MARTY A Film Review by Vince Deehan Copyright 1998 Vince Deehan
Directed by Delbert Mann Written by Paddy Chayefsky (from his play) Cast: Ernest Borgnine, Betsy Blair, Esther Minciotti, Joe Mantell.
My favourite film of all time is James Mangold's HEAVY, which I first saw on the day before New Year's Eve 1995. HEAVY is about the life of man who is paralysed by a lack of confidence and starts to slowly awaken when he falls in love with a young waitress. I can attribute my passionate interest in the world of cinema directly to that film. Of course I had always gone to the movies before, but only a handful of times a year and only to see the latest blockbuster like ET and BATMAN etc.. HEAVY was a turning point for me because I hadn't seen many films up to then which moved me so profoundly and actually reflected things in my own life. It was while reading through the many reviews of HEAVY on the internet, that I noticed one reviewer referred to the similarities between the lead character, Victor in HEAVY and Marty in MARTY.
I finally saw MARTY last night, having stumbled upon a copy of it in a London record store. When I read the description on the back of the video box, I thought it probably couldn't be anywhere near as good as it sounds. Thankfully, I was wrong and it turned out to be a truly wonderful film that far exceeded my already high expectations.
MARTY tells the story of a butcher called Marty (Ernest Borgnine) who lives and works in the Bronx, New York. He is 35 years old and is still living with his mother (played superbly by Esther Minciotti). They are an Italian family and practising Catholics. Marty is the oldest of all the children and the only one not yet married. A fact that he is constantly reminded of by his friends and customers, and of course his mother who is desperate to see her son married. Marty is not a shy man, like Victor in HEAVY, but is very gentle in nature and in his own words is a "short, fat , ugly man". He refers to himself this way throughout the film. Marty tells his mother that he has given up on finding a girlfriend. He has tried very hard but is constantly rejected, he tells her, and he can't stand any more pain His mother won't listen to any of this and urges Marty to go to a Ballroom in town where Marty's cousin has said there are "a lot of tomatoes" - that's tomatoes said in a very broad New York accent "Ta-may-tas"!! When Marty's mother tells Marty this, it is very amusing the way she says it and it makes Marty laugh, as well as us the audience !
Marty does go to the Ballroom and he takes along his best friend, Angie (Joe Mantell). Angie is about Marty's age and is also unattached. The two of them often spend their Saturday nights together in their fruitless search for women, and often wind up drinking beer, watching the Hit Parade at Marty's house ! Angie finds a dancing partner very quickly but Marty is turned down and left hanging around the edge of the dancefloor alone. Marty is approached by a man on a blind date who has found that his partner is , in his words, "a dog" and asks Marty if he will take her home in return for 5 dollars. Marty finds the idea objectionable and refuses. Quite right too ! However Marty watches as a man with less scruples than himself takes the money and wanders over to "the dog" . This man takes one look at her and soon decides to walk off leaving the young lady alone and in tears. This has got to be one of the cruellest things I have seen in a long time. Unspeakably hurtful. Marty sees this and being the good hearted man he is, he goes over to where she ran off to cry, to comfort her.
Marty talks to her and finds out she is called Clara, and is a 29 year old school teacher. They soon find out that they have lots in common. Both are unattached and living at home with their parents and they both have given up hope of ever marrying. Tragically too, they both admit to thinking of themselves as "dogs". To hear them both use this term is quite shocking since it is a terribly cruel slur that I had thought was a British term and a relatively recent one at that. To hear two Americans using this term in the 1950s came as a surprise. Much more shocking is the way both Marty and Clara not only feel they are dogs but actually say to each other that they are.
They hit it off pretty much instantly and a more likeable screen couple it would be hard to find. They are both so genuine and decent that the minute they meet you know that they would be a great couple. They spend the rest of the night talking to each other about themselves. Marty and Clara both admit having had suicidal feelings, which Marty feels particularly guilty about due his Catholicism. When Clara tells Marty that she finds she has been crying a lot lately, Marty immediately tells her that he too is always crying at the smallest thing. This is a great moment. It's not often you hear men in movies admitting that they cry, but Marty is a sensitive man and not afraid to admit it. Not that Marty is a big girl's blouse ! ( Far from it, we see that Marty has a group of male friends who he goes drinking with, and in one scene we see Marty and his mates sitting around his house, while his friends look at girlie mags ).
