The Dark Side of Woodside

By Tom Deignan

Next week, Long Islanders will get a cold, hard look at the underbelly of Irish Catholic life in New York City. Some people may not like it, but it is a reminder that Irish America is not all about shamrocks and middle class assimilation.

This gritty look at growing up in Woodside, Queens comes from John Reidy, who now calls Long Island home. That is fitting because Reidy, a Woodside-born actor and director, will be featured at the Long Island International Film Expo.

Reidy, 48, has written, produced and directed Signs of the Cross, which will be shown as part of the Long Island Expo on July 17 at 4:30 p.m. at Bellmore Movies, 222 Pettit Avenue, Bellmore, Long Island.

Simply put, Reidy’s movie is the latest shot in a battle long waged by competing camps of Irish Americans. There are those who generally emphasize the positive aspects of communal Irish American life in the big city. They like to note that while the Irish were discriminated against as immigrants huddled in ghettos, they fought long and hard to get out and helped make America great.

Then there are those who see a dark side. There those like the famous Chicago author James T. Farrell, who suggest that all that fighting exacted a price and often that price is that the Irish abuse others, not to mention themselves.

John Reidy, it seems, is one of those people who see the dark side. As Reidy has said, “Signs of the Cross follows three stages in the tumultuous life of John Coyne. Born a poor Irish Catholic with an abusive, alcoholic father, John finds no solace in the Catholic school he attends.

“As a young adult John endures a tragic loss that leaves him alone to deal with his own destructive behavior and addiction. Finally, a mature John must find the strength to overcome his most dangerous opponent if he wishes to live the free and happy life he has long desired.”

But Reidy’s film does not seem to be altogether about gloom, doom and hopelessness. The film’s tag line is “People may fail us, but God never does.”

Reidy began his film career in the early 1990s. His TV work includes soap operas such as Loving and All My Children and the NBC show Ed. His film work includes the Spike Lee movie Malcolm X and the classic gangster movie starring Christopher Walken, The King of New York.

He has written and directed two previous independent movies and both were well received at festivals, including the Long Island International fest.

Reidy’s film Netherland was about a New York City police officer who spent six years in jail for a crime he says he did not commit. When the officer gets out he reconnects with a troublemaking friend from his youth who may just get the officer in trouble again.

Know Thy Neighbor, Reidy’s second film, is also about a wrongly accused man, but this time a man accused of kidnapping a child.

Now Reidy has turned his cinematic eyes to the Irish enclave in Queens where he grew up. He is heading into this week’s Long Island International Film Expo hoping again be a Best Film winner. In the long run, perhaps he will garner the attention needed to land some kind of distribution deal.

Reidy does have some entertainment veterans appearing in Signs of the Cross. Supermodel Carol Alt is among the stars, as is Dan Lauria, perhaps best known for his work as the dad on the one time ABC hit show The Wonder Years.

Hell’s Angel turned actor (best known for his work on HBO’s Oz) Chuck Zito also stars in Signs of the Cross.

This year’s Long Island International Film Expo runs from July 15 to the 21. Previous festivals have screened as many as 70 short and feature-length films from all over the world.

Several years back, The Long Island Film and TV Foundation was established to stimulate film and TV production on Long Island, which creates 40 million dollars a year in revenues, according to organizers.

For more details about this year’s festival, call 516-572-0012.

(Contact Sidewalks at tomdeignan@earthlink.net.)