The Vergennes Opera House Will Screen THE SUMMER OF WALTER HACKS

For those who grew up in the 1950s, especially in Vermont, this would be a typical scene: two eleven-year-old children sit on the porch trying to decide who will be wearing the "cowboy hat," which is a rumpled fedora with the sides rolled up.

The Summer of Walter Hacks is a story about an eleven-year-old farm boy, during one hard summer in 1952 where after a tragedy on the farm, he and his brother are faced with some tough decisions. The story focuses on Walter who must grow up fast to deal with an unexpected turn of events.

Walter Hacks has a vivid imagination and like most boys his age in the 1950s, he is drawn to the cowboy image he has seen on the big screen. As he travels around on his bicycle (his horse) helping fix farmers' equipment, his adventures parallel the western movies he loves.... the getaway, the showdown, the shootout, the runaway stagecoach (a farm tractor), saving the beautiful girl from impending doom and riding off into the sunset.

This poignant, gritty, dramatic film is filled with edge-of-your-seat excitement and "a chase scene that you won't soon forget," according to arts editor Jim Lowe. Or, as VTDigger put it "...a chase scene that would have made Steve McQueen blink."

Winner of the Harold and Margaret Blank Award at the 2010 Vermont International Film Festival and nominated for 'Best Screenplay and Best Stunts' by the Maverick Awards, the film has enjoyed many sold out or nearly sold-out screenings since its premiere in 2010.

The film has been shown all over Vermont and used as a fundraiser for multiple non-profits throughout the state supporting everything from hurricane Irene relief to farm relief and historical societies. The only way to see the film is at venues like the ones selected for this rare three-screening run.

Saturday, February 11 - Waterbury Brookside Primary School - 6:30pm
Sunday, February 19 - Vergennes Opera House - 2:00pm
Saturday, February 25 - Morrisville River Arts - 6:30pm

Filmed in black and white, The Summer of Walter Hacks is an accurate presentation of a time gone by and a film that would appeal to people from nine to ninety years of age.

Tickets are $7:00 and will be sold at the door. The Vergennes Opera House is also selling tickets to their screening online at www.VergennesOperaHouse.org

As a bonus, at the end of each screening George Woodard will show a preview of his new film The Farm Boy, a WWII era story about a young man from a farm who is sent to Europe in what would become 'The Battle of the Bulge'. His newest film will premiere in late March. Visit HangingMudflapProductions.com for more information on The Farm Boy.

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