It was New Year's Eve in New York City, 1928. The champagne was cold, the dolls were red-hot, and everyone who was anyone was there. Madonna plays the dishy lounge singer Hortense Hathaway, with an all-star cast that includes Matt Dillon, Ruter Hauer, Jeniffer Grey, Randy Quaid, Julie Hagerty, Esai Morales and Anita Morris.

Glittering 1920s decor surrounds a host of famous faces in Bloodhounds of Broadway, an adaptation of four stories by Jazz Age scribe Damon Runyon (whose stories were also the basis for Guys and Dolls). A loser (Randy Quaid) sells his body to science just when his luck turns; a wounded gangster (Rutger Hauer) takes a cab all over town trying to find someone to take him in; the death of a parrot turns a schmuck (Ethan Phillips) into a tough guy; and a pair of bloodhounds track a gambler (Matt Dillon) all over town because of the sausages in his pocket. The swank look of Bloodhounds of Broadway has more depth than its characters; the dialogue has all the jargon of Runyon but none of the rhythm. Madonna and Jennifer Grey play lovelorn flappers, Julie Hagerty is a bird-brained socialite, and Steve Buscemi and author William S. Burroughs make cameo appearances. --Bret Fetzer