Little Fugitive
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| Little Fugitive | |
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 DVD cover |
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| Directed by | Ray Ashley Morris Engel Ruth Orkin |
| Produced by | Ray Ashley Morris Engel |
| Written by | Ray Ashley Morris Engel Ruth Orkin |
| Starring | Richie Andrusco Richard Brewster |
| Music by | Eddie Manson |
| Cinematography | Morris Engel |
| Editing by | Ruth Orkin Lester Troob |
| Release date(s) | October 6, 1953 |
| Running time | 80 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Little Fugitive (1953) is film written and directed by Raymond Abrashkin (under the pseudonym "Ray Ashley"), Morris Engel and Ruth Orkin. It stars Richard Brewster, Winifred Cushing, Jay Williams, and others.[1]
It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Writing, Motion Picture Story. The film has been deemed "culturally significant" by the Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.
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[edit] Plot
The film tells the story of a young boy who runs away to Coney Island after he is tricked into believing he has killed his older brother.
[edit] Background
The film was filmed on location at Coney Island and Brooklyn, United States.
[edit] Cast
- Richie Andrusco as Joey Norton
- Richard Brewster as Lennie Norton
- Winifred Cushing as Mother
- Jay Williams as Jay the Pony Ride Man
- Will Lee as Photographer
- Charlie Moss as Harry
- Tommy DeCanio as Charley
[edit] Critical reception
Film critic Dennis Schwartz liked the film and wrote, "A remarkable indy classic, made on a shoestring budget by a group of still photographers. It's an affecting lyrical comedy-drama that fully captures the flavor of urban childhood innocence of the 1950s. It's written/directed by the team of Morris Engel and Ray Ashley and Ruth Orkin...The dialogue was sparse, the story was unambitious, the film lacked drama, the children were very ordinary and their problem was only a minor one, nevertheless this beautifully realized film caught the world through the innocent eyes of a curious and scared child and left an impression that was hard to shake. It was uplifting to watch because the effort was so genuine."[2]
When the film was screened again in New York in 2005, film critic Joshua Land wrote, "Little Fugitive shines as a beautifully shot document of a bygone Brooklyn—any drama here resides in the grainy black-and-white cinematography, with its careful attention to the changes in light brought on by the inexorably advancing sun...Filled with 'Aw, fellas!' period ambience and the mythic imagery of cowboys and horses, comics and baseball, it's a key proto-vérité slice of urban America."[3]
[edit] Remake
Joanna Lipper completed a remake of the movie in 2005 and used the same name. The film had its world premiere in the New American Cinema Competition at the 2006 Seattle International Film Festival.[4]
[edit] Awards
Wins
- Venice Film Festival: Silver Lion, Ray Ashley, Morris Engel, Ruth Orkin; 1953.
- Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists: Silver Ribbon, Best Foreign Film, Ray Ashley, Morris Engel, Ruth Orkin; 1954.
Nominations
- Venice Film Festival: Golden Lion, Ray Ashley, Morris Engel, Ruth Orkin; 1953.
- Writers Guild of America, USA: WGA Award, Best Written Screenplay American Drama, Ray Ashley; 1954.
- Academy Awards, USA: Oscar, Best Writing, Motion Picture Story, Ray Ashley, Morris Engel, Ruth Orkin; 1954.
Other honors
- National Film Preservation Board, USA: National Film Registry; 1997.
[edit] References
[edit] Notes
- ^ Little Fugitive at the Internet Movie Database.
- ^ Schwartz, Dennis. Film review, December 11, 2003. Last accessed: February 15, 2008.
- ^ Land, Joshua. The Village Voice, April 19, 2005. Last accessed: February 15, 2008
- ^ Brooklyn International Film Festival. Web site, 2008. Last accessed: February 15, 2008.
[edit] External links
- Little Fugitive at the Internet Movie Database
- Little Fugitive at Allmovie
- Little Fugitive at the TCM Movie Database
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