Bloodhounds Of Broadway (1989)

Set on New Years Eve 1928, four different stories intertwine with each other: a gangster (Rutger Hauer) is stabbed, a socialite (Julie Hagerty) throws a party, a guy (Randy Quaid) sells his body to a doctor for an experiment so he can get money to impress a girl (Madonna) and a gambler (Matt Dillon) cheats on his girlfriend (Jennifer Grey). Based on four short stories by Damon Runyon (A VERY HONORABLE GUY, THE BRAIN GOES HOME, SOCIAL ERROR, BLOODHOUNDS OF BROADWAY) and directed by Howard Brookner, who died at age 34 before the movie opened. This ensemble comedy doesn't work at all. One can see Brookner attempting a Runyonesque period comedy but his actors just don't have the acting style necessary to make it work and Brookner's direction is flat. The characters have names like Minnie The Shrimp, Whining Willie, Hotfoot Harry and Feet Samuels. Something like this would have been slam dunk if it had been made in the 1930s with the likes of James Cagney, Ginger Rogers and Edward G. Robinson in the cast but the young actors here come across as amateurs in a high school production playing roles they don't understand. Pretty much a dud on all levels. With Esai Morales, Anita Morris, Josef Sommer, Steve Buscemi, Dinah Manoff, Madeleine Potter and Ethan Phillips.