THE FIRST OF MAY
Year: 1998
Country:
United States
Run Time:
100 minutes
Call this the Little Movie That Could, an all-ages delight that convinced the very private baseball legend Joe DiMaggio to step up to the plate and take a supporting role. The title is circus slang for a young newcomer to the show, but when we first meet 11-year-old Cory he's a cynical veteran - of the Florida foster care system, which has shuttled him from one institution to another since age four. Uneasily placed with a well-meaning young family, Cory finds a more kindred spirit in an entirely different home. An nursing home. That's where Carlotta, a defiant old lady who spent most of her years with a circus, bridles at a retirement regimen of bland food and sleeping pills. Together Cory and Carlotta run away, the boy pretending to be his traveling companion's grandson. The unlikely duo stay a step ahead of authorities thanks to their wits (and Carlotta's winning recipe for halvah) and eventually find a haven under the Big Top. What a treat to see the multigenerational cast in a one-of-a-kind movie that rediscovers childhood innocence, acceptance, and magic under the colorful tent, and adds the Yankee Clipper as a bonus.
Screenplay
Gary Rogers (based on the novel "The Golden Day," by Gail Radley)
Director
Paul Sirmons
Producer
Paul Sirmons, Gary Rogers
Cinematography
Stephen F. Campbell
Editing
Oliver Peters
Principal Cast
Julie Harris, Dan Byrd, Mickey Rooney, Charles Nelson Reilly, Tom Nowicky, Robin O'Dell, Joe DiMaggio
Sho Entertainment
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