Editing Little Fugitive (1953 film) (section)

===Critical response===
The film was greeted by critical acclaim at the time of its initial release. [[François Truffaut]] was inspired by its spontaneous production style when making ''[[The 400 Blows]]'' (1959), and he said years later that "Our [[French New Wave|New Wave]] would never have come into being if it hadn't been for the young American Morris Engel, who showed us the way to independent production with [this] fine movie."<ref name="TCMarticle">{{cite web|url=https://www.tcm.com/this-month/article/220887 |title=Lovers and Lollipops |access-date=April 4, 2008 |last=Sterritt |first=David |author-link= David Sterritt |work=Turner Classic Movies |publisher= [[Turner Classic Movies]]}}</ref>

Modern critics have also praised the film. Dennis Schwartz called it "A remarkable indy classic, made on a shoestring budget by a group of still photographers. It's an affecting lyrical comedy-drama that fully captures the flavor of urban childhood innocence of the 1950s. [...] The dialogue was sparse, the story was unambitious, the film lacked drama, the children were very ordinary and their problem was only a minor one, nevertheless this beautifully realized film caught the world through the innocent eyes of a curious and scared child and left an impression that was hard to shake. It was uplifting to watch because the effort was so genuine."<ref>{{cite web|last= Schwartz |first= Dennis |title= Little Fugitive |url= http://www.sover.net/~ozus/littlefugitive.htm |type= Movie review |date= December 11, 2003 |access-date= June 7, 2016}}</ref>

When the film was screened in New York after Engel's death in 2005, film critic Joshua Land wrote: "''Little Fugitive'' shines as a beautifully shot document of a bygone Brooklyn—any drama here resides in the grainy black-and-white cinematography, with its careful attention to the changes in light brought on by the inexorably advancing sun [...] Filled with 'Aw, fellas!' period ambience and the mythic imagery of cowboys and horses, comics and baseball, it's a key proto-[[Cinéma vérité|vérité]] slice of urban America."<ref>{{cite news|last= Land |first= Joshua |title= Brooklyn Dodger: The Return of a Forgotten Indie |date= April 12, 2005 |access-date= June 7, 2016 |newspaper= [[The Village Voice]] |url= http://www.villagevoice.com/film/brooklyn-dodger-the-return-of-a-forgotten-indie-6403886 |quote= An underseen indie-film landmark and an invaluable artifact of local history to boot}}</ref>

On [[review aggregator]] website [[Rotten Tomatoes]] the film has an approval rating of 93% based on 45 reviews, with an average score of 8.4/10; the site's "critics consensus" reads: "A simple story well told, ''The Little Fugitive'' presents a kid's-eye view of the city that feels refreshingly authentic."<ref>[https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/little_fugitive_1953/ ''Little Fugitive''] at [[Rotten Tomatoes]]. Last accessed: September 16, 2021.</ref>