On the Bowery

On the Bowery is an American documentary from the year 1956. The film describes the lives of the people in the Bowery, a neighborhood in the south of the New York district of Manhattan. In poverty guessed men to alcohol have shown and wander through the streets of the neighborhood in search of the next drink.

Action

With his monthly wages of railroad workers Ray Salyer arrives at the Bowery looking for a bar. He befriends with the friendly Gorman Hendricks and begins to drink with him and others. As Ray has spent all his money, Gorman advises him to work the next day as a day laborer. However, both need a place to sleep for the night. Gorman proposes to pledge some clothes from Ray's suitcase. As they search the trunk for matching pieces, a wristwatch comes to light that wants to keep Ray though. Ray gets a little money for a pair of pants. The money is spent on alcohol. Still no money for a hotel room travels Ray through the streets after Gorman stole the suitcase.

The next morning sleeping men lie in the streets. Ray wakes up and can secure work for a day. Gorman looking at the bar the night before, in which men reside, have big plans. He is looking at a day care center, play in the men's Domino. Later, he meets Ray and want to take him to the bar. But Ray does not want to come along. Gorman accompanied him to a Christian mission. The mission is led by Reverend George Bolton, a former resident of the Bowery. Reverend Bolton tried to evangelize the men who are here to provide themselves with free food. Ray takes the opportunity to claim to bathe. But when he is told that he has to sleep on the floor and not allowed to drink alcohol, leaving the mission and returns to the bar.

Because of a woman occurs between Gorman and Ray to a dispute in the bar Ray leaves after he has struck the woman in the dispute, the bar and is attacked. The whipped together Ray is found and taken away, so that he is not arrested by the police for vagrancy. In the meantime, Gorman pledged the rest of Ray's suitcase. He meets again on Ray, who just want to get away from home to Chicago and from alcohol. Gorman gives him some of the money. Ray, who does not know where the money is, is pleased.

Gorman meets his friends in the bar and tells of his " generosity " towards Ray. He tells of Ray's golden future, but another man believes that Ray would soon come back again.

Reviews

Bosley Crowther criticized by the daily New York Times, the film was merely a good assembly of good photographs of drunks who would be taken ad nauseum under the microscope. Nicolas Rapold of the New York Sun described the film, however, as amazing as a milestone of urban realism and independent film production, calling him one of the essential films about New York City. Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times described the film as disturbing and compelling, who had exasperated with his sharp-edged rawness some critics.

Awards

In 1957 the film won the BAFTA Award for Best Documentary. At the Academy Awards in 1958, the film was nominated for Best Documentary Oscar in the category. The inclusion in the National Film Registry of the National Film Preservation Board took place in 2008.

Background

The premiere was held in New York on 18 March 1957. Producer Lionel Rogosin, who worked in the textile industry before, began with this film his career as a film maker.