Written by Neal Marshall, Garry Marshall, and Bo Goldman
Directed by Garry Marshall

Growing up in suburban New York City in my early years summers were different than they were for my own kids. Where summertime meant days in the community pool and evenings playing kickball or stickball, for my kids there was carefully planned days filled with activity. Gone for them is the era of spontaneous play and the social training that came along with it.

The Flamingo Kid is reminiscent of that earlier time. Although it’s set even earlier than my own youth, there’s enough that is familiar that I could identify with it. Set in 1963 Brooklyn and Long Island, it’s a coming-of-age film that is familiar in so many ways to other coming-of-age films, yet it captures something more. Some of that might be due to the time period and what it was like to live in 1963.

Matt Dillon is Jeffrey Willis. He’s 18 years old in the summer of 1963 and not sure of what direction he wants for his life. One day he decides to head out onto Long Island with his friends. He discovers a life much different than that of the heat and congestion of Brooklyn at The El Flamingo Beach Club with his friends. Jeffrey ends up being offered a job at the club, which he takes with hardly any hesitation. Adept at cards, he catches the attention of one of the club’s wealthy members, Phil Brody (portrayed by Richard Crenna) along with his niece, Carla (portrayed by Janet Jones).

Jeffrey begins to see things from a different perspective than he did at home with his father (portrayed by Hector Elizondo). His father is a plumber; a blue-collar worker. All he wants out of life is to see his children educated. After spending time with Mr. Brody, Jeffrey thinks about bypassing college to forge his future selling sports cars. However, beneath the surface, there is more going on than meets the eye.

The Flamingo Kid is one of those films that evokes melancholy for what seems like simpler times, similar to Dirty Dancing, which was actually set in the same time period. In that film, a vacation was simply going to the mountains away from the sights and sounds of the city. This creates a summer diversion where simply being able to spend days rubbing elbows with wealthier people whose lifestyle is so different than what Jeffrey grew up with that it’s seductive. It’s easy to aspire to a better life, but will he also succumb to the trade-off in his morals that seems to go along with it? What seems like a simpler time has more cracks beneath the surface than what many who romanticize it will admit to, similar to the need for an illegal abortion in Dirty Dancing.

For those who don’t remember, Matt Dillon was quite the teen idol. He always seemed on the verge of breaking out but never quite got there. The Flamingo Kid was perhaps his best role in his early years and shows where all the hype was coming from. Dillon doesn’t portray Jeffrey as a one-note character. He’s searching for direction but doesn’t seem to actually know that’s what he’s doing. Dillon gets the subtlety across. As he’s having a summer of fun, he’s also growing.

He forges a mentor-like bond with Richard Crenna who handles the role well. As a middle-aged man who likely was feeling the sting of not having a male heir, something almost necessary for the time period, having Jeffrey follow him around drinking in the so-called wisdom imparted by Phil Brody was a boost to the ego as well as a chance to have the one relationship in his life he never had. Crenna is terrific in the role transforming before the audience’s eyes into someone quite different than who we thought he was at the beginning of the film. The scenes where he finally meets Jeffrey’s father are terrific as Arthur Willis sees through him for what he really is and boils that this man is influencing his son, while Crenna remains cool and collected in the character of Phil Brody. His conceit is evident as he seems to thing the influence he has over the younger Willis is something of a given, due to his social status. Brody’s relationship with his wife (portrayed by Jessica Walter) is somewhat cool as she doesn’t really understand or support his attachment to Jeffrey, likely because she sees it as a jab at her that she never provided him with that male heir.

Rounding out the cast are a number of notable actors in early roles. Some of them are almost unrecognizable. There’s an early role here for Fisher Stevens as one of Jeffrey’s buddies. Bronson Pinchot also makes an appearance as Alfred, who regularly hits on Carla at the club.

The setting is magnificent. Filmed at the old Silver Gull Beach Club in Rockaway (Queens) New York, it has the feel of being a respite for the wealthier city-folk while the poorer ones like Jeffrey’s family spend their days trying to get cool in front of open fire hydrants. It’s someplace as alien to him as Disney World would be to a child who’s never seen it. I loved the opening with the old WABC AM broadcast – it brought back memories from my own youth in the 1970s. The film had a very authentic look and feel for the time period with billboards and Good Humor ice cream trucks.

What caught me a bit off-guard is how many of the ideas in The Flamingo Kid are corrupted and spoofed in Caddyshack. There’s actually not a lot that had to be changed to make it into more of a comedy.

There are many of these coming-of-age, searching for one’s identity films to choose from. The Flamingo Kid happens to be one of the better ones. The attention to detail on the part of director Garry Marshall is terrific. The story moves along nicely and doesn’t have the feeling of being forced or contrived. If you’ve never seen this or if it’s been some time since you saw it last, I would make it a point to check it out.