When his friends get to hear that Marty has been seeing a "dog", as Marty's mate Angie probably put it, they refuse to entertain the idea that he could possibly be serious about her. She doesn't fit with their ideal image of women, which they seem to have been brainwashed with by the women in Mickey Spillane novels !* This bothers Marty who is very serious about Clara, and is obviously miffed when his friends are so dismissive. Marty's mother also takes a dislike to Clara, even going so far as to say that Clara is unattractive, but this is only due to her sudden realisation that she is about to lose Marty . The big question is, Will Marty ignore those around him and stick with Clara ? What do you think ?!
*(As an aside, in the scene where Marty's friends are enthusing about the books of Mickey Spillane, the line "that Mickey Spillane is a great writer", is uttered three times, with the scene ending on this line. It sounded awfully like the filmmakers were gently having a dig at Mickey Spillane. That Marty's friends were fans is not in doubt, but it did seem to me that the references were somewhat sarcastic in nature ! )
MARTY is one of those films that surprises you with how authentic and real the situations and dialogue are, especially when you realise it was made over 40 years ago. Everything Marty and Clara says, you can imagine people saying and feeling now. I know this shouldn't be so surprising, since people feel the same things now as they ever did. The difference is that dialogue in films is rarely as sharp and perceptive and, more importantly, as natural as it is in MARTY. The screenplay was by Paddy Chayefsky who I'm delighted to say won an Oscar for his magnificent screenplay. There were so many great lines of dialogue but one that really made me smile was Marty's mother and aunt saying that "college girls were one step from the street" ! Marty response to this was appropriately contemptful.
I loved the scene where Marty tells Clara that they are both deluding themselves by saying that they live at home for the sake of their parents, when they both knew that in a way they felt they needed their parents. Clara hit the nail on the head for me when she said she had avoided getting a car, because she says she had a fear of killing someone in a crash. I have often felt this way myself ! Another moment that stood out as being especially real and authentic was during the scene at the church when Marty's cousin says he and his wife will sit at the back of the church with their baby, so as to reduce the disruption to the service. It's not a line I've heard in a film before, but it sounded so great hearing it in this film. In truth, to pick out individual moments is unfair, as the whole film is a joy from beginning to end, with every line of dialogue sparkling !
The acting throughout is excellent, but Ernest Borgnine and Betsy Blair are both exceptional. Borgnine makes Marty the most natural, kind hearted, genuine man you're ever likely to see in a film. Marty is a difficult role as it would be easy to overdo the sentimentality and make Marty seem a bit pathetic and wet. Borgnine gives Marty a strong character who is far from weak and is the sort of bloke who you would feel proud and privileged to know. Betsy Blair was nominated for Best Supporting Actress (why it wasn't Best Actress, I don't know), and is frankly astonishing in a role that in many ways is even more demanding than that of Marty. Clara is said throughout the film to be unattractive and this must be hard to keep hearing, for the actress. Betsy Blair is far from ugly, but is made to look very plain and this must be quite a brave thing for an actress to do. She imbues Clara with dignity from the start and again, like Borgnine, underplays and gives an incredibly quiet and very subtle performance. They are both are so good it's frightening. As a tribute to their wonderful acting Burt Lancaster who appears in a 1955 trailer for the film ( he co-produced MARTY ) says that they were so good that it made "him feel proud to be an actor". This is high praise indeed, and so well said !
My only criticism would be that the ending is so abrupt that I was left in despair when the film credits suddenly started. I couldn't bear for the film to end ! The end credits soon made up for my disappointment by featuring a great song called "Hey, Marty" which was played over the cast credits, complete with small clips of the cast as their names appeared. A great end to a great film.
I urge people to see this glorious film and I am looking forward to seeing this many more times during the rest of my life.
AWARDS for MARTY Year - 1955 OSCAR Best Picture -Winner OSCAR Best Director- Delbert Mann- Winner OSCAR Best Actor- Ernest Borgnine- Winner OSCAR Best Writing, Screenplay -Paddy Chayefsky - Winner GOLDEN GLOBE Best Actor - Ernest Borgnine - Winner DIRECTOR GUILD AWARD for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures - Delbert Mann - Winner
OSCAR NOMINATIONS
Best Supporting Actress - Betsy Blair
Best Supporting Actor - Joe Mantell
Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White -
Ted Haworth
Robert Priestley
Walter M. Simonds
Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -
Joseph LaShelle
Review written on Friday 20 March 1998 e-mail vince@deehan.demon.co.uk http://www.deehan.demon.co.uk
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