The title characters are a tight-knit quartet of buddies in 1950s Brooklyn: Chico (Perry King), Stanley (Sylvester Stallone), Butchy (Henry Winkler), and Wimpy (Paul Mace). Although they look like your typical trouble-making gang, they're really just concerned with having a good time. The two major plot points: Stanley's girlfriend Frannie (Maria Smith) is pregnant, and pressures him towards marriage, and serial womanizer Chico finds himself actually falling for Jane (Susan Blakely), a nice girl from the cliched "right side of the tracks".
Co-written by directors Stephen Verona ("Boardwalk") and Martin Davidson ("Eddie and the Cruisers") with Gayle Gleckler, this proved to be excellent training ground for its talented future stars. Sly is credited with writing some additional dialogue, and was already a great "cool" presence on screen. Here, Winkler gives us an early variation on his future "Fonzie" persona (although he says that he based his Arthur Fonzarelli performance on Sly's work here). Of the main quartet, only Mace didn't go on to bigger & better things (tragically, he died in a traffic accident in 1983). They're well supported by Smith, Blakely, Dolph Sweet & Antonia Rey as Stanley's parents, actor / composer Paul Jabara, and Renee Paris as Frannie's gal pal Annie. That's Davidson playing the jeweler Mr. Birnbaum.
Filled with plenty of good vibes, "The Lords of Flatbush" is generally pleasant, with some serious and touching moments but no overt melodrama. And the soundtrack is filled with decent songs (mostly by Joe Brooks) highly evocative of the period. One may argue that it doesn't have that strong a story (as it is, it only runs 84 minutes), but it should prove to be potent nostalgia for some viewers.
Seven out of 10.
Co-written by directors Stephen Verona ("Boardwalk") and Martin Davidson ("Eddie and the Cruisers") with Gayle Gleckler, this proved to be excellent training ground for its talented future stars. Sly is credited with writing some additional dialogue, and was already a great "cool" presence on screen. Here, Winkler gives us an early variation on his future "Fonzie" persona (although he says that he based his Arthur Fonzarelli performance on Sly's work here). Of the main quartet, only Mace didn't go on to bigger & better things (tragically, he died in a traffic accident in 1983). They're well supported by Smith, Blakely, Dolph Sweet & Antonia Rey as Stanley's parents, actor / composer Paul Jabara, and Renee Paris as Frannie's gal pal Annie. That's Davidson playing the jeweler Mr. Birnbaum.
Filled with plenty of good vibes, "The Lords of Flatbush" is generally pleasant, with some serious and touching moments but no overt melodrama. And the soundtrack is filled with decent songs (mostly by Joe Brooks) highly evocative of the period. One may argue that it doesn't have that strong a story (as it is, it only runs 84 minutes), but it should prove to be potent nostalgia for some viewers.
Seven out of 10.