MovieChat Forums > Little Fugitive (1953) Discussion > I need to know if anyone else was terrif...

I need to know if anyone else was terrified by this film

posted 16 years ago by caaro1947
28 replies | jump to latest

My father died suddenly, at age thirty-eight, in 1953 (the year this film was released). I must have seen it in'54 or '55 when I was seven or eight. I didn't remember the name but throughout my life I've had nightmarish memories of it. The music, the photography, the weird kid alone in Coney Island disturbed my psyche and terrified me in a way "horror" movies never did. I'm sure its indelible impression had a lot to do with the traumatic events surrounding my father's death.

I wonder how many others saw this film as children and had a similar experience. I've never really been able to talk about it.

[–] kidsolvent 12 years ago

No terror observed here. I was a little sickened by the Calcutta-esque image of the beach at Coney. Oh the humanity.

[–] PoppyTransfusion 11 years ago

I watched the film as an adult so it didn't scare me. Some of the angles in the film of the amusements and the speed with which the audience was exposed to them, was unnerving. I imagined it was Joey's view of something thriling, exotic and forbidden but also bewildering and perhaps a little scary.

Keep silent unless what you are going to say is more important than silence.

[–] shandy8 10 years ago

As a three-year-old I went to the Santa Monica pier with my sister and grandmother one afternoon and was haunted by the experience. I had nightmares. When I saw this movie years ago, it brought back those memories. I know what you mean.

"What do you want me to do, draw a picture? Spell it out!"

[–] Byrdz 9 years ago

I was a kid when I saw The Little Fugitive and remember it fondly. We lived in Brooklyn about 5 miles from Coney Island. We could watch the twice weekly fireworks from our bedroom window on a clear night. They were TINY but we could see them.

My father enjoyed walking the tide line "beachcombing" and finding coins and I spent many hours on that beach, picking up bottles, finding pennies, never going farther than knee deep into the ocean.

Our local PBS station showed the film a few years ago and sadly neither the script writers or Shirley Jones, who was the hostess for the film showing, had ever seen the picture. Shirley, in her most heartfelt voice, said how saddened she had been by the mother's worrying where her youngest boy was. The point of the picture being mostly that the mom never even knew he was gone !

[–] beepstein 9 years ago

I was born in 1952 in Bklyn and grew up in Bensonhurst. And boy, was I in love with Coney Island! It may have been insanely naive of me but by the time I was 8 or 9 I thought nothing of hopping on my bicycle and pedaling myself down there. And while I was there I would simply leave the bike lying around while I ate Nathan's hotdogs and fries, and rode on the Wonder Wheel or Spook-A-Rama, or the Coney Island Bobsleds. Nobody ever touched the bike! I remember vividly the old Steeplechase, the Tornado, the Virginia Reel, the old Thunderbolt. I remember standing on the boardwalk watching the fireworks. Years later my first job was at Nathan's! And we got free lunches!

[–] Schmoozette 8 years ago

I missed the film tonight on TCM, but hope I can catch it on their streaming site. But...I was born in Bklyn in 1953, and grew up in Far Rockaway. My grandparents lived in Coney Island, and we made many family trips that included Steeplechase and Nathan's. I never went on the parachute jump (too chicken, and my parents wouldn't let me, or I was too young, or something.) I loved that I mastered the rotating barrel walk going into the park. I remember having the big, round paper "ticket" around my neck, which would get punched with every ride. These were happy times for me, even though some things might have been a bit scary. It really was a whole different time. I was always with my parents during these trips, but they still felt like an adventure! Can still smell all that cooking at Nathan's, not to mention the taste of the hot dogs, fries, and fried shrimp!

[–] beepstein 8 years ago

The "Cinerama" coaster (formerly called the "Atom Smasher") at Rockaway Playland was my first experience on an old-fashioned wooden coaster. I used it as a stepping stone on my way toward riding the "Cyclone". The name was changed after it appeared in the 1952 "This Is Cinerama". In 1972 that film was revived in all its cinerama glory and I got to see it Manhattan at the Ziegfeld Theater.
Ahh, such memories. Btw have you seen Woody Allen's "Radio Days"?

[–] DeepFriedJello 8 years ago

I got this from netflix and it was listed as gritty, dark, and emotional. One reviewer said she wouldn't recommend for children. For me, the most disturbing part is the children playing with the rifle, and the traumatic experience the boy would have thinking he shot his brother.

[–] Colorado_Kid (211) 3 years ago

I saw the movie for the first time on AMC back when they actually showed American movie classics and I enjoyed the movie. The one problem I had was the prank they played on Joey. I know that people will say that back then times were different and kids were more free but what those kids did to Joey was not only cruel but stupid.