Well done evocation of 1960s Catskill Kitsch and the Class Gap

Rating: 8/10 (30 August 2009)

I guess being old enough to remember the Catskills at their peak and the culture helps me write more favorably about the film. I think it captures the schlocky nature of much of the entertainment. I am talking about some of the lesser acts---of course there were some name entertainers at the top of the bill, but the fillers were on a par with the amateur talent show. My impressions of the Catskill "borscht belt" was from the 1950s, and this film represents the early 1960s, when as Max, the proprietor says, "It all seems to be slipping away". I didn't get a sense of the degree class snobbery (shown in the film) in the 1950s, but perhaps by the 1960s this factor was important. I worked as a waiter for a New Jersey hotel that was a sort of "Catskills South" and there was some condescension between wealthy guests and working stiff employees. The guests could be petty and demanding, and we were expected to cater to their every whim for low pay and no benefits.