A Bargain On Memories

One of my favorite bargain stores is Big Lots, formerly Pic N Save. I shopped at Pic N Save since around 1969. They have great stuff and I’ve learned that when I see it, I have to grab it because it won’t be there for long. I’m still kicking myself for not having but a universal cell phone charger that runs on batteries. I saw it early this summer. It was very portable, about the size of a lipstick, and I believe it was around $7. I keep looking for it but they just haven’t had it again. I recently saw one that is not as portable or light weight for a bargain price of $35. Yeah, let me kick myself again!

The other day, my daughter and I went to Big Lots to look for floor mats for her car. She went back to the automotive section and I looked in the electronics section, just in case they had my battery charger. I look every time I go. I didn’t find it but I did find a huge section with DVDs priced at $3. They had a lot of really great older movies and a few newer titles that were quite good. The rest were mediocre to lame, but still only $3. As I looked through, I found a copy of a movie I had looked for on Netflix just the previous night. They didn’t have it and I was going to look for it on Ebay. Big Lots had it for $3. It is called The Lord’s of Flatbush. It came out on the big screen in 1974, according to IMDB, however I could swear I saw it around 1973.

One of the things that was funny about seeing that movie is that my parents were pretty strict and protective of us, especially of my sisters and me. That protective streak included anything remotely sexual. When the movie came out, it was promoted on TV and in the newspaper, as a movie every teenager had to see. My mom took it literally and insisted that my sisters and I go to see it. This was pretty strange because we mostly didn’t go to the movies. It was expensive and money was very tight. However, my mom insisted. We weren’t even interested in the movie but we went. We enjoyed it but we looked at each other with raised eyebrows when we realized what was going on in the movie.

It is about a group of kids in Brooklyn in the 1950’s. They’re all in high school and are in their own “gang,” not as in the gangs we know today but as in a group of friends, the meaning the word “gang” had when I was growing up. They are mostly from an upper-low economic strata.

The movie includes a memorable scene with two girls going to a jewelry store to look for a wedding ring for one of them who has gotten pregnant by her boyfriend (played by a very young Sly Stallone). In another scene the not pregnant of the two girls is seen at the beach with her boyfriend (it later turns out that he is not her boyfriend; she just likes him and he just is passing time with her) who proceeds to convince her to have sex with him. We don’t see much but we hear “enough” including the line, “Stanley, you’re making a messsss!” We are “treated” to a scene of Sly Stallone’s character going to the jewelry store to see the ring that his girlfriend has picked out, only to find that it is $1600 when he only has $90. We also see Perry King going out with Susan Blakely who is from the right side of town. She isn’t a part of his group at school or any place else but they are attracted. He cleans himself up and makes himself presentable to her family and goes out with her. A lot happens. A lot of quiet, ordinary things. It is basically a coming of age movie in which more than one of the group is coming of age at the same time. Other recognizable actors in this movie include Henry Winkler in his pre-Fonz days, Armand Assante, and others. If you see it, watch the students in the school scenes. You’ll find a lot of recognizable faces in some funny and predictable scenes of playing pranks on the teacher.

If you make it over to the Internet Movie Database, check out the trivia section. I found it interesting (including the explanation for the improper additon of an apostrophe in the word Lord’s). You might, too.

It’s a low budget movie but I find it worth watching. I don’t know much about film but this one has the quality (yes, I find it to be a quality) of having been filmed with a small home movie camera. It makes you feel closer to the action and like it is all more real than a bunch of actors reading from a script. It’s one of those small movies that leaves an impression. I’ve thought of that movie quite a few times since I saw it when I was in high school. I’ve watched it twice since I bought it last week. I might put it in again tonight. For a movie my mother sent us to see by mistake, it ended up a worthwhile couple of hours spent in the dark. Yeah, I’ll stick it in the player again tonight.