For almost thirty-five years, pinball was banned in New York City. When young writer Roger Sharpe arrives in the early 1970s, the only place he can find a pinball machine is in a neighbourhood porn shop. Mayor LaGuardia had outlawed the game in 1942, on the grounds that it was used for gambling and corrupted the youth. Police seized over three thousand machines; their wooden legs were repurposed to make billy clubs for the force and the remains were tossed in the river. Finding writing work in New York proves tough for Sharpe, but his luck starts to turn on a long office-tower elevator ride up to a job interview—he meets Ellen, a secretary in one of the offices—and when he comes back down, he’s got a test assignment for Gentleman’s Quarterly, which is trying to reach a wider audience. From then on, his employment situation and personal life improve and pinball turns out to be surprisingly important for both. Austin and Meredith Bragg’s film about Sharpe and the role he played in making the game legal again is a clever blend of offbeat documentary, civic history and romantic comedy. From the seventies GQ fashion to the gorgeous pinball machines, Pinball: The Man Who Saved the Game (written and directed by Austin Bragg and Meredith Bragg) is as fun and eye-catching as the game itself. Streaming on Kanopy and the usual platforms.

‍—Helen Godolphin