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Retired Older Men Eating Out Wednesdays
Brooklyn College, class of '59. Friends for more than half a century. Every Wednesday, they gather around a table to break bread, break each other's chops, and prove that growing old doesn't mean slowing down.
About the Film
They met at Brooklyn College in the 1950s — young men from the borough with big plans and bigger opinions, sharing corridors in Lords House dormitory and dreaming about what came next. More than fifty years later, they're still arguing. THE ROMEOWS captures a group of lifelong friends who never let go of each other, following them to their weekly Wednesday dinners — every week, 7 PM, different restaurant — from the Sahara to Wing Shing to anywhere with a long table — where they eat, drink, reminisce, and give each other a hard time the way only people who've known you since you were eighteen can.
Filmmaker Robert Sarnoff began documenting the group around the time of their 50th college reunion at Brooklyn College in 2009 — golden caps and gowns over seventy-something bodies, intercut with black-and-white photos from 1959. What emerges isn't a tightly plotted narrative — it's something more honest than that. The ROMEOWS talk about Viagra and Match.com, about running marathons and flying planes, about the friends they've lost and the ones still sitting across the table. They remember when Nathan's Famous hot dogs at Coney Island were fifteen cents a pop and Brooklyn was a different planet. They are boisterous and warm, argumentative and tender, and thoroughly themselves. Even Senator Barbara Boxer makes a cameo, and the wives — who the men claim barely tolerate their Wednesday obsession — appear throughout.
Described by Thane Rosenbaum in the Huffington Post as "Part Seinfeld, Part My Dinner With Andre, and with a dash of That Championship Season," the result is a documentary that feels less like watching a film and more like pulling up a chair to a table full of guys who've earned every wrinkle and every laugh line. It's ramshackle and alive — a lesson in relationships and a portrait of what it actually looks like when friendships survive the full arc of a life. All of the men are Jewish, all came from Brooklyn, and their classmate Alan Dershowitz — yes, that Alan Dershowitz — was right there with them in the class of '59.
The ROMEOWS at one of their regular Wednesday gatherings — somewhere in Brooklyn, as always.
Runtime
48 min
Genre
Documentary
Release
2013
"Part Seinfeld, Part My Dinner With Andre, and with a dash of That Championship Season."
— Thane Rosenbaum, The Huffington PostThe Group
Retired Older Men Eating Out Wednesdays. That's the name they gave themselves — tongue firmly in cheek — and it stuck. They are Brooklyn College classmates from the class of 1959, a crew of guys who came up together in the borough, lived together in Lords House dormitory, scattered across careers and families, yet never stopped showing up every Wednesday at 7 PM to sit down and eat together. Fifty years of friendship, kept alive one dinner at a time. The group: Ron Fusco, Steve Goldman, Bobby Kertzer, Stan Klein, Warren Lewis, Arnie Lord, Marvin Marcus, Max Mendes, David Perlman, Dave "Doc" Rosen, Bob Sarnoff, and Chuck Soloway. Organized by Stanley Klein, who made sure the table was always booked and every seat was filled.
"You finish seven decades of life on this planet … telling the grim reaper … See ya Wednesday."
— Stan KleinWhat does it look like when your friends from college are still your friends at eighty? The ROMEOWS show us — warts, wisecracks, and all.
These aren't men content to sit in rocking chairs. They run marathons, fly planes, navigate online dating, and one of them even safely ditched a plane in the Hudson.
Every week, same time, different restaurant. The dinners are the spine of the film — and of their friendship. Breaking bread together is how these men say "I love you."
The teasing is relentless. The affection underneath it is real. The ROMEOWS show how men express care through humor, loyalty, and the simple act of showing up.
The Filmmaker
Robert Sarnoff is an award-winning filmmaker, artist, and writer — a man who, by his own telling, was born with a crayon in his hand and grew up in the skinny alleyway between 2250 83rd Street and 8301 Bay Parkway in Brooklyn. For thirty years, he taught filmmaking at John Dewey High School, shaping a generation of young storytellers before turning the camera full-time on his own subjects. His work consistently gravitates toward underdogs and people living on the fringe, illuminating their hidden strengths, resilience, courage, and the idiosyncrasies that make them unforgettable.
His films have screened at international festivals, played in New York theaters, aired on television, and streamed on Amazon Prime. With THE ROMEOWS, Sarnoff turns his observational eye on a group of men whose most remarkable quality is the simplest one: they stayed friends. The resulting film earned the Spirit of Queens Filmmaker Award at the Queens World Film Festival and enjoyed a theatrical run at Cinema Village in New York City. The film also screened at the Woody Tanger Auditorium at Brooklyn College — a homecoming of sorts for all of them.
