The Boys of Paul Street (A Pál utcai fiúk) is a 1968 film from Hungary directed by Zoltan Fabri. It's based on a 1906 Hungarian children's novel by Ferenc Molnár of the same title, although the novel is generally called The Paul Street Boys in English.
The setting is Budapest, 1902. The "Paul Street boys" are a youth gang that live on Paul Street, being boys aged roughly 12-16. The youngest and smallest is Erno Nemecsek, who yearns to prove himself, and hero worships Boka, the older boy who is leader of the gang.
The gang is very G-rated; the worst they do is dip snuff (which makes them sneeze), and they seem to spend most of their time playing ball in the lumber yard/vacant lot which is their hangout. However, they take their gang very seriously, holding elections, swearing loyalty oaths, the whole nine yards. When a rival gang, the Red Shirts, starts coveting the vacant lot, the Paul Street boys resolve to defend their turf. Nemecsek in particular is determined to earn the respect of the rest of the gang.
Tropes:
- All for Nothing: The Paul Street boys do battle and successfully defend their vacant lot, only for developers to start constructing a building there.
- Call-Back: The last shot of the movie has the organ grinder carrying his hurdy-gurdy, the one that so impressed Nemecsek, right in front of the camera.
- Door Judo: In the climactic brawl, some of the Paul Street boys have barricaded the shed. A bunch of Red Shirts grab a log, determined to break down the door. But it's all a trick, as when the Red Shirts come barreling at the door, a Paul Street boy yanks it open. After the Red Shirts come spilling inside, the Paul Street boys dart out the door and lock the Red Shirt boys in.
- Field Promotion: For Nemecsek's bravery in jumping on Ats and stopping him from liberating his comrades in the shed, which decided the battle, Boka promotes him to general. Nemecsek, who has been hallucinating and running a high fever, collapses right after this.
- For Doom the Bell Tolls: A bell dramatically tolls 3 p.m. as the Paul Street boys wait in position, with the Red Shirts attack imminent.
- Incurable Cough of Death: Nemecsek has to hide in a greenhouse pond when the Red Shirts are hunting him and his buddies. About a third of the way through the movie, as he's reporting to Boka that the Red Shirts bribed the lumber yard caretaker, he starts coughing. Sure enough, he dies of pneumonia.
- Intro Dump: The names of several characters are imparted to the audience in the opening scene, when they are whispering and passing notes in science class.
- The Ken Burns Effect: The opening credits features a montage of pictures authentic to turn-of-the-20th-century Budapest, mixed in with pictures and clips of the actors. There are multiple zooms and pans over the stills.
- Match Cut: A shot shows three envoys from the Paul Street gang walking away after a meeting with the Red Shirts. This cuts to three Red Shirt guys walking away from the camera, as they head to Nemecsek's house to pay respects.
- No Macguffin No Winner: Boka has a little Heroic BSoD when they successfully defend the yard, only for him to find out at the end that an apartment building is being built on the spot.
- One-Gender School: The kids all go to the same Budapest boys' school.
- Organ Grinder: In the opening sequence little Nemecsek is fascinated by an organ grinder playing his elaborately decorated hurdy-gurdy in the street. Later, when he is ill with pneumonia and hallucinating, he imagines the hurdy-gurdy again.
- Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: Nemecsek is so righteous in his "The Reason You Suck" Speech denunciation of Gereb that all the Red Shirts turn their back on him. Gereb then comes back to Boka and begs to return, but Boka refuses, and Gereb is left a pariah.
- Same Language Dub: Almost all of the boys were actually British, and their dialogue was dubbed into Hungarian. The adults are played by Hungarian actors.
- Serious Business: The Paul Street gang is serious business. The kids could not take it any more seriously if they were mounting a last-ditch defense of Budapest against the Turkish hordes. The message—war is absurd and ridiculous—is clear.
- Title Drop: The rival Red Shirts gang refers to Boka's gang as "the Paul Street boys" more than once.
- Turncoat: Gereb, one of the leaders of the Paul Street gang, switches his allegiance to the Red Shirts. He acts as The Mole for a while before the Paul Street kids find him out.
- Worthy Opponent: Ats, the Red Shirts leader, is so impressed by Nemecsek's bravery, after the latter sneaks into the Red Shirts' lair and steals the flag, that he immediately invites Nemecsek to join his gang as an officer. He has Nemecsek chucked into the lake after Nemecsek refuses, but after Nemecsek gives them all a "The Reason You Suck" Speech, Ats makes all his men stand at attention while Nemecsek leaves. Later, when word gets out that Nemecsek is deathly ill, Ats sends some of his boys to Nemecsek's house to pay respects.
