Movies
Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
Wide Releases
Now In Theaters
76
(500) Days of Summer
60
9
17
All About Steve
37
Amelia
53
Astro Boy
66
Bandslam
45
Box, The
61
Capitalism: A Love Story
55
Christmas Carol, A
43
Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant
66
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
29
Collector, The
23
Couples Retreat
80
District 9
61
Extract
39
Fame
30
Final Destination, The
34
Fourth Kind, The
60
Funny People
32
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
27
Gamer
41
G-Force
39
Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard, The
46
Halloween II
73
Hangover, The
78
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
55
I Can Do Bad All By Myself
66
Informant!, The
69
Inglourious Basterds
58
Invention of Lying, The
47
Jennifer's Body
66
Julie & Julia
34
Law Abiding Citizen
33
Love Happens
54
Men Who Stare At Goats, The
67
Michael Jackson's This Is It
51
My Sister's Keeper
42
Orphan
28
Pandorum
63
Perfect Getaway, A
86
Ponyo![]()
35
Post Grad
48
Proposal, The
30
Saw VI
53
Shorts
24
Sorority Row
83
Star Trek![]()
33
Stepfather, The
45
Surrogates
55
Taking Woodstock
47
Time Traveler's Wife
96
Toy Story/Toy Story 2 3D![]()
35
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
28
Ugly Truth, The
88
Up![]()
71
Where the Wild Things Are
67
Whip It
28
Whiteout
73
Zombieland
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Limited Releases
Now In Theaters
58
(Untitled)
96
35 Shots of Rum![]()
56
Adam
72
Adela
39
Adventures of Power
78
Afghan Star
61
After the Storm
66
Afterschool
xx
All the Best
58
American Casino
72
Amreeka
48
Antichrist
73
Araya
62
Art & Copy
55
As Seen Through These Eyes
76
Baader Meinhof Complex, The
86
Beaches of Agnes, The![]()
13
Beautiful Life, A
70
Beeswax
35
Beyond a Reasonable Doubt
71
Big Fan
66
Black Dynamite
51
Blind Date
xx
Blind Pig Who Wants to Fly
76
Bliss
35
Blue Tooth Virgin, The
26
Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, The
57
Boys Are Back, The
45
Brief Interviews with Hideous Men
81
Bright Star![]()
70
Bronson
45
Burning Plain, The
xx
Carriers
55
Casi Divas
57
Chelsea on the Rocks
62
Cloud 9
65
Coco Before Chanel
69
Cold Souls
59
Collapse
44
Confessionsofa Ex-Doofus-ItchyFooted Mutha
82
Cove, The![]()
75
Crude
82
Damned United, The![]()
67
Departures
xx
Dil Bole Hadippa
71
Disgrace
xx
Do Knot Disturb
70
Earth Days
24
Eating Out 3: All You Can Eat
85
Education, An![]()
55
Endgame
xx
Eulogy for a Vampire
xx
Everyone Else
xx
Fatal Promises
56
Fifty Dead Men Walking
62
Five Minutes of Heaven
74
Flame & Citron
49
Food Beware: The French Organic Revolution
80
Food, Inc.
28
Free Style
xx
From Mexico with Love
50
Fuel
25
Gentlemen Broncos
50
Give Me Your Hand
58
Gogol Bordello Non-Stop
72
Good Hair
89
Goodbye Solo![]()
52
Grace
64
Harmony and Me
81
Headless Woman, The![]()
xx
Heretics, The
63
Horse Boy, The
73
House of the Devil, The
xx
How to Seduce Difficult Women
74
Humpday
94
Hurt Locker, The![]()
29
I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell
16
If One Thing Matters: A Film About Wolfgang Tillmans
75
In Search of Beethoven
83
In the Loop![]()
61
Intimate Enemies
42
Irene in Time
70
It Might Get Loud
46
Killing Kasztner
19
Labor Day
xx
Laila's Birthday
41
Little Ashes
41
Little Traitor, The
66
Liverpool
34
Looking for Palladin
80
Lorna's Silence
83
Maid, The![]()
xx
Ministers, The
59
More Than a Game
67
Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers, The
34
Motherhood
62
My One and Only
xx
Mystery Team
48
New York, I Love You
73
Night and Day
66
No Impact Man
47
Ong Bak 2: The Beginning
34
Other Man, The
xx
Painter Sam Francis, The
54
Paper Heart
xx
Paradise
68
Paranormal Activity
68
Paris
44
Peter and Vandy
35
Play the Game
77
Precious: Based on the Novel by Sapphire
xx
Pretty Ugly People
65
Providence Effect, The
76
Rembrandt's J'accuse
69
September Issue, The
79
Serious Man, A
40
Shrink
61
Skin
77
Skin Too Few: The Days of Nick Drake, A
xx
Skiptracers
46
Splinterheads
39
St. Trinian's
89
Still Walking![]()
50
Stoning of Soraya M., The
55
Storm
65
Tetro
70
That Evening Sun
72
Thirst
xx
Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas 3D (re-release)
61
Trucker
xx
Turning Green
83
U2 3D![]()
66
Unmade Beds
66
Unmistaken Child
70
Visual Acoustics
55
Walt & El Grupo
67
Way We Get By, The
69
We Live in Public
64
Wedding Song, The
64
Where is Where?
