Reel Montauk, a Documentary by East End Resident John Barrett, Shows Little-Known Facts From Montauk's History

New York, NY, October 1, 2015 (Newswire.com) - From its genesis, over a million years ago, through its transformation into the quaint town it is today, Montauk evokes a sense of adventure like no other. With a careful selection of phenomena, events and characters that make up the 49-minute film hosted by Tom Bogdan of Montauk Adventures, Reel Montauk inspires the audience with a key theme—the spirit of adventure!  

John Barrett, a local Hamptons writer and producer, uses his film-making expertise to dramatize each scene to interweave an epic saga. In the beginning, Laurentide, a massive glacial ice sheet ripped off a huge landmass, whose mammoth rocks crashed to form a necklace around Montauk Point when the ice sheet melted, for instance. And, to protect seafarers from the resulting treacherous waters, which claimed many souls and ships, George Washington’s first presidential order was to build a lighthouse at Montauk Point provide layers of back-stories in Montauk’s early character.

Montauk was a vast meadowland with bays, lakes and ponds surrounded by stretches of pristine beaches long before Arthur Benson paid $151,000 for 10,000 acres in 1879 that he wanted to make into a hunting preserve for the rich. At various junctures in its chronicle, characters such as Captain Kidd, Carl Fisher, Frank Mundus, Herbert Sadkin, John Dayton and Lord Gardiner add color to the dynamics of Montauk’s evolution. Turbulent events including the American Revolutionary War battle that didn't happen, the arrival of the slave ship Amistad, a battle near Mystic River, Connecticut, the Great Hurricane of 1938, and the Montauk Project showcase the triumph of spirit over adversity.

To unravel mystery in the narrative, Montauk residents elaborate on phenomena including the Walking Dunes, a phenomenon where strong winter winds push the dunes by over three feet every year, or how the Montauk Project, considered a mind-boggling scientific feat by some and sinister by others, pioneered by mathematics genius and inventor, Dr. John von Neumann, came to a tragic end.

In recent years Montauk has come to be known as ‘Sport Fishing Capital of the World,’ and is the home of more than twenty-five sport-fishing records, thanks to the rich flora and fauna in its underwater ecosystem. Against this backdrop, the film features Surfcasting, the first-of-its-kind sport fishing, which has become an endearing game for adventure lovers everywhere.

For more information, please visit Reel Montauk or call +1 631 375-4037.

About Reel Montauk

John Barrett is the writer and producer of Reel Montauk. Steve Elliot is the camera operator and editor. Filmed at more than 150 locations, Reel Montauk took two years to complete. Following his arrival at the Hamptons in the early 1980s, Barrett has been a full-time resident of the East End since 2002. Besides writing movie scripts and tutoring SAT English, every Friday night Barrett faithfully sings karaoke at Liars’ Saloon in Montauk, New York. Elliot, who lives in Bridgehampton, New York, is an experienced camera operator and film editor.