On Seventh Avenue (1996)

You won't be disappointed!

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

The previous reviewer claims that this telefilm " Meanders " but that's a massive understatement . Before seeing this TVM I looked up the synopsis that led me to believe it was going to be about wise guys muscling in on the fashion business and there is a subplot featuring Nadine Jacobs having to pay protection money to the local mob but that's all it is - A subplot and we also have to endure other uninvolving subplots centered around characters in the fashion business . It's as if the producers don't know what type of story they're telling and if they don't know where it's heading then what hope for the audience ? It feels like a glossy ten hour mini series edited down to ninety minutes I've seen too many of these type of TVMs but to be fair ON SEVENTH AVENUE is no better or worse than most of these TV fodder movies . It does have several familiar faces like Brother Matthais from THE OMEGA MAN , El Cid from OZ and that chap who got beaten , stabbed and shot from GOODFELLAS but they're fairly wasted since they're very small cogs in a shapeless machine and for some reason the bizarre camera angles often resemble those seen in the 1960s BATMAN series

Nadine Jacobs (Wendy Makkena) is an established fashion designer and following intervention from the Mafia seeks to rebuild her father's troubled fashion house . This was a movie that promised much as a below Godfather/Sopranos drama but delivers little bite . The story meanders between Mafia , Fashion House and Nadine Jacobs world of high fashion and mega-deals with little or no purpose . I always rate films with an impressive cast list including Luis Guzman as a Puerto Rican pattern maker with a conscience and a family to support .Some good actors were wasting their talents here and few scenes were carried to their conclusion . If you were expecting a hard hitting review of the rag-trade and its connections with fashion models and the underworld this is NOT where to look . All the ingredients were there but the use of quirky slanted camera angles and lack of depth to the characters is off-putting and as such detracts from the little plot that exists .