Earlier filmed as a TV play, Marty relates the tale of a middle-aged sad-sack Italian butcher in New York City (Ernest Borgnine). Marty is a bachelor, who still lives at home with his mother while supporting her financially. His existence seems to revolve around being berated by his social network for the sin of not being married and punching out kids, trying unsuccessfully to get dates when he is nothing to look at and being put down, and listening to his whining friend ask what they are going to do tonight. One evening he meets a plain Jane schoolmarm (Betsy Blair) and things look like they might turn around for both of them.
It must have seemed daring in 1954 for Oscars to shower big awards on such a small, intimate film like Marty, which is so different from many of the spectacle driven films usually honored. Yet years later, Marty seems like such a forgettable and underwhelming film to deserve such salutations. At the risk of seeming crass, I actually prefer the thinly veiled John Candy remake Only the Lonely to this film, if for no other reason than that Candy and Maureen O'Hara provide the zip that is missing from Marty.
Borgnine won Best Actor as Marty and he is solid here. I am actually glad that Borgnine, typecast playing bullies and villains, was given a chance to play a sympathetic role. He plays it well, but I do not think it is worth a Best Actor Oscar, especially given his competition that year. The remaining members of the cast are believable if not especially memorable.
I really dislike how self-important and dour this film is, especially when masquerading as being an uplifting "real" film about "real" people. Showcasing people without movie star looks does not by default make them "real". The people in Marty's orbit are manipulative and downright nasty to him for no good reason other than to forward the narrative. His mother (Esther Minciotti) berates him for not trying hard enough to find a wife, but changes her tune on a dime when Marty shows up with a serious girlfriend - having an epiphany that this will cause her upheaval. Marty's irritating best friend and fellow sad sack on the prowl for a wife claims to want what's best, but similarly changes tune when he realizes he may lose a hang-out buddy by denouncing Marty's date as "a dog" not worth anyone's time. The Italian women who frequent Marty's butcher shop are downright surreal - hurling non-stop abuse at him and bleating what an embarrassment he is to his poor mother by not getting married. One would think that the only reason for being in existence from this film is marrying any warm body you can find and punching out kids. Talk about anachronistic!
Worse, Borgnine and Blair have absolutely no chemistry together. When they get together for their date, it is an excruciatingly awkward experience. Rather than two kindred spirits meeting and falling in love, we witness two extremely desperate characters browbeat into believing they cannot be happy unless wed, who settle on each other because they have no other options. Blair is withdrawn and barely speaks - while Borgnine sweats and talks and talks and talks - about himself - too much. It is hard to say whether they feel any honest romance or kinship, so much as they view each other as an out to escape the manipulative people in their orbit and to just shut them up.
Somehow rather than feeling happy for Marty and his girlfriend, the whole experience just left me empty and depressed. Rather than offering hope or being uplifted, watching two people that we are uncertain belong together latch on to each other out of sheer desperation seems incredibly gloomy and disheartening.
It must have seemed daring in 1954 for Oscars to shower big awards on such a small, intimate film like Marty, which is so different from many of the spectacle driven films usually honored. Yet years later, Marty seems like such a forgettable and underwhelming film to deserve such salutations. At the risk of seeming crass, I actually prefer the thinly veiled John Candy remake Only the Lonely to this film, if for no other reason than that Candy and Maureen O'Hara provide the zip that is missing from Marty.
Borgnine won Best Actor as Marty and he is solid here. I am actually glad that Borgnine, typecast playing bullies and villains, was given a chance to play a sympathetic role. He plays it well, but I do not think it is worth a Best Actor Oscar, especially given his competition that year. The remaining members of the cast are believable if not especially memorable.
I really dislike how self-important and dour this film is, especially when masquerading as being an uplifting "real" film about "real" people. Showcasing people without movie star looks does not by default make them "real". The people in Marty's orbit are manipulative and downright nasty to him for no good reason other than to forward the narrative. His mother (Esther Minciotti) berates him for not trying hard enough to find a wife, but changes her tune on a dime when Marty shows up with a serious girlfriend - having an epiphany that this will cause her upheaval. Marty's irritating best friend and fellow sad sack on the prowl for a wife claims to want what's best, but similarly changes tune when he realizes he may lose a hang-out buddy by denouncing Marty's date as "a dog" not worth anyone's time. The Italian women who frequent Marty's butcher shop are downright surreal - hurling non-stop abuse at him and bleating what an embarrassment he is to his poor mother by not getting married. One would think that the only reason for being in existence from this film is marrying any warm body you can find and punching out kids. Talk about anachronistic!
Worse, Borgnine and Blair have absolutely no chemistry together. When they get together for their date, it is an excruciatingly awkward experience. Rather than two kindred spirits meeting and falling in love, we witness two extremely desperate characters browbeat into believing they cannot be happy unless wed, who settle on each other because they have no other options. Blair is withdrawn and barely speaks - while Borgnine sweats and talks and talks and talks - about himself - too much. It is hard to say whether they feel any honest romance or kinship, so much as they view each other as an out to escape the manipulative people in their orbit and to just shut them up.
Somehow rather than feeling happy for Marty and his girlfriend, the whole experience just left me empty and depressed. Rather than offering hope or being uplifted, watching two people that we are uncertain belong together latch on to each other out of sheer desperation seems incredibly gloomy and disheartening.