Essential Docs: Highlighing some of the best docs of all time.
On The Bowery chronicles three days in
the drinking life of Ray Salyer, a part-time
railroad worker adrift on New York’s skid
row, the Bowery. When the film first
opened it 1956, it exploded on the screen,
burning away years of Hollywood artifice,
jump-starting the post-war American
independent scene and earning an Oscar
nomination. Recently restored by the
Cineteca di Bologna, On The Bowery
is simultaneously an incredible document
of a bygone era and a vivid and devastating
portrait of addiction that resonates today
just as it did when it was made.
Screening with
The Perfect Team: The Making Of On The Bowery
D: Michael Rogosin | USA, France, Italy | 2009
| 49 min | STC
The Perfect Team is a fascinating account
of the making of On The Bowery, directed
by Lionel Rogosin’s son Michael. Featuring
recent and archival footage, Michael details
the history of the Bowery then and now
and focuses on Rogosin’s crew, made-up
of remarkable filmmakers who were not
always so perfect off the set. Michael also
delves into the mystery of Ray Salyer, the
star who abruptly disappeared when fame
and fortune started knocking on his door
and was never heard from again.