enough, many of the critics hit the nail on the head the first time around, pointing out New York, New York's lack of cohesion as a major letdown.

Despite these tough-but-fair assessments, though, the all-singing, all-dancing drama benefits from Minnelli's energetic performance and some classic musical numbers that cover up the narrative bumps with some undeniably fun sequences.

It's a shame it's not as complete as it could have been, but New York, New York is still a rollicking good time, and cemented Scorsese as a director willing to challenge himself.