HBO's Yonkers-Based Show Me A Hero Premieres at Alamo Drafthouse

The Oscar Isaac- and Jim Belushi-led HBO miniseries focuses on the racial history of Yonkers — and there’s a Hudson Valley Magazine connection

David Simon has aimed his politically scrutinizing gaze on a city that is rather close to home — Yonkers. Here’s the gripping trailer.

Simon’s six-part miniseries, Show Me a Hero, debuts this Sunday, August 16 at 9 p.m., and diehard The Wire fans aren’t the only ones gearing up to watch. To help kick-off the show, a red-carpet premiere was held Wednesday night at the Alamo Drafthouse in Yonkers with the show’s cast and crew. Simon, current Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano, and cast and crew affiliated with the show walked the red carpet for the event.

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The show has a Hudson Valley Magazine connection, too: Former Yonkers Mayor Angelo Martinelli — who attended the screening, as he is portrayed in the show — is the chairman of Today Media, the company that publishes this publication.

Show Me a Hero focuses on the resistance of a white middle-class neighborhood toward a federally mandated public housing development in Yonkers in 1987. Nicholas C. Wasicsko, played by Inside Llewyn Davis’ Oscar Isaac, uses the controversial housing issue as a mayoral campaign platform, resisting the court-ordered integration of public housing. Wasicsko’s opponent in the campaign just so happened to be Martinelli, the six-term mayor of Yonkers, who is played by Jim Belushi.  

Martinelli’s son and Hudson Valley Magazine publisher, Ralph Martinelli, was also in attendance. Check out some photos from the event below:

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