Harry and Tonto

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

Art Carney gives a magnificent performance as an elderly patriarch. His family is every slice as real as Thanksgiving dinner with all the extras and idiosyncracies that go with American family values and life. It couldn't have been made at a better time as films enter the gloominess of Coppola's prequel to the Godfather. It is a coming of age film for the connesiour who can relate to dysfunction.

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.

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.

"Harry And Tonto" is one of my all time favorite movies. It is a film that is as beautiful and funny as it is poignant and sad. It is also a film that features one of the finest acting performances in the last fifty years given by the late, great Art Carney. Carney shows why he won a well deserved Oscar for his performance as the kindhearted, retired teacher Harry Combes who goes cross-country with his pet cat Tonto as they encounter several eccentric characters and have some truly unforgettable moments. A wonderful film, that truly deserves a DVD release. Hopefully one day.