Boardwalk **** (Ruth Gordon, Lee Strasberg, Janet Leigh, Kim Delgado) – Classic Movie Review 8805

Director Stephen Verona’s 1979 drama Boardwalk stars Ruth Gordon and Lee Strasberg as a beleaguered old Jewish couple, Becky Rosen and her husband David, who fight back when they are under attack from Strut (Kim Delgado)’s punk gang at their Coney Island, New York, home, where they have nearly all their long married life. When David Rosen (Strasberg)’s diner is attacked by firebomb and his synagogue attacked, the old couple decide that enough is enough.

The performances are of the high quality you would expect from these practised old players and from Janet Leigh as their daughter, Florence Cohen. The best part of the script is the family drama; the worst is the pensioner’s Death Wish scenario climax when Strasberg takes on gang leader Delgado.

Though its heart is in the right place, Boardwalk could be seen as racially and possibly even morally dodgy. But, as drama, it is credibly written made and performed, and certainly co-writer-director Verona believes in it. With its marvellous, crumbling Coney Island locations, it is also atmospheric and crisply filmed.

Also in the cast are Joe Silver, Eddie Barth, Eli Mintz, Merwin Goldsmith, Michael Ayr, Lillian Roth, Ramón Franco and Forbesy Russell.

Boardwalk is written by Leigh Chapman and Stephen Verona.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8805

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