Marty

Rating:
Summary: MARTY: Ma! I'm Ugly! Ugly!
Review: When director Delbert Mann recreated the television version of Paddy Chayefsky's MARTY, he could not have guessed that he was also creating a masterpiece that spoke volumes about the self-imposed walls of loneliness that dispirited people erect around themselves. Ernest Borgnine has never been more believable than the 35 year old pudgy butcher who has been hurt so often by uncaring women that he has despaired of ever finding a wife. Marty is a caring, decent, if not attractive Italian man still living at home with his mother. Although the film starts out as Marty's cry of pain, it soon becomes apparent that he is not alone in his solitude. His mother is a widow who fears losing her son to another women. His aunt lives with her unwilling son and his wife and fears that if she does not boss them around, they will not pay attention to her. They, in turn, need their privacy but fear telling the aunt so. Marty's best friend, Angie, is a loser who wants only to make sure that he does not suffer alone. Marty meets Clara, a twenty-nine year old plain jane who has suffered plenty herself at the hands of superficial men. Each of them seems locked into a lifestyle that consists mainly of endless repetitions of "What are you doing tonight?" But this tiresome circle is broken at a neighborhood dance where several lives unexpectedly open and blossom. Clara is brought to the dance by a cad who promptly dumps her for another woman. Marty notices her distress and talks to her, first at the dance, then for hours at a soda shop. They talk, and talk some more, and discover that in Marty's words, "Maybe we are not the dogs that people call us." As they bond, Angie sees that he is losing his buddy sufferer and tries to break them up. Marty's mother sees the bonding and she tries to break them up as well. Marty discovers that solitude is a self-imposed blanket that can be discarded at will.

MARTY is a superbly entertaining movie that is not as simple as one might think, given the focused intent on the breaking of these bonds. What Ernest Borgnine as Marty and Betsy Blair as Clara prove is that if people can isolate themselves from others, then they will stay isolated until they decide that enough is enough. Marty and Clara learn this. Angie does not. We in the audience certainly do.

Rating:
Summary: My new Most favorite movie!!!!
Review: Wow!!! If I had seen this years ago Ernie would've been my very favorite actor all these years.I'm only used to seeing him in "tough guy" roles. This movie which I stumbled over one day is a masterpiece. I always liked him as an actor but the acting Ernie does in this film is some of the best I've seen by any actor ever!!!It is a story about the eternal search for love and happiness and the pain of lonliness.Still the film is funny and enjoyable,not depressing at all.The story is about the average or perhaps homely person who feels handicapped at the outset by their lack of looks or by shyness.Watch Ernie particularly when Clara explains that she does want to see him again very much..wow it's touching.The last scene in the movie is the best acting I,ve seen anyone do ever!Watch Ernie's face as he listens to his brain-dead friends blather on. It's an unbelievable bit of acting. You'll have to see it to see what I mean.Get it today. You won't regret it.Ernest Borgnine will become YOUR favorite actor too!

Rating:
Summary: My new Most favorite movie!!!!
Review: Wow!!! If I had seen this years ago Ernie would've been my very favorite actor all these years.I'm only used to seeing him in "tough guy" roles. This movie which I stumbled over one day is a masterpiece. I always liked him as an actor but the acting Ernie does in this film is some of the best I've seen by any actor ever!!!It is a story about the eternal search for love and happiness and the pain of lonliness.Still the film is funny and enjoyable,not depressing at all.The story is about the average or perhaps homely person who feels handicapped at the outset by their lack of looks or by shyness.Watch Ernie particularly when Clara explains that she does want to see him again very much..wow it's touching.The last scene in the movie is the best acting I,ve seen anyone do ever!Watch Ernie's face as he listens to his brain-dead friends blather on. It's an unbelievable bit of acting. You'll have to see it to see what I mean.Get it today. You won't regret it.Ernest Borgnine will become YOUR favorite actor too!

Rating:
Summary: THERE IS SOMEONE FOR EVERYONE...
Review: Written by the gifted Paddy Chayefsky, this is a memorable film, deftly directed by Delbert Mann. That it has a stage-like, theatrical feel to it is not surprising, considering that it was first a made-for-television play that was later augmented for the silver screen. This element of theatricality, however, does not detract in the least from this gritty, thematically complex film.

Ernest Borgnine plays the role of Marty Piletti, a stocky, thirty-four year old, lonely Italian butcher living at home in the Bronx with his mother. He is the last of the Piletti brood still in the nest. Physically unattractive and a bit doltish, he is a socially awkward, lumbering lummox of internal pain and angst. His mother wants him to get married, or so she thinks, until the reality of what such might ultimately mean for her sinks in. She takes her cue from her sister, Marty's Aunt Catherine, who is living with her son and daughter-in-law and making their lives hell. Consequently, she is going to move in with Marty and his mother.

Marty spends most of his spare time with his friend Angie, as well as with a bunch of other losers. Unloved, unmarried, and unable to get a date, Marty has all but given up on finding Miss Right, when he meets a twenty-nine year old high school teacher, also from the Bronx, Clara Snyder (Betsy Blair), at the famous Stardust Ballroom. Clara, a well educated, nice plain-Jane, is there as part of a pity double date arranged by her brother-in-law. Unfortunately, her date turns out to be a total cad who unceremoniously tries to fob her off on anyone he can, so that he can get some action going with a hot babe he knows. Marty feels Clara's pain, so he asks her to dance, not knowing that he is meeting his feminine counterpart and soul-mate.

As the film peels the layers from Marty, the viewer meets the sensitive, kind man who lives within the unattractive exterior. The viewer really gets to feel his pain, as well as that of some of the other characters in the film. One senses the feelings of alienation and loneliness in Clara, as she is dumped by her caddish date. One senses the fear that Mrs. Piletti has at the reality of what Marty's getting married might mean for her. Aunt Catherine's ouster from her son's home, as the older, unwanted woman with few options in life, also makes an impact on the viewer. The angst of Aunt Catherine's son at having to cleave to his wife, rather than to his mother, is also palpable, as is that of Angie at the thought of the possibility of no longer having Marty around to share his own social isolation.

The themes in this film, such as loneliness, isolation, alienation, and fear are all themes still relevant today. The only real anachronistic note is struck by the fact that Mrs. Piletti and Aunt Catherine both appear to be in their late sixties or early seventies, but I found to my complete surprise that Aunt Catherine is supposed to be fifty-six, and Mrs. Piletti is her younger sister! Trust me when I say that, nowadays, women in their fifties do not look like that.

All in all, this is an excellent film. Those who enjoyed this film should also seek out another Paddy Chayefsky film, "The Catered Affair", starring Bette Davis and Ernest Borgnine, which is a bitter sweet film about another Bronx family.