Academy-award nominated Little Fugitive is regarded to be a pivotal film in the history of cinema that influenced French New Wave.

The naturalistic style in which the movie was shot and the use of non-professional actors in the lead roles made the film groundbreaking in the early 1950s when it was released.

It follows the story of Joey (Richie Andrusco). His brother Lennie plays a cruel prank and pretends Joey has shot him dead.

In panic Joey runs away to Coney Island, where he indulges his fascination with horses on carousels and pony rides, paid for with the money he makes from collecting and returning empty glass bottles discarded on the beach.

In a wonderful performance, his fun at the fair is intertwined with painful memories as he sees other children playing with their siblings on the beach. He hides at the sight of a policeman in fear that he is being hunted for murder. He is even forced to sleep on the sand underneath the boardwalk. All the while his panic-stricken older brother is fretting at home about Joey’s whereabouts.

Apart from acting as a reminder of how far sound in movies has come in 60 years as speech blurs and some noises become ear-piercing screeches, the film is a modern classic, clearly an experimental and forward-thinking film for its time, a very simple concept turned into an intriguing movie.