Figure 5.--What a mug. Lenni Norton is tasked with carrying for his bothersome little brother Joey. Lenni and his friends are bored and decide to have a little fun by playing a joke on the gullable younger boy. Big mistake. The low budget novice film is kind of a juvenile version of 'Ferris Buler's day off'. The costuming is spot on for the early 1950s. The boys probably wore their own clothes.

Lenni Norton is tasked with carrying for his bothersome little brother Joey. Lennie and his friends are bored and decide to have a little fun by playing a joke on the gullable younger boy. Big mistake. The low budget novice film is kind of a juvenile version of 'Ferris Buler's day off'. This low budget novice film made an impression in 1953, in part because of the acting of two non professional child performers. Movie historians credit the film for influencing the French New Wave. It is remarkable because of its realistic style and groundbreaking use of nonprofessional actors in lead roles. The boys are Richie Andrusco in the title role of Joey Norton and Richard Brewster as his older brother Lenni. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Writing, Motion Picture Story. It was also shown at the Venice film festival where it was earned the Silver Lion. The Library of Congres has since been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry. It was designated as being 'culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant. The film is set in a lower middle-class neighnorhood of Brooklyn. An older brother, Lennie, (about 11 or 12 years old) is assiged to look after Richie, his little brother (about 6 or so), while their mother looks after their ill grandmother. Lenni and his friends of course are dismissive of bothersome Joey, They are bored and decide to have some fun and play a joke on glliable Joey. Big mistake. Lenni and his friends use a toy gun and some catchup to convince the little guy that he has killed hiis big brother. Lenni's friends tell Joey that the police will catch him and put him in jail. Joey is terrified and runs to the nearest elevated train station. He gets off at Coney Island--Mew York's seaside ammusement park. Once at Coney Island, Joey seems to forget his situation and spends the day wandering around the arcades, pony rides, beach—-essentially, a little boy's paradise. He is especially attracted by the popnies. He obtains money for snacks by collecting and cashing in pop bottles. Joey spends the night sleeping under the boardwalk. His big brother is frantic. Joey loves horses and is attracted to a pony ride. The proprietor becomes suspicious that Joey has runaway. He tricks Joey into giving him his address. He calls home and tells Lennie wher Joey is. Lennie rushes to Coney Island and after a frantic search finds his little brother and takes him home. Mom returns just after the boys get home. She is unaware of what happened and the boys don't tell her. She is pleased that her sons have behaved so well and Lennie has done such a good job of looking after Joey. She decides to treat them with a treat that weekend--of course a trip to Coney Island! The low budget novice film is kind of a juvenile version of 'Ferris Buler's day off'--at least after Richie got to Coney Island. The costuming is spot on for the early 1950s. This is precisely how I dressed in 1953, T-shirts, jeans, and black high-top Keds. The boys for this rock-bottom low budget film probably wore their own clothes. A reader writes, "This is a really good movie if you like location shoots. Some really great scenes in Coney Island . Have seen this many times on TCM." I was watching an interesting show on PBS where an American cartoonist recalls his years in Czechoslovakia. This Czech Communists used the film as propaganda to convince work camp inmates of how decadent America was.

Created: 4:12 PM 4/21/2019
Last updated: 5:49 PM 4/21/2019