Harry and Tonto

Every once in a while - but less and less these days - a movie comes around that has some impact, in that you find it hard to get it out your mind for awhile. That's what "Harry and Tonto" did to me, recently.

It wasn't the world's greatest film but it was great storytelling, sometimes a lost art among filmmakers in recent decades. "Harry" is a retiree and "Tonto" is his cat. The movie follows the two around as the pair travel from the East Coast to the West. It all begins when Harry's building is demolished as part of "urban renewal." He quickly finds out he doesn't want to live with his quirky son and his even-stranger kids, so he hits the road to Chicago to seek out other relatives. It goes from there.

The movie is filled with little vignettes. For instance, how the cat adapts for doesn't adapt to some modes of travel and the interesting and very diverse people Harry meets on the way (which winds up going all the way to Los Angeles).

Art Carney as "Harry Coombes" got the Academy Award for best actor. My vote might have gone to the cat. If you've ever owned a cat, you can appreciate how unbelievably-trained this feline was in the film. Tonto was amazing! Almost everyone in this film is a good person who tries to befriend Harry and Tonto, so you get a good feel throughout this almost-two-hour movie. It's one memorable short story after another - some funny, some sad.

I hate to use this cliché, but it's the kind of slow-moving, human-interest story movie you don't see anymore. That's a shame, because these kinds of films you don't forget.

I can only agree with the preceding praise of this wonderful movie. Art Carney was outstanding and deserved the Oscar. This is a story that relies on realism, fine dialogue, and excellent acting. There is no need for forced sentimentality here... the film's natural progression and true to life experiences provide the heart felt warmth, poignancy, and humor of this classic. I am going to purchase this film. It a movie that of which I never tire. It is sad that they do not produce films of this quality today. Kudos to all associated with it and a 10+ out of 10 rating.

Art La Cues

Harry is a man who has no place in the world; with his orange cat Tonto, his partner, they search for a place in the world that is changing. Through a repression, changing values, and rapid changing scenery, he sticks out like a sore thumb with his family, his friends, and people. He then is on a destination to Chicago to stay with his daughter, but after he's thrown off a plane, he travels on a bus, but when his cat won't go to the bathroom, he's thrown off the bus and is stranded and decides to drive. On the way to Chicago he has an adventure meeting different people, people that are symbols of the changing society and he learns to cope with them and tries to adapt, yet can't find his place in society. Harry must find a place in the world and he intends to find one. This is a heartbreaking, poignant and engrossing view into a man's life in old age. Art Carney gives an excellent performance of a man conflicted with changing society, and a man who must force himself to adapt whether he likes it or not. Will he ever find his place in the world? You have to watch to see.

*** out of **** stars.

Art Carney took home the Academy Award for Best Actor not only for his work in this movie, but for his entire career. The movie is about a man living his final years. His best friend and partner is his side kick cat Tonto. Together they travel from New York City to the far ends of the west coast. On the way, they bump into one situation and conversation to the next. The final scene shows Carney meeting another face along the path of life as he makes his final goodbye to the audience. In a way, Carney's character has to make this journey in order to say goodbye to the world. A heart gripping scene, Carney must say goodbye to his best of friends as Tonto get old himself. This is in a way not a coming of age story but a coming of life story. This is a terrific movie that has a moral that needs to be learned.

Art Carney was a quiet, quirky genius and this film is a lasting testament to his talent.

It's a story about how an -average- man (actually not average at all, as we come to find out) lives a life of dignity and confronts the chaos of modern existence--including that most devastating of inevitabilities, mortality and, particularly, old age .

Besides Carney, watch for superb ensemble acting from Ellen Burstyn, Larry Hagman, the inimitable Chief Dan George, Arthur Hunnicutt, and a host of great character actors from the 70's.

Unlike so many contemporary scripts from the late 60's and early 70's, the cultural references seem interesting and historical and not dated, probably because--like everything else in this film--they are treated with respect and a sense of mercy.

If this film had been made by a French director in 1974, it would be heralded as a major classic. Oh, well.

Watch it. Savor it. This is really something special.