Sweet Lorraine | |
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Directed by | Steve Gomer |
Written by |
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Produced by | Steve Gomer |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Rene Ohashi |
Edited by | Laurence Solomon |
Music by | Richard Robbins |
Production companies |
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Distributed by | Angelika Films |
Release date |
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Running time | 91 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Sweet Lorraine is a 1987 American film directed by Steve Gomer in his directorial debut. The film draws from Gomer's adolescent experiences at the Heiden Hotel in the Catskills.
During summer, Molly Garber meets her grandmother Lillian at the Lorraine, a Catskills resort that appears to be nearing the end of its days. Owned by Lillian, The Lorraine, once the crown jewel of the Borscht Belt, is now dilapidated, staffed by a number of rambunctious kids, and barely held together by a single handyman. The hotel is being pursued by developers and the returning clientele comes to stay more out more out of nostalgia than anything.
The film follows Molly's camaraderie with the staff and the bond she has with her grandmother, her affair with the hotel's sole handyman, and her subsequent determination to rescue the Lorraine from being sold.
Sweet Lorraine was shot at the Heiden Hotel before it was demolished. [1] [2]
Michael Wilmington of the Los Angeles Times stated that at times the story got "as threadbare as the Lorraine", but pointed out that its sincerity and the "affection that inspired it" carried the film. [3]
In a review for The New York Times, Janet Maslin stated that the film lacked "polish and momentum" but that it had a "cheerful, good-natured feeling". She described Sweet Lorraine as a "a friendly, agreeably aimless portrait of the Heiden". [2]
Larry Kart of the Chicago Tribune gave Sweet Lorraine a less than favorable review. He described the film as a "lukewarm cinematic blintz" and as "aggressively nice and rather bland" compared to Dirty Dancing , a romantic drama also set in a Catskills resort and released that same year. Kart criticized the film's pace, stating that the Sweet Lorraine was hampered by " a lack of dramatic heat" and that "not enough happens to make it more than a moderately pleasant way to pass the time". A few of the "odd" casting choices were also criticized, due to the not being Jewish despite the film's "explicitly Jewish" atmosphere. Kart concluded his review by praising Freddie Roman's performance, and by stating that Gomer's "low-key approach gives the film the feel of an anecdote that has been mounted for public television, not theatrical release". [4]
In his book American Jewish Films: The Search for Identity, Lawrence J. Epstein states that Sweet Lorraine captured the nostalgia of the Catskill resorts more authentically compared to Dirty Dancing, and that the Lorraine "transcends the location to become a metaphor for what humans should do with their own pasts." [5] In Irwin Richman's book Catskill Hotels, Sweet Lorraine is described as an "exceptional movie about Catskill hotel life". [6]
New York Magazine described the film as a comedy. [7]
Sullivan County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 78,624. The county seat is Monticello. The county's name honors Major General John Sullivan, who was labeled at the time as a hero in the American Revolutionary War in part due to his successful campaign against the Iroquois. The county is part of the Hudson Valley region of the state.
South Fallsburg is a hamlet and census-designated place in Sullivan County, New York, United States. South Fallsburg is located within the Town of Fallsburg at 41°42′59″N74°37′49″W.
The Borscht Belt, or Yiddish Alps, was a region noted for its summer resorts that catered to Jewish vacationers, especially residents of New York City. The resorts, now mostly defunct, were located in the Catskill Mountains in parts of Sullivan and Ulster counties in the U.S. state of New York, in Upstate New York and the northern edges of the New York metropolitan area.
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Lois Maureen Stapleton was an American actress. She received numerous accolades becoming one of the few actors to have achieved the Triple Crown of Acting winning an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award and two Tony Awards. She has also received a British Academy Film Award and a Golden Globe Award, as well as a nomination for a Grammy Award.
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Grossinger's Catskill Resort Hotel was a resort in the Catskill Mountains in the Town of Liberty, near the village of Liberty, New York. It was a kosher establishment that catered primarily to Jewish clients from New York City. Under the direction of hostess Jennie Grossinger, it became one of the largest Borscht Belt resorts. After decades of activity and notable guests, it closed in 1986. Most of the buildings on site had been demolished by 2018; however, a few remained in decrepit condition, and were destroyed in a fire in 2022.
The Concord Resort Hotel ) was a resort in the Borscht Belt of the Catskills, known for its large resort industry in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. Located in Kiamesha Lake, New York, United States, the Concord was the largest resort in the region and was also one of the last to finally close in 1998, long after the others closed. At the Concord, there were over 1,500 guest rooms and a dining room that sat 3,000; the resort encompassed some 2,000 acres (8.1 km2). The resort was a kosher establishment, catering primarily to Jewish vacationers from the New York City area, and it was more lavish in decor and activities than comparable large Catskill resorts.
Kutsher's Hotel and Country Club in Thompson, Sullivan County, near the village of Monticello, New York, was the longest running of the Borscht Belt grand resorts in the Catskill Mountains region of New York. While the region was open to any and all visitors, the Borscht Belt was so named due to the largely Jewish-American clientele that made the Catskills the primary vacation destination for Jews in the northeastern United States.
Freddie Roman was an American stand-up comedian, best known for his frequent appearances at "Borscht Belt" hotels.
Eleanor Bergstein is an American writer, known for writing and co-producing Dirty Dancing, a popular 1980s film based in large part on her own childhood.
The Nevele Grande Hotel (NEV-uh-lee) was a high rise resort hotel located in Wawarsing, New York, United States, just outside Ellenville, New York; it closed in 2009. The Nevele dated back to the days of the Borscht Belt, opening in 1901. “Nevele” is “Eleven” spelled backward — according to lore — after the eleven nineteenth-century schoolteachers who discovered a waterfall within the present-day property. Also, the founder, Charles Slutsky, had eleven children from 1880 to 1906 and the name might have come from that instead.
Steve Gomer is an American film and television director.
Brown's Hotel was a nationally known resort complex located in the Borscht Belt area of upstate New York, in the Catskill Mountains. It was one of the largest and most elaborate establishments of its kind during an era when the entire region prospered as a tourist destination. From the 1940s to the 1980s, the hotel was a popular vacation destination for many upper-middle-class families living in the New York City metropolitan area. Jewish-American families were welcomed and even catered to specifically by the hotels in the Borscht Belt during a time period when anti-semitism was prevalent in the hospitality industry. Filling a niche, the area quickly became a mecca for Jewish-American families. Brown's Hotel was located in the hamlet of Loch Sheldrake in the Town of Fallsburg, Sullivan County, New York.
Lee Richardson was an American character actor who frequently appeared in Sidney Lumet's films.
Henry Joseph Foner was a 20th-century Jewish-American social activist and president for more than two decades of the Joint Board, Fur, Leather and Machine Workers Union (FLM).
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The Villa Roma Resort and Conference Center is located in Callicoon, NY, part of the Catskill Mountains. Its history dates back to 1944, and it is one of the few remaining resorts in the area. The Resort is located near the Monticello Raceway and runs bus trips to and from the track on a regular basis during its busy season. The resort offers family activities, nightlife,swimming pools and jacuzzis, go-karts, live entertainment, multiple sports facilities, formal and casual dining as well as a Championship Golf Course.