Two Bits (1995)

Editor's Note In this Depression-era drama a 12-year-old Philadelphia boy, desperate for twenty-five cents to go to the opening of a new movie theatre, has the two bits willed to him by his grandfather, who announces he's going to die. Not wanting to lose his grandpa, the boy spends the day trying to earn the money and learning important life lessons. Alec Baldwin narrates.

	Al Pacino
	Jerry Barone
	Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio
	Alec Baldwin
	James Foley - Director

This sweet and nostalgia-drenched drama, set in Depression-era South Philadelphia, follows one 12-year-old boy's coming of age.| Young Gennaro desperately wants to go to the opening of La Paloma, the city's brand-new movie theater. But he hasn't the quarter he needs for admission. So he spends the day trying to raise the money, and in the process has several misadventures and discovers many hidden truths about his seemingly upright neighbors.| What he doesn't get is the cash, so Gennaro agrees to help his ailing grandfather with an extremely important task -- even though taking the time out to help probably means he won't get the 25 cents he needs. It turns out, however, that the experience teaches him a lesson he will never forget. Variety
"...[A] tone of warm remembrance of days gone by....A great deal of loving care clearly has gone into production designer Jane Musky's re-creation of a long vanished incarnation of South Philly..." 10/16/1995