Marty

On the surface, 'Marty' appears to be a simple love story about a butcher and a school-teacher, but there are many more layers to this film, which manages to be simultaneously funny & deeply moving without ever getting corny.

There's so much about this film that stands the test of time half a century later. It's no wonder it won so many awards that year (including 4 Oscars.) In her autobiography, Betsy Blair mentions that 'Marty' was the high point of her career; it made her a movie star overnight and she was never again in anything as important (though I thought her performance in 'A Delicate Balance' with Katherine Hepburn years later was even better.) She won the BAFTA for her role here, as did Ernest Borgnine, who deservedly swept every award that year for his role as Marty, including the Oscar and the Golden Globe. Borgnine is flawless in his performance & lovable from the very first scene. Esther Monciotti as his mother also delivers a standout performance. Some of the funniest and most memorable lines in the film belong to her and her on-screen sister. The rest of the supporting cast are also great to watch. The frank dialogue and the humanity of the characters make this a film you want to watch more than once.

The only reason I gave this movie nine stars instead of ten is that it ended too soon!

It is hard to find a single thing wrong with this film. Stretching the imagination, one could call some of the attitudes "dated". (For example, the mothers think college girls are "one step from the street", during an era in which wives were still expected to be stay-at-home moms.) But still, this remains almost the perfect film for the group of viewers who appreciate heart- warming stories. (It will probably leave the "Rambo" crowd cold.)

I usually judge the success of a film by the "squirm factor"; if I am sorry to see the film end, I know I've watched a good film. By this standard, Marty is a superb film in every way. We really do care what happens after the credits roll.

See this film!

Despite having only the most basic of story-lines, this is a nicely-crafted movie with a worthwhile story. Ernest Borgnine deserves the praise he has received for his performance as "Marty", and he seems very natural in the part, for all that it seems so different from most of his other roles. The other characters are also rendered believably, and events develop naturally. While the two main characters may think of themselves as failures, viewers can see that they are just ordinary persons trying to be honest and sensitive, and this makes it easy to identify with them.

The story efficiently introduces Marty and the other characters, showing how he interacts with them. Since the others are all so absorbed in their own concerns, they view Marty solely in terms of how he fits in with their own plans and desires, again making it easy for the viewer to relate to him. Joe Mantell, Esther Minciotti, Augusta Ciolli, and Jerry Paris make Marty's family and friends thoroughly believable, and they work well in their interactions with Borgnine. By the time that Marty meets Clara (Betsy Blair), everything is set up so as to get the most out of the possibilities.

Praise also goes to Delbert Mann and Paddy Chayefsky for being willing to make a movie out of such low-key material. It may not impress those who have become benumbed by the ostentation of present-day film-makers, since its quality is of a subtler, more unaffected kind. But it's a worthwhile achievement in its own right, a story about ordinary persons and everyday concerns, of the kind that takes skill and understanding to make well.

Having just seen Jeff Garlin's charmingly lightweight "I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With", I was curious to see its inspiration since there is constant reference to it throughout, including a scene where Gina Gershon and teen idol Aaron Carter are hilariously miscast in the leads of a stage version. Running only ninety minutes, the 1955 movie holds the distinction of being the shortest film to win the Best Picture Oscar, and its scale is indeed very small – it covers a weekend in the life of a lonely, overweight Bronx butcher named Marty Piletti. The eldest of six children, the youngest of whom just got married, Marty lives a routine life living with his widowed mother and hanging out with best pal Angie (the source of a classically circular piece of dialogue - "What do you feel like doing tonight?" "I don't know, Ange. What do you feel like doing?"). Pushed by his mother to go to the Stardust Ballroom where there are a "lot of tomatoes", he inadvertently meets Clara, an equally lonely spinster schoolteacher from Brooklyn. It's intriguing to see how cultural mores have changed since both characters are considered over-the-hill for marriage even though he is only 34 and she 29. As they grapple toward intimacy, they face not only their own doubts but those of the people closest to Marty since they become aware how dependent they are on his constant availability.

Directed by Delbert Mann in his first time out at the helm, the production seems accurate in capturing the atmosphere of the mid-1950's lower middle class, and the dramatically effective setting allows Marty's story to take on a well-earned poignancy. This has primarily to do with the honest, unsentimental dialogue by Paddy Chavefsky (several years before "The Hospital" and "Network"). The observant performances complement the treatment with Ernest Borgnine giving his career-best performance in the title role. Even though he is sometimes too robust to be completely convincing as a socially defeated man, he brings surprising force to scenes when his self-awareness no longer can be hide his pain. Looking very much like Julie Harris at the time, Betsy Blair has a tougher role as Clara since her character is so withdrawn as to fade when Marty dominates the conversation. Even with her intentionally lank presence, Blair is too attractive to be considered mercilessly as a "dog". The rest of the cast takes more predictable turns – Esther Minciotti as Marty's clinging Italian mother, Joe Mantell as codependent Angie, Jerry Paris (a few years before his days as neighbor Jerry Helper on "The Dick Van Dyke Show") and Karen Steele constantly bickering as Marty's cousin and his wife. It's a solidly modest film with no pretensions. Other than the theatrical trailer featuring producer Burt Lancaster's glowing praises, the DVD has no significant extras.

Marty, starring Ernest Borgnine and Betsy Blair, is a touching story from the 1950's about two people who fall in love and want to be together. However, they come up against the gossip, social pressure, and expectations of family and friends that hold them back from their natural instinct to marry and love one another. Both are "older" by the standards of the time but that does not stop them from wanting someone special. They are both excited about the prospect of spending their lives together and then, there is a pause as the elation runs up against reality. Borgnine and Blair are excellent in the role of a young couple who desire to break away from the bonds of friends and family to form their own home life. How will it turn out? This movie is a departure from the glossy Hollywood movies of the 1950's that used colour and celebrity talent and lacked the realism and honesty of this classic. Marty was a more mature movie, with a more effective treatment of social divisions and complicated relationships. Paddy Chayefsky wrote the script and Burt Lancaster was the producer. Both were creative forces in the film world of the 1950's. Delbert Mann directed; he also directed other fine movies such as Separate Tables and Middle of the Night. This is a precious film with a place in the history of American cinema.