In 2014, Brooklyn College honored Sarnoff with its Alumni Lifetime Achievement Award. Director credit for THE ROMEOWS is shared with Kevin Raman, a veteran of CBS News who brought his broadcast eye and editorial expertise to the project's intimate, observational style.
Recognition
Spirit of Queens Filmmaker Award — presented to Robert Sarnoff for THE ROMEOWS
Cinema Village, NYC
Theatrical run in New York City's beloved independent cinema
Independent Film Festival Circuit
Screenings at festivals including the Sedona International Film Festival and other venues
Library of Congress & Brooklyn Historical Society
A copy of the film resides in the Brooklyn Historical Society's collection, and an interview with the subjects is archived at the Library of Congress
THE ROMEOWS has traveled from independent film festivals to neighborhood screenings, finding audiences wherever people appreciate a good story told without pretension. The film's warmth and humor make it a natural fit for community events, senior centers, alumni gatherings, and educational settings exploring themes of aging, friendship, and documentary filmmaking.
Interested in screening the film for your organization, school, or community? Get in touch through our contact section below.
Press & Reviews
The New York Times
History should record their weekly achievement more often. Thankfully, this gentle, affectionate documentary does it.
Reviewed by David DeWitt in "The Romeows' Celebrates Lifelong Friendships" and covered earlier in "Men Eating Out, and Filming It."
The Huffington Post
Part Seinfeld, Part My Dinner With Andre, and with a dash of That Championship Season … a documentary love letter to Brooklyn brotherhood.
Thane Rosenbaum's essay celebrated the 50th reunion scene — golden caps and gowns intercut with black-and-white photos — and noted Senator Barbara Boxer's cameo, the honorary women invited to dinners, and the wives who make scene-stealing appearances throughout.
The Hollywood Reporter
Intimate eavesdropping on a group of thoroughly likeable, genuine men whose authenticity is their most engaging quality.
The Reporter's review noted the documentary's fly-on-the-wall approach, acknowledging that while the format of weekly dinners can feel repetitive over a full feature, the group's authenticity and charm make them genuinely engaging company.
NY Daily News
A full plate of memories for 50-year pals who never lost touch with their deeply humble, humane Brooklyn roots.
Denis Hamill's column named all twelve ROMEOWS, described Sarnoff growing up in an alleyway between 83rd Street and Bay Parkway, and captured Stan Klein's defiant quote about telling the grim reaper "See ya Wednesday."
The Wall Street Journal
Part of the story of Brooklyn's evolving identity — men whose weekly ritual connects the old borough to the new.
The Journal's coverage placed the ROMEOWS within the broader narrative of Brooklyn past and present — a group whose decades-long commitment to Wednesday dinners says something about loyalty, place, and what endures.
VIMooZ
A lesson in relationships … brotherhood, commitment, and the patience that true friendship demands across five decades.
The VIMooZ review praised the film's focus on collective memory and the sweet stubbornness of showing up every Wednesday — honoring both each other and their shared Lords House dormitory roots across the decades.
Time Out New York
Focuses on the prandial jocundity of a group of outer-borough old-timers, who illuminate larger truths about five decades of change in NYC.
Time Out listed a screening at the Brooklyn Historical Society with a post-screening Q&A with the film's subjects.
Gallery
The ROMEOWS at one of their regular Wednesday gatherings — breaking bread and each other's chops, as always.
Wearing the uniform — ROMEOWS t-shirts and all.
Brooklyn College, class of '59 — still at it after more than fifty years.
Breaking each other's chops over dinner — a Wednesday tradition since 1959.
The ROMEOWS — Queens World Film Festival Spirit of Queens Winner.
Robert Sarnoff honored with the Spirit of Queens Filmmaker Award, 2011.
Director Robert Sarnoff — filmmaker, artist, and Brooklyn native.
Robert Sarnoff — "born with a crayon in his hand" in Brooklyn.
Watch
THE ROMEOWS has screened at festivals and theaters across the country. Watch the trailer above, or view the complete 48-minute film on Robert Sarnoff's official website. For educational licensing or community screening inquiries, reach out through the contact section below.
External
Get in Touch
THE ROMEOWS is available for community screenings, educational programs, film series, and special events. Whether you're a film festival programmer, a university professor teaching documentary studies, or a community organization looking for a warm, engaging film about friendship and aging — we'd love to hear from you.