Tonight I watched another documentary, "On The Bowery" (1956), made by an independent filmmaker named Lionel Rogosin. I'd never heard of him until I saw this film on the rack at West Valley Libe. It looked interesting and the liner notes mentioned an Academy Award nomination, so I gave it a shot.
I'm sure you've heard of The Bowery, New York's version of "Skid Row". Hell, I shouldn't say "version" because The Bowery is the Skid Row by which all other Rows should be judged, or at least it was when the movie was filmed. Rogosin, a graduate of Yale but a self-taught filmmaker, went down there with his camera to capture the street life, and in doing so he cemented it for all time.
His movie was made before the concept of "homelessness" was put forth. In those days, the men you see stumbling around The Bowery would've been considered "bums", and in body they resemble their train hopping brethren known as "hobos". They look very beat up. Rogosin focuses on the faces of these men, and may the Good Lord help all such people, but you have never seen faces like these in all your life. They are the visages of the hardest of hard core alcoholics, men whose addictions have dragged them to the very bottom of society. These are faces shaped by booze and concrete. Rogosin shows the men laying on the hard sidewalks, sleeping off another night's drunk. When the morning comes they will do it all again, every day is the same.
Into the picture comes a new man. He is younger than most of the long-timers, about 40, and his gait suggests a degree of health. He appears to be strong and lean, not bent over and hobbled like the rest of the street dwellers. His name is Ray, and he is a real person playing himself. The movie is not a strict documentary because Rogosin wrote a story for his cast to enact. His own word for it was "docufiction". But it's a story that was close enough to the truth that the fiction makes no difference.
Ray, playing himself, is new to The Bowery. He's just arrived from New Jersey, where he spent the Summer working in a train yard. He's got a suitcase filled with clothes, and some money. Because he's an itinerant worker he has no permanent home, so when the trainyard gig was over he headed to NYC and The Bowery because he'd heard you could get "day work" there. But we can see right away that he's also a severe alcoholic. Maybe that's the real reason he came to The Bowery, because it was a place he could fit in.
Ray walks into one of the many gin mills on the street and introduces himself to some of the winos, who are all talking at once about insignificant things. Rogosin lingers on their interaction, again framing them in close ups, and in the introduction to the movie by Martin Scorcese, he says that John Cassavetes was hugely influenced by this film. If you've seen Cassavetes' "Faces", you will notice the influence. The textures of these faces, in both movies, tell a story all by themselves.
Ray becomes friends with an older gentleman named Gorman, another actual Bowery resident playing himself. In real life, Gorman had been a reporter for the Washington Times, with a nice home and a family until his extreme alcoholism brought him down. In the movie, his former profession is changed to surgeon, but the analogy is the same: The Bowery can happen to anyone.
Gorman is somewhat of a con man. His entire day revolves around cadging a drink from anyone with some dough. His line-at-the-ready is "I haven't got a plugged nickel, can ya help me out"? He talks a good game because he is educated, so he can always get somebody to front him. Ray buys him several rounds that first afternoon, and Gorman repays him by stealing Ray's suitcase, later that night after Ray has passed out on the sidewalk. Welcome to The Bowery, Ray; you can't trust anyone.
Ray wants to quit drinking, and he is not averse to work. Rogosin does not present a falsely sympathetic depiction of the residents. He shows them as they are, and in truth, most of them would not want to leave, because they have come to not only accept their lifestyle, but would be resistant to change it. Because they have become accustomed to living in the moment - and only looking toward their next drink - the hard truth is that most of them prefer living in The Bowery because it's better than having to go straight. Nowdays, we have programs in place to try and catch susceptible young people before they fall off the addiction cliff, but in 1956 (and the decades before), no one paid much attention to addicts unless it was the cops looking to lock them up. If a man wound up on the streets, it was because he was a bum. The bums eventually acquired their own neighborhoods, and ceased to care about living a normal life, and in some cases, especially that of the hobos, a transient lifestyle became the goal. Some of the the men of The Bowery, the more level-headed ones, do want a roof over their head. No one enjoys sleeping on the sidewalk, so when they have enough money, maybe from helping unload a vegetable truck, some of them will spend it on a "flop" (a room for the night) rather than on drinks. But even these men, the more able ones, are more or less stuck in The Bowery for life, and because they have more than enough to drink, and all of their friends are there, it appears in the film that they don't seem to mind it.
It looks pretty horrible though. Regarding the faces of the men, you find yourself thinking, "once they were all tiny babies". What the hell happened?
This is the problem, I think, with homelessness and addiction. While of course, it would be ideal for everyone on the street to at least have the basics - a room to live in, food and clothing, access to healthcare, the truth is that you can't force everyone to comply, and there are those who would rather live by their own wits - with no outside interference - than have to conform in any way to society's standards. This is especially true of addicts who are also mentally ill. Rogosin shows them as they are. Many seem fine with their lot. Others merely walk around in a stupor. It looks more like an open air asylum than a modern day homeless camp.
Ray continues to try and quit drinking, and at one point he decides to go to the local shelter to ask for help. He is told he can get a bed, and food and a shower, but he cannot consume alcohol and he must attend the church service. Do you think he will stick with this program? It's his only way out. He just wants to get sober so he can move on to Chicago. He's heard there is more trainyard work there.
"On The Bowery" was no doubt an important film when it was released, almost 65 years ago, and it still has an important point to make, even if that point is "some people are beyond help". The problem for a viewer in 2019 is that we know all this stuff by now, and so the message is no longer shocking, only depressing. Please note that I am not - definitely not - including all homeless people in that category. As I say, there are many reasons a person becomes homeless nowdays, and many if not most modern homeless would no doubt accept help, but the men of The Bowery are a different story. That's why it was such a notorious place. It was a place for men who wanted to be left alone to hit rock bottom, just as long as there was a bottle on hand. And there always was.
"On The Bowery" runs only 65 minutes, but about halfway through I asked myself "why am I watching this"? In this case, it wasn't because the movie was bad. It was very well made, and not dull. It's just that it was exceedingly depressing. I did stick it out, though, and watched for the duration, and I'm gonna give it Two Thumbs Up, but I'm afraid I can't recommend it.
It's been selected by the National Film Register, and most critics would consider it a classic. Martin Scorcese does, and there is no doubt it is one of the greatest documentaries ever made, even if only from a cinematic standpoint (because I did not find the story all that interesting, to be honest). And yes, you've never seen a place like The Bowery, and it's hard to believe such a place ever existed. But you wouldn't want to walk through there, so you might ask yourself before watching this movie if you want to spend an hour looking at it on your TV. //////
That's all for now. I'll see you later tonight at the Usual Time.
Tons of love. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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