Just finished watching a movie on TCM called 'LITTLE FUGITIVE'

It a story about a little boy who runs away from home because he thinks that he has killed his brother ( his brother and friends set it up to play a joke on him ) and winds up in Coney Island having the time of his life.

The filmmaker really captured the essence of Coney Island ( at least the way it was up until 30 years ago).

Very nostalgic. Seeing some of those places that I remember passing or going to as a kid brought back many memories. I had almost forgotten about those HUGE water fountains that used to stand in the middle of the beach! I can vividly remember the crowds standing around those fountains on a hot summer's day. The filmmaker definitely shot that movie in 'real time' with real life actually taking place around his filming the movie.

I was waiting for the man with the brown shopping bags in each hand, walking through the beach yelling "Hot Knishses!" " Cold Drinks" (sunny D's) to walk across the screen!

In one of the scenes, when the camera scans down a small side street between Mermaid ave and the boardwalk, the memory of the stench of those side streets on a scorching hot summer day seemed to fill my nostrils.

The scenes on the beach really brought back the memories of when my mom, grandmother, aunt, cousins and myself used to go to Coney Island beach when I was a kid.

And the boardwalk / arcade / ride scenes brought me back to the days when my dad and I would jump in the car on a warm summer night and we'd go to Coney Island, have a Shatkins knish or a Nathans Dog with fries, and he'd take me on the rides and then we'd play games in the arcade. I know that I rode the ponies in the same place that the young boy in the movie did.


SC, you were right. Anyone who's ever experienced the original Coney Island will enjoy watching this movie.