July 1, 2013: TODAY'S 60th ANNIVERSARY SCREENING OF 'LITTLE FUGITIVE" WAS CANCELLED DUE TO RAIN AND IS RESCHEDULED FOR TUESDAY, AUGUST 27.
Join us on July 1 August 27, for a free screening of "Little Fugitive" at Coney Island Flicks on the Beach. The 1953 movie by Morris Engel and Ruth Orkin was filmed in Coney Island on the beach, boardwalk and in the amusement parks, and will be introduced by the directors' daughter Mary Engel. This year is the 60th anniversary of the film, which won the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival.
The Coney Island History Project is co-sponsoring the pre-show, which begins at 7:30PM with Coney Poetry presented by Amanda Deutch of PARACHUTE: The Coney Island Performance Festival and a Coney Island history and film trivia contest. Prizes include autographed copies of History Project Director Charles Denson's "Wild Ride: A Coney Island Roller Coaster Family," poetry broadsides from PARACHUTE, and postcards from the Coney Island History Project. Stop by CIHP's tent on the Boardwalk to say hello and learn about our free exhibit center on West 12th Street and oral history archive.
"Little Fugitive," which screens at dusk, stars 7-year-old Joey (Richie Andrusco), who runs away from home to hide out in Coney Island after being tricked into thinking he'd shot his older brother. With his Mom away and with only a few dollars in his pocket, he eats, plays games, rides the carousel and ponies, and collects bottles on the beach and boardwalk to finance more rides.
"Andrusco's chewable little face registers 30 shades of pluck, and codirector Morris Engel's ever-mobile camera casually captures perfection--in sunlight filtering through boardwalk slats, in the quiet descent of the Parachute Jump, in the endlessly repeating pratfalls of the batting cage," writes Eric Hynes in Time Out. "Little Fugitive" is fun for the whole family, and is a perfect time capsule of Coney in the early 50's.
Coney Island Flicks on the Beach are shown at dusk on a jumbo 40-foot screen on the beach at West 10th Street every Monday night through August 19. The free summer series is presented by Rooftop Films in partnership with the Alliance for Coney Island and NYC & Co. "Little Fugitive" is an Artists Public Domain/Cinema Conservancy release. For info about upcoming films, see the schedule in the Coney Island Fun Guide.