A huge crowd filled the Dedham Community Theater on Sunday for two showings of Old Men Walking as part of the Boston Film Festival.

The film features childhood friends Michael Connelly, Peter Martin, Jay Parker, Michael Radley and Rich Twombly and their journey from loneliness to community.

All but Twombly, who grew up in Hull, grew up in West Roxbury together. Twombly met the group in college and had been a part ever since.

The film details the formation of the Old Man Walking Club, which is their way of staying healthy and staying alive. The film details their friendship – which is really just them giving each other s#*t – but also details how it was rekindled at a time of deep isolation.

You might think it would be difficult to fill a 70-minute runtime with old guys walking and trading jabs, but the film has a deep story of friendship, slow loss and the science of isolation.

The story begins in the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic, when Connelly and his friends tried to reconnect over a Zoom call.

It didn’t really go as planned, but one them asked if they would want to go for a walk. And they’ve been doing that now every Sunday with almost no breaks since about 2020. Snow, rain, sleet, wind, and cyclists, it didn’t matter they showed up.

Speaking of reckless people on bikes, that’s how they all met up as children way back in the 1970s West Roxbury neighborhoods.

The film also interviews experts on how loneliness affects physical health. One, Harvard Professor Robert Waldinger, said that loneliness is about the same health predictor as smoking half a pack of cigarettes a day.

It damages your brain, your heart, your vital organs, everything. So the film details how getting back together will keep you together. Mentally and physically.

Connelly said the premiere was crazy for him, but he was happy to see the reaction it got from the audience.

“Frightening, satisfying, gratifying, all those words come together and I’m just so happy to see it on film, on the screen and to see that people got the message about reaching out to others,” he said.

“We’re so fortunate to have family and friends support us, but we got people from the Parkway here as well embracing the idea,” he said. “It’s a great day to celebrate.”

“Everything went perfect,” he said. “I couldn’t have asked for more. You start with an idea, you see it realized on the screen, and it’s just a dream come true.”

“I just think if anything comes out of this, I want people to reach out to each other,” he said. “There are friends to be had out there.”

Radley said the walks are a great way to get back to a simpler time in your life, when all you cared about were your friends.

“Part of the reason I liked it the most was because it brought me back to when I was 12,” said Radley. “My wife would say I act like that a lot of the time, but I would disagree.”

As detailed in the film, Martin said while laughter might be the best medicine, it’s not necessarily the best way to make a documentary. But they worked through it.

“Every Sunday it’s like a Dean Martin Roast,” he said, referencing the series that ran from 1974 to 1984 aimed at insult comedy. “That’s what we do. I look forward to that so much. Everyone’s making fun of each other. And it does get serious for a minute but then goes right back to the jokes. I remember when they were filming us, they said ‘Try to get serious for a second.’ And for 10 seconds we were serious and then we were laughing again.”

Mahoney said he started getting the point of the film earlier than the others, since he was able to retire earlier. He said it made him realize just how important his friendship with the guys was.

“I think I went to it faster than I expected, just because you lose that big social group of work,” he said. “You have all these people you’re interacting with and you’re all friends, but you’re friends because you’re working on a common goal. We came back to true friendship, something beyond work friendships.”

Parker said he felt the group growing apart over the years and said, “Yeah, it could happen to anyone.”

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“You’re so busy in life, everybody now is so busy,” he said. “We’re going places, doing things, and years go by. My daughter’s just turning 30. She’s just 29, and like, I remember when she was born! It’s just crazy how life moves.”

But he said that connection to the guys might have been strained, stretched and pulled, but it was never broken.

“I really felt like I never lost it,” he said. “I’ve been lucky and I’m blessed.”

Twombly said he might have came to the group late, but still feels like one of the guys.

“We’re all contributors to the glue that makes the special sauce in our own way,” he said. “I feel really blessed that I met Mike in college. When you’re friends in college, you go visit your buddies’ buddies at their college, and that’s what I did. We struck up a good friendship and it went from there. We’re very lucky to have one another.”

State Rep. and Dedham Community Theater Owner Paul McMurtry said though he doesn’t often do such community productions like this, they were able to make the schedule work.

“This is highly unusual and greatly unexpected, and so I’m really excited about the filmmaker and the gentlemen the film is about,” he said. “The first screening was sold out, this screening was sold out, so I’m just happy for them and for us. Michael Connelly is a very good customer of this theater and I wanted to reciprocate that from the theater. We don’t typically do it, because of the schedule and just having just the two screens, but every now and then, it’s successful like it is tonight.”

Martin’s wife Sandee said she was also amazed at the turnout.

“I’m astounded by the turnout and the buzz that bunch of old guys can create,” she said.

Resident Samantha Plummer said she hopes to reconnect with some of her friends as well.

“This is a story that resonates for so many people,” she said. “It’s really an inspiration to reach out to the people we’ve grown apart from in our lives.”

Resident Jamie Manning said he came out to support his coworker Twombly.

“It’s very inspiring and very unique, and I think they can inspire walking clubs like this all across the country,” he said. “I’m so proud of Rich because I know him, but watching the documentary was just amazing.”

Residents Steve and Ariel Hurley said they were going right home to make some calls.

“It was just so inspiring,” Ariel said.

“We’re going to start our own walking clubs; it was a well-made movie, too,” Steve said. “It brought back good memories.”

“And it was great to just see that relationship and to see the individual we know with ‘The Crew,’ you know?” said Ariel.