The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968)

Set in 1925, an innocent Amish girl (Britt Ekland) from Pennsylvania comes to New York with the hopes of becoming a professional dancer. She auditions for Minsky's burlesque but her style of dancing (she dances stories from the Bible) is too conservative. However, Minsky the younger (Elliott Gould) and the show's lecherous straight man (Jason Robards) concoct a plan to use her to foil a moral crusader (Denholm Elliott) who wants the show shut down. Based on the novel by Rowland Barber and directed by William Friedkin (THE EXORCIST). The is an immensely enjoyable, if highly erratic, nostalgia piece and affectionate tribute to the world of burlesque. The milieu has been perfectly recreated and the choreographer Danny Daniels has assembled a spot on chorus line of slightly pudgy chorines whose "dancing" always seems a little bit off. Friedkin practically disowned the film when it was originally released but has come around to appreciating what's good about it and admitting the film's weaknesses are his fault. The faux period songs are by Charles Strouse (who also did the lovely underscore) and Lee Adams (they wrote BYE BYE BIRDIE). With Norman Wisdom, Forrest Tucker, Joseph Wiseman, Harry Andrews and in his final film role, Bert Lahr who died during filming which accounts for the brevity of his role.