William Friedkin's "The Night they Raided Minsky's" is as sweet a love letter to Burlesque as cinema has given us, (though to be honest, there isn't much competition). As an opening intertitle tells us it's about how in 1925 'this real religious girl' invented striptease...by accident. It's very much a character driven piece and it's got a terrific cast that includes Jason Robards, Britain's Norman Wisdom, (they're a double-act}, Elliot Gould, Joseph Wiseman, Harry Andrews, Denholm Elliot, Forrest Tucker and in a homage to the period in which it's set, the great Bert Lahr while as that real religious girl Britt Ekland gives perhaps the only real performance of her entire career and she's an absolute delight. Photographed by Andrew Laszlo and designed by Jean and William Eckart it's also a great looking film and is still one of the best things Friedkin has done.
