THE BOYS OF SECOND STREET PARK Rating: (out of 5 stars) Directors: Dan Klores and Ron Berger Producers: Dan Klores and Ron Berger Director of Photography: David Elliott Cast: The Boys of 2nd Street Park Visit the IMDB page for full cast and crew.

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Review by: Dan Tester
9/22/03

As I get older, I find myself thinking back more and more to those innocent summer days of my youth, filled with whiffleball games in the open lot across the street, flashlight tag at night, and hide and go seek. There was nothing like hearing the chirpy sounds of excited kids outside and feeling that butterfly in your stomach as you wolfed down your dinner to get out and see what was going on. I often find myself wondering whatever happened to my old neighborhood chums, what they are doing, and if they wonder about me. The Boys of 2nd Street Park is a documentary that explores this idea, following a group of Brooklyn kids from their endless summer preteen days of stickball and pick-up basketball games in Brooklyn, through their adulthood. But it is the time frame of the film that makes it particularly interesting. Has there ever been a more jarring 15-year stretch of time in history than that of the late 1950s (with "Father Knows Best" and Joe Dimaggio) to the early 1970s (with the hippie drug culture and Vietnam)? This film follows these boys from those rather innocent beginnings, up through the rough times, and then on through to the present. Some made it through fine, some had a difficult time, and some didn't make it at all. But each and every story here is fascinating in a completely relatable way, whether we as the viewer know the participants or not. It is amazing how drawn in I was.

The Boys of 2nd Street Park begins typically enough, as we are introduced to all of the participants as they describe their humble beginnings in Brighton Beach, New York of the late 1950s. There is something endearing right away as these now middle aged men reminisce, and certainly no hint right away as to the amazing arcs their lives will take. I just find something eternally fascinating about this period of time, the 1950s, arguably the last bastion of pure childhood innocence, and the first 1/3 of this film is filled to the brim with great stories; like Frankie Bass' memories of his Edward G. Robinson-like father, or Madelyne Klein falling in love with one of the "boys" on a roller coaster, or the hysterical tale of the boys' scrappy all-White high school basketball team, who against all hope made it to the playoffs against an all-Black urban school in which they were afraid for their lives (for good reason -- they were basically told that if they won, they would be dead.) To hear these guys tell these tales, it seems as if they happened only yesterday. One character ponders, "Without basketball, who knows what kind of trouble we would have gotten into at that time in our lives." But then the 60s arrive, basketball takes a curbside seat, and curiosity leads to temptation, temptation to experimentation, and in some cases, experimentation to ruin.

I wasn't sure if there would be an eventual focus on one character from the flurry of men in the first half, but as soon as Scott Satin appeared on screen, I knew he was going to be something of a backbone. Right upon his first appearance, I thought immediately, "This will be the guy." This is a movie about the whole gang, but it is Satin's saga that has remained in my memory the strongest. His tale is the one with the most drama -- the first to fall in love and get married, the first to get knee-deep in the drug culture, and the first to collapse into despair. Scott Satin's experiences are at the heart of The Boys of 2nd Street Park, and it is genuinely moving.

This is a hard review to write -- I am trying to preserve the strengths (the surprises) while at the same time attempting to sell you on how great the film is. All I can say is - - trust me. I just love this movie so much. The use of period music is brilliant, the structure is perfect, and the emotional level is high. It would be hard to go wrong with this wealth of material, but Don Klores and Ron Berger not only succeed, they excel. It is a powerful look at how life can change, literally from one day to the next, as told by people who have endured many changes.

And the film ends on a perfect, emotionally charged note that I also won't ruin. (Although it might have been somewhat predictable, it was a goosebumpy payoff that is as rewarding as it might be anticipated.) The Boys of 2nd Street Park is about 90 minutes long, but I gladly would have spent twice as long with these guys. If you subscribe to Showtime, you are in for a real treat this Sunday night. And if you don't already subscribe, you might want to call your local cable company for details.

But as always, it is only one man's opinion.

(Premieres on the Showtime Network on September 28, 2003 at 8:00 P.M. EST/PST.)