42nd Street Memories: The Rise and Fall of America's Most Notorious Street

42nd Street Memories: The Rise and Fall of America's Most Notorious Street (2015)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Calum Waddell's excellent look back at the now infamous 42nd Street in NYC where countless film buffs were entertained by some of the wildest movies ever made while at the same time trying to avoid getting shot, stabbed or robbed.

Bill Lustig, Joe Dante, Matt Cimber, Veronica Hart, Frank Henenlotter, Buddy Giovinazzo, Roy Frumkes, Tom Holland, Jeff Lieberman, Lloyd Kaufman, 42nd Street Pete and Debbie Rochon among the people interviewed and share stories about the notorious street that hosted mainstream movies but was best remembered for trash like BLOODSUCKING FREAKS, PIECES, the ISLA series and other exploitation titles.

If you're a fan of these types of movies of if you're curious about the original 42nd Street then this is certainly a film that you're going to want to check out. Clocking in at 81 minutes there's really not too much film footage shown but that's okay because that leaves the majority of the running time to the people who were actually there.

There are some terrific and varied stories told about the location with some saying they never faced any issues down there while others talk about the drugs, violence and prostitution. No matter what your opinion on these films are, this documentary really does give you a great idea of how fun the location would have been for film buffs of that era. There are a great number of stories told so if you're a fan then this is certainly a must see.

It sounded awful. I'm glad the blight is g9ne.

This was pretty gross and makes you glad you missed it.

The live porn actress recalling it as fond memories was pretty nauseating. I mean ewe.

This was a documentary that I originally heard about through podcasts. My guess would be Horror in the House of Sammons for their Colossal Collection segment, since this would have been in the numbers for them. Now I'll admit, I didn't know about this street and its infamy until diving deeper into movies. It would be through the films of William Lustig, Frank Henenlotter, Lloyd Kaufman and Larry Cohen.

What we're getting in this documentary is telling the story of this street and how so many of these influential filmmakers frequented it. There was a perfect story of why this street was as successful as it was. The home video market wasn't a thing yet. If you wanted to see a movie, you had to see it in theater. 42nd Street had theaters that would show classics, both in the horror genre and out. The Universal films would be playing regularly. Then as the grindhouse/exploitation films started to rise, this was a perfect place for it.

Something that added character as well was the criminal element around the area. There were theaters that were open almost 24 hours. They'd have homeless people sleeping inside. There was drugs and muggings. This didn't stop people from coming though. There were also pornography stores and theaters in the area. It is interesting to learn about this from the likes of people I said earlier as well Matt Cimber, Joe Dante, Buddy Giovinazzao, Veronica Hart, Tom Holland, Jeff Lieberman, Lynn Lowery and Debbie Rochon, to just name people that are interviewed.

I'd also say that this is well-made. There is footage that is edited in here, showing how this street was captured on film by Lustig, Henenlotter, Cohen and Kaufman. This also does well at explaining what it was like, then showing footage of movies that were shown at these theaters. This is the grittiness that I love from older movies in New York City, where it had character. I can understand why it was cleaned up. It makes sense for the city. There's a part of me that wishes I could have experienced it and seen films on the big screen there as well.

This is a documentary that I would recommend if 42nd Street, grindhouse and exploitation film, or just want to learn more about how these legends were influenced by what they saw here. I thoroughly enjoyed this.

My Rating: 8 out of 10.

Through a series of interviews with grindhouse filmmakers, actors, fans, and historians the audience is presented a beautiful and disgusting tapestry of what 42nd street once was. The documentary examines the history of infamous NYC block; starting with the creation of the theater houses to the boom of the grindhouses and finally to the modern era of Disnificaiton. At each major 42nd street milestone, we are offered a thorough examination of the reasons behind the historical shift. To help set the feel, clips from movies set on 42nd street such as BASKET CASE, THE EXTERMINATOR, MASSAGE PARLOR MASSACRE, and NIGHTMARE are intertwined. Stories range from the hilarious to the terrifying as former attendees of 42nd street take us down the street that they loved so much. The saddest part is that its obvious that such a place will probably never exist in any of our lifetimes. The only solace is that modern grindhouse fans have access to far more movies then a theater attendee would have had back in the day.

If you a fan of grindhouse cinema I would highly recommend that you check this out.

This would have tonnes of nostalgia for anyone who lived or visited 42nd street during the era or anyone that wished they could have BUT there are so many disgusting stories, violent stories, dangerous stories, etc that they're not exactly making me wish I could have been there... Sure it looked cool, but the reality sounded pretty icky... Lots of talking heads, standard documentary format, decent enough stuff, but yuck...