Price: $310.00

    Code: 2065

    Directed by Brian Peter Falk
    2002, color, 80 mins.
    Purchase: $310 Classroom Rental: $125

    The powerful Loomis Gang of Central New York may have been the largest family crime syndicate in 19th-century America. In this video, documentary filmmaker Brian Peter Falk returns to Waterville, New York, his boyhood home and the epicenter of Loomis power during the Civil War era, to chronicle the gang's legend and explore the efforts by a handful of local people to revive it. Sometimes irreverent, often amusing, the video romps through such varied locations as a swamp and a miniature golf course as these committed local historians dress up, give tours, write books, carve models, create displays and prepare stage performances. Their activities are an attempt to actively "witness" the historical drama of crime, greed, war, and revenge that dominates the film. As historic buildings become parking lots in Waterville and many other places, The Loomis Gang also conveys a poignant message about the power and limitations of such witnessing in small-town America.

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    "...quirky and touching...a tribute to small-town life." - Library Journal