AllMovie

FAMOUS NATHAN is the insider documentary by Lloyd Handwerker, grandson of Nathan Handwerker, who founded the legendary Brooklyn eatery and iconic New York institution, Nathan's Famous, in Coney Island in 1916. Over a thirty-year period, Lloyd has filmed, archived and researched the story of both his grandfather and the family-run business. The film contains never before heard audio recordings of Nathan describing his upbringing in a poor village in Poland, emigration to New York and details of creating and running Nathan's for over forty years. Featuring interviews with extended family, friends and the employees who helped make Nathan's the prototype for fast-food made with quality, love and care, it is also very much a story of labor and a chronicle of the people who spent their lives in the employ of Nathan's. Their devotion to serving millions of customers in the hustle-bustle, nano-second speed, day in and day out grind of the restaurant is clear. Rich in nostalgia, FAMOUS NATHAN pushes the boundaries of conventional documentary filmmaking, as kaleidoscopic and layered as Coney Island itself, capturing the honky-tonk, in-your-face spirit that was Nathan's Famous in its hey-day and today.