On film: How a pinball wizard fought the law, and won

When Austin and Meredith Bragg co-directed their first movie, the brothers learned something that isn’t taught at film school.

“The old adage is, in film, don’t work with animals and children. You can add pinball machines to the list,” says Austin Bragg, shivering slightly while sitting next to his older brother at an outdoor cafe in New York on a chilly February afternoon. “They are notoriously difficult, especially those old electromechanical machines.”

The brothers’ debut feature film, “Pinball: The Man Who Saved the Game,” is based on a true story about trouble with a capital T, and that rhymes with P and that stands for pinball. The game was once illegal in many cities – seen as a hotbed of immorality and a front for the mob. Here in New York, police confiscated and destroyed pinball machines in Prohibition-like raids. Authorities declared them games of chance and thus a form of gambling.

In 1976, an unlikely hero emerged to champion the game: a writer for GQ magazine named Roger Sharpe. The often-comedic “Pinball,” available in select theaters and to stream starting March 17, is about the two great loves of Mr. Sharpe’s life. It recounts the writer’s budding romance with the woman who became his wife. It’s also about his obsession with the venerable arcade game. In a bold gambit to change New York’s law, Mr. Sharpe set up two pinball machines inside City Hall. He had one shot to demonstrate to city council members that it’s a game of skill. The movie is a classic story about the little guy standing up against an unjust system. 

“It was just a pure joy to watch. It’s one of those movies that you immediately want to tell your family and friends about,” says Julia Ricci, senior programmer of the Heartland International Film Festival in Indianapolis, where “Pinball” won the 2022 Audience Choice Award. “We’re looking for films that do basically just more than just entertain, whether they can inspire, uplift, educate, inform, or shift perspectives.”

“Pinball,” written and directed by the Braggs, is stylized as a faux documentary. An older version of Mr. Sharpe (portrayed by Dennis Boutsikaris from “Better Call Saul”) talks to an off-screen interviewer. Most of the movie consists of reenacted scenes of the younger version of Mr. Sharpe (played by Mike Faist from the 2021 remake of “West Side Story”). 

The first words of dialogue in the movie were inspired by the Bragg Brothers’ initial phone conversation with the real Roger Sharpe.

“I still remember talking to him and saying, Roger, I’m going to open this movie with you saying, ‘I don’t know why you want to make this a movie,’” says Austin Bragg.

For his part, Mr. Sharpe was worried that a feature film was going to consist of nonstop pinball playing. Many hours of open-hearted conversation with the filmmakers yielded a richer story about a pivotal point in Mr. Sharpe’s life. After a failed first marriage and a layoff from an advertising firm, he was trying to reinvent himself. He embarked on a writing career and became romantically involved with a divorced woman named Ellen, who had a son. 

“There are risks in life, and you either take those risks or you don’t,” says Mr. Sharpe during a Zoom call. “Many of us tend to feel self-doubt when we venture down a path. So I’d like to believe that one of the [lessons] is believe in yourself and reach for your stars. Hopefully there is some form and measure of inspiration from my character but, more importantly, from someone like Ellen.” 

The most important storyline of the movie, he adds, is “the empowerment of a single mother.” His wife (played by Crystal Reed from TV’s “Teen Wolf”) later opened up her own art studio. 

If that sounds pretty far afield from pinball, there’s also a concurrent storyline about Mr. Sharpe’s obsession with the arcade game. (As befits a pinball wizard, he has a much-remarked-upon mustache that is as wide as the lapels of a 1970s polyester suit.) He started researching a book about the history of pinball, a game that became popular during the Great Depression. But after Mayor Fiorello La Guardia of New York banned pinball in 1942, cities such as Chicago, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, and New Orleans followed suit.

“Having had the chance to have met so many of the people who helped shape the industry, and realizing that they were all really good people, the condemnation of them was truly not warranted,” says Mr. Sharpe.

Austin and Meredith Bragg have long been interested in well-intentioned laws that backfire. The brothers are award-winning video journalists for the libertarian-leaning Reason magazine. But before that, the Braggs got their start at a public access TV station in Arlington, Virginia, where they produced an amateur superhero series.

“That was sort of our first film school, just learning how to do this,” says Meredith Bragg. 

Their early adventures in “no budget” filmmaking honed their ability to quickly adapt to changing circumstances. So when a ceiling fan at the cable access station caught fire while they were filming at 2 a.m., the Braggs improvised an action sequence. When firefighters arrived, they were bewildered to find the blaze had already been extinguished by someone painted blue from head to toe.

In their spare time, the duo created a series of award-winning short movies. The Braggs’ 12-minute film, “A Piece of Cake,” premiered at the 2020 Tribeca Film Festival. It’s about a California man who tries to buy tiny decorative silver balls for his daughter’s birthday cake. He discovers that the dragée balls are only available via the state’s underground economy. Legal woes ensue. 

“Our worldview is based on a desire to maximize choice for people,” says Meredith Bragg. “Sometimes systems are unjust, and sometimes they’re impersonal. Allowing people to pursue their idea of happiness, even if it seems to be something trivial, like a dragée or pinball, I think is important.”

Encouraged by the success of “A Piece of Cake,” the Braggs embarked upon their feature about a different kind of silver ball. Produced by the Moving Picture Institute, whose mission is to create “captivating stories about human freedom,” “Pinball” featured a bigger budget than anything the Braggs had worked with. (Among the expense items: two fake mustaches for Mr. Faist.) When Mr. Sharpe visited the set, he was struck by the brothers’ assured approach as they sculpted the details of each scene. 

“I believe they have an incredibly brilliant future ahead of them,” he says.

Mr. Sharpe was also called upon to execute some of the tricky pinball shots, jostling the sides of the machine and flicking the metal ball precisely from one pinging target to the next. The film’s end credits include a humorous disclaimer: “No pinball machines were harmed during the making of this movie.”

Mr. Sharpe is helping promote the movie at several screenings, including one in South Carolina, where aficionados are campaigning to overturn a long-term ban on children playing the game. 

“People trying to do good cause a lot of unintentional harm,” says Austin Bragg. “It may sound like a good idea to ban pinball for the kids or whatnot, but in the end, you just end up hurting more people than you realize.” 

His brother adds, “I love the idea of Roger yet again freeing pinball from absurd laws.”