Not only have I seen this movie but I also saw it being filmed -The location where it was shot was the Williamsburgh section of Brooklyn NY - The picture was an adaptation of popular book of the time titled "The Amboy Dukes". Amboy Street was actually located in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn. I guess the filmmakers didn't think Brownsville was seedy enough so they shot all exterior shots in Williamsburgh. Ironically my family lived in Brownsville before moving to Williamsburgh so you can see how the family fortunes were progressing. My mother had owned a candy store on Pennsylvania Ave. right across the street from Thomas Jefferson High School in Brownsville in the early 1940"s . The movie was shot around the corner from where I lived in Williamsburgh. I recall seeing some of the "gang" sitting in a small panel truck waiting for the set-up to be completed. Sitting there was Tony Curtis. I recall a crowd shot being filmed on Havemyer Street one night. The block was brightly lighted and I remember thinking that they needed an awful lot of light to film. When I actually saw the finished picture this scene was a day time sequence. What did I know. The film crew also placed a billboard on the building at the corner of South 2nd St. (where I lived) and Havemyer Street. "Happy Times Poolhall" it flashed. That billboard was still there months after filming but it reminded me of our brief connection with Hollywood every time I saw it. I sure would like to see this picture come out on DVD so I could constantly play it and see the "old neighborhood".
Review of City Across the River