xx
White on Rice
74
Woman in Berlin, A
69
World's Greatest Dad
70
Yes Men Fix the World
69
Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg
xx
You, the Living
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Broadway: The Golden Age

Generally favorable reviews
Based on 22 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 5 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Documentary | Musical
Written by: Rick McKay
Directed by: Rick McKay
Release Date:
Theatrical: June 11, 2004
DVD: November 9, 2004
Running Time: 111 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: Not Rated
Starring Rick McKay, Beatrice Arthur, Hal Linden, Robert Goulet, Shirley MacLaine, Edie Adams, Alec Baldwin, and Kaye Ballard
The most important, ambitious and comprehensive film ever made about America's most celebrated indigenous art form, Broadway tells the stories of our theatrical legends, how they came to New York, and how they created this legendary century in American theatre. (Second Act Productions)
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Dallas Observer Jean Oppenheimer
Pure joy to watch -- and an invaluable documentary record of a bygone era.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Jack Mathews
The strength of McKay's film is not in identifying a cultural period, but in giving voice to so many great theater people. Their passion is infectious, their stories are priceless and their humor is boundless.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold
This free-flowing film certainly hits the high points as it flips around its talking-head celebrity sound bites at warp speed.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy
It's the sort of history you could nibble on for hours.
Read Full Review >Variety Scott Foundas
Rick McKay's exceptional new documentary Broadway: The Golden Age presents a veritable avalanche of interviews with some of the biggest names in the history of the American theater, preserving for posterity their wise words and disarming anecdotes.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Desson Thomson
This is cinema as oral tradition. And one heck of a cheap-seat deal.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Rachel Proctor May
Consisting of five years' worth of interviews illustrated by a mountain of archival footage, the film sails on the actors' consistent ability to spin a good yarn.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Ruthe Stein
An intriguing exploration of New York theater at the height of its glory.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Wesley Morris
It's the videotaped equivalent of a primary research data dump. But to quote Bette Davis by way of Edward Albee: What a dump.
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter Frank Scheck
The film will eventually be a must-own video item for theater buffs.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Stephen Holden
Anyone who attended Broadway shows in the days when ticket prices were reasonable and the actors and singers performed without amplification will feel a rush of nostalgia as these troupers offer what amounts to a breezy compilation of after-dinner remarks.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Stephen Hunter
If you love the theater, you've got to see the film.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps
In one of the film's most persuasive bits, Farley Granger talks about chucking a lucrative film career in order to tread the boards in New York. Maybe it's that kind of magnetic draw that makes an age golden.
Read Full Review >LA Weekly Ron Stringer
Performance after performance -- by Kim Stanley, Marlon Brando, Laurette Taylor . . . Never heard of her? Thats reason enough not to miss this movie.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Kamal Al-Solaylee
It takes more than a fan to analyze the legacy of a period. But a fan is just what it takes to indulge in that legacy, which is exactly what Broadway: The Golden Age is all about.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Charles McNulty
More buff than historian, McKay chats with anyone who can tell him about the good old days, a vaguely defined period that sprawls from the mid '40s to the late '60s.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
What could easily have been a sentimental, fannish exercise in musty nostalgia is in fact a lovely tribute to an era of feverish creativity that seemed as though it would never end yet now lives only in memory.
Read Full Review >Film Threat Phil Hall
A well-intended but hopelessly ill-focused documentary which wants to be the "That's Entertainment!" for the New York theater but seems like a hodgepodge of anecdotes, factoids and moldy memories.
Read Full Review >Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
The movie is mostly a megadose of good-old-days nostalgia.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 10.0 (out of 10) based on 5 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Art gave it a 10:
Everyone I know has been waiting years for this film to be finished and released and I just saw it this weekend in NYC. It is EVERYTHING and MORE than I ever expected. Frankly, I still don't understand how it ever got made. Seems like hundreds of stars - Shirley MacLaine, Jeremy Irons, Angela Lansbury, Carol Burnett, Alec Baldwin, Gena Rowlands, Ben Gazzara, Tommy Tune, Carol Channing, John Raitt, and more. But, the lost footage in the film of performances is something that put me in tears. I never dreamed I would see Kim Stanley or Ethem Murman or Elaine Stritch or John Raitt or anyone actually performing in rare home movies - unbelievable. You could feel the whole theater sitting on the edge of their seats in this film. Rolling Stone is right - this IS one for the time capsule. And so are the others - it's like "That's Entertainment" but much more personal and moving and I can't wait for the dvd!
[Anonymous] gave it a 10:
What a treasure trove of anecdotes and footage. Just loved it.
Sandy gave it a 10:
I read the raves here in NYC in the daily papers but wasn't sure that a film about Broadway was something for me, but I saw Jeffrey Lyons on NBC say something like, "Chronicles of Riddick is terrible, instead go see Broadway: The Golden Age" and that convinced me. I am so happy I went! I have NO interest in Broadway but the movie is about so much more. I love movies and I want to see things that inspire me and this movie really does. It made me feel passionate and made me want to do great things just listening to these 100 great stars talk about coming to New York broke and following their dream. And it is FUNNY! I thought it would be serious but Shirley MacLaine and Charles Nelson Reilly CRACK ME UP! The whole audience was laughing and crying at the same time from the inspiration and the passion and the funny stuff. I am not writing this very well, but I just saw it last night and I am still excited. Go see it. The director did a talk with the audience after and he is wonderful and said it is going all over the country soon. You will love it. I am only 19 and never would have thought I would like it, but I LOVED it!
John Q. gave it a 10:
I am still stunned. I have never seen anything like this. It has more entertainment, passion, laughs and tears than any movie I have seen this year. I was blown away. And more stars than any of the supposed blockbusters. This one will be around when the rest of this summer's junk is long gone. I am going back to see it again this weekend. Amazing.
