Stratton Park Message Board

Saw the movie DOUBT this past week and I am predicting at least two Oscars...

BEST SCREENPLAY for Archer Street's own, J.P.S. (AKA "Lea") and also Meryl Streep for BEST ACTRESS...she "chillingly" coulda been a real nun...

The movie may win more, but those two are "in the bag"...<;~)

You heard it here first...<:~)

JohnT

John Tell is absolutely correct! Meryl Streep did a great job both looking and acting like the Sisters of Charity I remembered.

We also went to see the film over the weekend and it was outstanding. It was really full of some old memories of that time in grade school. It's a must see for those who attended St. Anthony's in the 50's & 60's.

Happy New Year to all!

Don Diehl

Donald I agree, DOUBT is an outstanding movie...well worth the price of admission...

I have to watch it again though, because I missed most of "Father Flynn's" two sermons...I was distracted looking for familiar faces in the crowd of church goers...I did pick out Matty Keenan(twice) Linda Hall and I think I saw Betty Kelly...

JohnT

I saw "Doubt" yesterday in Westbury. It truly saddens me that this film is not being shown in Parkchester. What a wonderful opportunity it would have been for all of us old Stratton-Parkers to get together. The shots of the old neighborhood brought tears to my eyes. What a beautiful tribute to the old neighborhood. John Patrick Shanley, I don't know you personally (I don't think so anyway, you're about 9 years older than me) but I am so proud of you!!! Thank you for this film and keeping it so true. I already told my daughter to buy me the DVD when it is released. I want to freeze-frame the shots and look for familiar faces. Question? Were the internal church scenes filmed at St. Anthony's or a different church. I stayed to the very end to read the credits and I didn't see a credit for St. Anthony's. How come?

Hello Lydia,
St. Anthony's was NOT used for any interior shots. Check out this website for extensive details about the movie including credits for all locations.
[url]http://miramaxhighlights.com/uploads/DOUBT_Press_Notes.pdf[/url]
From the press notes:
[quote]Ultimately, the fictitious St. Nicholas church and parochial school would be created by
knitting together several different locations throughout New York City. Most of the interiors
were shot at the College of Mount St. Vincent in the Bronx, which was founded by the Sisters
of Charity as the first women’s college in New York City. Standing in for the school’s exterior is
St. Anthony’s, Shanley’s original grade school in the Parkchester area, while the church
exterior is St. Augustine’s, also in the Bronx. Classrooms were filmed at the original Girls High
School (now the Brooklyn Adult Learning Center), a Bedford-Stuyvesant landmark before the
Civil War. Meanwhile, the courtyard, garden and nuns’ dining rooms are those of St. Luke in
the Fields on Christopher and Hudson Streets; and the basement, gym and lunchroom scenes
were shot at St. Mark’s Lutheran School in Yonkers.[/quote]
You can even read the entire screenplay here:
[url]http://miramaxhighlights.com/uploads/Doubt_Script[1].pdf[/url]

Joe
I just went to "Doubt" yesterday. It was/is a great movie. The acitng was awesome, esp M Streepe. I thought It was better that what the critics wrote about. Maybe one had to gone to a Catholic school to fully appreciate it.
However, there were universal themes: subugation of women; unnatural life of living a life of celibacy; intuition of a "feeling" of something was not about the relationship of the priest to the boy; mistreatment of minorities, etc.
thank you for your interting information on schools used and providing website where one can get screenplay. I missed some of the dialogue so I was planning to get the screenplay.
All the best.
Les

Joe,
Thanks for all the info. I was just speaking to an old friend of mine, Janet McQueeney and she told me Shanley lived on Leland Ave. I was at 1532 leland. Does anyone know where The Shanleys lived on Leland?

The "Press Notes" is a must read. It gives some great insight into how and why things were done in the movie.
I started to browse through it and ended up starting over from the beginning and reading the entire document.
It gives you an appreciation for the Sisters of Charity I never had and an appreciation for movie-making in general.
If you don't already, you will really admire the accomplishments of JPS.


[url]http://miramaxhighlights.com/uploads/DOUBT_Press_Notes.pdf[/url]