”New York, New York” was an honorable failure. Martin Scorsese coaxed fine performances from Robert DeNiro and Liza in 1977, but the man who walked away with the movie was saxophonist George Auld, who gave a brilliant, sour performance as a jaded bandleader. Auld dubbed DeNiro’s playing, and Robert took great pains to learn how to play the sax to make it look real.
This is a clip from the movie. Liza sings the entire introduction, and when she breaks into the song itself, it’s a revelation.