Good start, but then it gets ruined

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Released in 1968 this flick could have been made today as a relevant retrospective to burlesque.The naughty nature of burlesque versus the rude routines that pass as suggestive stage entertainment today are in stark contrast when you compare today's crude crotch cranking with the clumsy bumps and grinds of yesteryear.Produced by Norman Lear and directed by William Friedkin, it is based on a book by Rowland Barber which paints a fictional account of the invention of the striptease.This story opens in 1925 when a young Amish girl, Rachel (a very young Britt Ekland) arrives in New York City with misguided dreams of being a dancer.Of course her strict, overly religious father would have nothing to do with her dancing aspirations so she runs away from her home in Pennsylvania. For some strange reason she runs off to join the Minsky Burlesque show, obviously lacking a dictionary at home with which to look up the word "burlesque".Watching the scene of her entering the burlesque theater, I couldn't help but hum The Eagles "Those Shoes" over the resident soundtrack.When she arrives, she initially meets Professor Spats (a very old Bert "The Cowardly Lion" Lahr), a retired stage performer. Try making that long walk through New York City today without meeting characters a lot shadier than this nice old man. He was certainly a lot less menacing than the Cowardly Lion was to Dorothy.Wearing her naiveté on her homemade dress like a wino's spittle from a subway ride, the kindly Professor agrees to introduce her to the cast. All this in spite of her desire to perform dances from the Bible on stage. Really? Meanwhile, the theater owner Louis Minsky (Joseph "Dr. No" Wiseman) and his son, Billy (a very young Elliot Gould) are being hounded by a man named Fowler (Denholm Elliot), the Secretary for the Society for Decency, obviously a defunct office in these modern times. Believe it or not, he actually thinks the costumes are too skimpy, the humor too suggestive and the dancing a little too dirty. This guy would die of heart failure and a terminal erection just watching a Super Bowl halftime show these days, but I digress. Receiving letters from the Secretary of Decency, Billy's dad, Louis, wisely refuses to renew his son's lease. But he will sell the theater to him for a tidy sum. Billy tries to get Trim, a small time gangster and burlesque lover, to invest (a same-o-same-o looking Forrest Tucker) but he refuses. He's just there to enjoy the scenery.Cue classic funny man Chick Williams (Sir Norman Wisdom in an excellent vaudeville performance) and his "straight man" partner Raymond Paine (Jason Robards as a cad first class). When the Professor introduces the young runaway to the both of them, hilarity ensues, of course, but not before the foreshadowing of conflict. For Chick, it's love at first sight, whereas Raymond is less than impressed with all this Bible stuff. But, Britt IS hot, so will he just momentarily convert for a piece of the action? Not a chance.Read more here: http://glossynews.com/entertainment

Britt Ekland stars as an Amish girl in early 1900s New York City who gets a job dancing at a vaudeville theater and inadvertently creates the striptease one night on stage. Revue-styled hodgepodge isn't very compelling on an emotional level, and the solid cast (Jason Robards, Elliott Gould, Bert Lahr in his final film) has next to nothing to work from, but what a presentation! The director, a green but hungry William Friedkin, attacks the nostalgia inherent in the project and grabs the audience by the eyeballs. Everything flies passed Friedkin's camera: comedy, drama, sentiment, loss, pain, triumph. It's the giddy work of a kid in a candy store. As a character study, the movie does fall short--the screenplay is too thin to flesh out any of the people involved--however it is certainly a handsome attempt. ** from ****

Everyone may know William Friedkin for "The French Connection" and "The Exorcist", but this gem from before his heyday will always come to my mind. During the movie's first few minutes, you're not exactly sure where it's going, but then we meet Rachel Schpitendavel (Britt Ekland), an Amish woman who has just arrived in 1920's New York City. Not quite sure where to go in this bustling metropolis, she goes to Billy Minsky's Burlesque House. Of course, she doesn't know that burlesque involves some stuff that is perpetually anathema to the Amish lifestyle. But performer Raymond Paine (Jason Robards Jr) sees some real potential in her. Meanwhile, there are two forces at work against Rachel's potential success: her father has arrived in town to take her back to the farm, and the police are seeking to shut down the burlesque house.Overall, "The Night They Raided Minsky's" is one of those nostalgia pieces that always has something coming. Interestingly, it was also a debut and farewell: Elliott Gould made his film debut playing Billy Minsky, and Bert "Cowardly Lion" Lahr plays a role too (he actually died while they were filming). Maybe this movie's not a masterpiece, but it's truly got something for everyone. Cool.

I only saw this once and it was okay. The real interesting thing about this is the story around its editing, which is told in Ralph Rosenblum's book WHEN THE SHOOTING STOPS... He and Norman Lear had to dig up tons of old stock footage to insert into the cut in order to make it palatable.