''Boardwalk'' is a 1979 American drama film written by

Stephen Verona Stephen Verona (September 11, 1940 – July 13, 2019) was an American filmmaker, photographer and painter. He was known for writing, producing and directing the 1974 film ''The Lords of Flatbush''. He was also nominated for the Academy Award fo ...

and Leigh Chapman and directed by Verona. It stars Ruth Gordon,

Lee Strasberg Lee Strasberg (born Israel Strassberg; November 17, 1901 – February 17, 1982) was an American acting coach and actor. He co-founded, with theatre directors Harold Clurman and Cheryl Crawford, the Group Theatre in 1931, which was hailed ...

and Janet Leigh. It follows an older

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

couple living in

Coney Island Coney Island is a neighborhood and entertainment area in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bounded by Brighton Beach to its east, Lower New York Bay to the south and west, and Gravesend to ...

that are challenged by increasing crime in their neighborhood.

Plot summary

David Rosen (Strasberg) and his wife Becky (Gordon) are approaching their 50th wedding anniversary in

, where they have spent most of their married life. But their beloved once-safe neighborhood begins to fall victim to urban blight and crime with house robberies commonplace and the boardwalk rendered unsafe by gangs. A gang leader named Strut demands payment from local merchants for "protection" and uses violent methods to achieve his objectives. David refuses to pay for the "protection" for his restaurant and as a consequence it is firebombed, while many of his neighbors are attacked and his synagogue is desecrated. The couple also contend with Becky's

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

, while their widowed daughter, Florence (Leigh) is in a loveless marriage with a vinyl floor salesman. Peter, Florence's 24-year-old son, wants to be rock star. The Friedmans, an older Jewish couple and best friends of David and Becky, feel besieged by the threat of violent crime and decide to take their own lives.

Cast

* Ruth Gordon as Becky Rosen *

as David Rosen * Janet Leigh as Florence Cohen * Joe Silver as Leo Rosen * Eddie Barth as Eli Rosen *Merwin Goldsmith as Charley *Michael Ayr as Peter *Forbesy Russell as Marilyn *Chevi Colton as Vera Rosen * Teri Keane as Betty Rosen * Eli Mintz as Friedman *Rashel Novikoff as Sadie *

Lillian Roth Lillian Roth (December 13, 1910 – May 12, 1980) was an American singer and actress. Her life story was told in the 1955 film ''I'll Cry Tomorrow'', in which she was portrayed by Susan Hayward, who was nominated for the Academy Award for Best ...

as Ruth *Kim Delgado as Strut * Altovise Davis as Mrs. Bell

Production

It was filmed on location at numerous spots in Brooklyn, including the famous but now defunct Dubrow's Cafeteria. Strasberg spoke to ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' about challenging perceptions of older characters on screen: "That's the difficulty of playing older people...The audience doesn't see them as people, but as old people. They think you have to act old. But old people don't not make love; they don't not have feelings. Aging is like wine: give me old wine — it's more enriching. What appealed to me about the characters in ‘Boardwalk’ was that I didn't have to play David as decrepit or do the phony Jewish thing with the accent."Ruth Gordon and Lee Strasberg: Two Old Troupers Who Age Like Fine Wine
''The New York Times''. 23 November 1979 Gordon spoke about her positive experience acting alongside Strasberg: "From the very word go, it was chemistry. We loved each other. That's why we worked together.” With Strasberg adding, “I guess we do share something in the theater, don't we?...I remember seeing you in ‘Serena Blandish’ — that was the kind of theater I loved as a young actor. You know, we went through those years of the American theater when it was just becoming a world theater." It was written by Leigh Chapman and Verona, who were a couple at the time. Chapman later recalled the film as "Amateurish? boring? Strasberg asa dreadful actor...I give V ronacredit for tenacity... British investor who put up the money for the film. He was one of those 'commoner' Brits who created a travel agency and made a lot of money. I don't know how Verona met him or conned him into putting up the money." * *

Reception

Vincent Canby Vincent Canby (July 27, 1924 – October 15, 2000) was an American film and theatre critic who was the chief film critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1969 until the early 1990s, then its chief theatre critic from 1994 until his death in 2000. ...

of ''

'' wrote "''Boardwalk'' is otherwise a movie of unrelieved, unexplored gloom". He criticized Verona's direction: "Mr. Verona also has no idea how to write individual scenes or how to allow characters to develop at their own speed. The movie proceeds in bits and pieces of sequences that undercut the actors, at the same time revealing the absence of anything faintly resembling a director's unifying vision." However, Canby praised the cast for their performances, "The only thing the movie has going for it is a cast of good actors. Mr. Strasberg, Miss Gordon and Miss Leigh provide their roles with depths of feelings that come out of their own resources, certainly not the director's or the writers'. The supporting roles are nicely handled by Joe Silver, Eli Mintz, Eddie Barth and Merwin Goldsmith, while Lillian Roth makes a brief, sweet appearance as a lonely Jewish widow. Linda Manz ("Days of Heaven") wanders on and off as an anonymous member of the street gang, which is so carefully integrated you might suspect that Brooklyn now runs a busing program for muggers."

References

External links

*https://www.hollowsquarepress.com/boardwalk-1979.html *https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/69257/boardwalk *https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/boardwalk_2014 *{{IMDb title, 0078886 1979 films American drama films 1979 drama films Atlantic Entertainment Group films Films about old age Films set in Coney Island 1970s English-language films 1970s American films Films about Jews and Judaism