Jimmy is playing William Tell in an ally with several children until a cop is shot with an arrow, starting a chase. The girl is going to be ransomed by a ruffian for her grandfathers millions and Jimmy has to step in and save the day.


Jess Robbins’s The Backyard doesn’t merely unfold; it ricochets like a marble in a galvanized pail, clanging against the walls of 1920s morality and leaving dents that still glint a century later. Start with the William Tell gag: a children’s pastime that metastasizes into urban tragedy. Robbins frames the alley lik...

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Comparing the cinematic DNA and archive impact of two defining moments in cult history.

Jess Robbins

Eduardo Notari
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" Jess Robbins’s The Backyard doesn’t merely unfold; it ricochets like a marble in a galvanized pail, clanging against the walls of 1920s morality and leaving dents that still glint a century later. Start with the William Tell gag: a children’s pastime that metastasizes into urban tragedy. Robbins frames the alley like a proscenium arch, the brickwork sweating afternoon heat, while the kids’ shadows stretch into Expressionist talons. When the arrow pierces blue serge instead of Red Delicious, t..."
Jess Robbins
United States


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