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Movies / On DVD / Marty
Marty

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Marty (1955)

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Reviews Counted:28

Fresh:28

Rotten:0

Average Rating:8/10

Consensus: Scriptwriter Paddy Chayefsky's solid dialogue is bolstered by strong performances from Ernest Borgnine and Betsy Blair in this appealingly low-key character study.

Runtime: 1 hr 31 mins

Genre: Dramas

Synopsis: Delbert Mann's big-screen remake of Paddy Chayefsky's 1953 teleplay, one of the most successful works of film's Golden Age, stars Ernest Borgnine as Bronx butcher, Marty Piletti. A good-natured... Delbert Mann's big-screen remake of Paddy Chayefsky's 1953 teleplay, one of the most successful works of film's Golden Age, stars Ernest Borgnine as Bronx butcher, Marty Piletti. A good-natured man, if plain and overweight, the 34-year-old bachelor has become fed up with the dreariness of life with vacant, dead-end friends like Angie (Joe Mantell), omnipresent relatives like his cousin Tommy (Jerry Paris), and his nagging mother, Theresa (Esther Minciotti), with whom he shares a house. Often rejected by women, he feels that he is too unattractive to marry, and is far from eager to endure further humiliation. Still, Marty finds himself at a local dance hall, where he angrily refuses a man who offers him a few bucks to take home a blind date who has turned out to be a dog. The butcher seeks out the humiliated woman, Clara (Betsy Blair), who's in tears, and after he comforts her, they return to the dance. As Marty confesses similar experiences of his own to Clara, he realizes that he may have found the woman he's been looking for. Influenced by neo-realist masterpieces like UMBERTO D, Chayefsky's poignant, brilliantly observed kitchen-sink drama remains as persuasive as ever, as it explores the universal need to give and receive love. [More]

Starring: Ernest Borgnine, Betsy Blair, Joe De Santis, Joe Mantell

Starring: Ernest Borgnine, Betsy Blair, Joe De Santis, Joe Mantell, Esther Minciotti, Karen Steele, Jerry Paris, Frank Sutton, Walter Kelley, Robin Morse, Augusta Ciolli

Director: Delbert Mann

Director: Delbert Mann
Screenwriter: Paddy Chayefsky
Story: Paddy Chayefsky
Producer: Harold Hecht
Composer: Roy Webb

[See More Credits]

Reviews for Marty

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1 - 20 (sorted by rotten rating; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 >> >|
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 

Chayevsky's TV drama transferred effortlessly to cinema.

Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment Comment
02/19/08
Channel 4 Film
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Enormously influential, it spawned Hollywood's interest in smaller scale, prosaic dramas, few of which failed to match its resonance.

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
02/20/08
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

It does have doggy charm and a certain perceptiveness.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
06/24/06
Derek Adams
Derek Adams
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Ernest Borgnine as Marty lives up to all the promise he showed as the sadist in From Here to Eternity, and at the same time brilliantly shatters the type-cast he molded for himself in that picture.

Full Review Source: TIME Magazine | comment Comment
02/18/09
TIME Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Dowdy but winning and poignant.

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
12/12/06
TV Guide's Movie Guide
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Marty is one of those straightforward, no-frills films that shoots directly to the dead-true point.

Full Review Source: Metro Times (Detroit, MI) | comment Comment
10/04/02
Anita Schmaltz
Anita Schmaltz
Metro Times (Detroit, MI)

A warm and winning film, full of the sort of candid comment on plain, drab people that seldom reaches the screen.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
05/20/03
Bosley Crowther
Bosley Crowther
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

This film is unusual in that it is so quiet and unassuming -- like its title character -- that you don’t realize how impressed you are until the film is nearing its conclusion.

Full Review Source: Apollo Guide | comment Comment
08/01/01
Brian Webster
Brian Webster
Apollo Guide

Tragicomic and simple, Marty's celebrated status is rightly earned, but it may be a bit to naive and simplistic for today's hard-bitten audiences.

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
10/19/04
Christopher Null
Christopher Null
Filmcritic.com

No review available.

comment Comment
10/09/05
Chuck O'Leary
Chuck O'Leary
Fantastica Daily

A bravura performance from Borgnine

comment Comment
06/11/05
Clint Morris
Clint Morris
Moviehole

Loaded with believably endearing characters, Marty is charming, if stagebound,

comment Comment
12/02/02
Dan Lybarger
Dan Lybarger
Kansas City Star

No review available.

comment Comment
05/04/04
Daniel M. Kimmel
Daniel M. Kimmel
Worcester Telegram & Gazette

No review available.

comment Comment
07/26/02
David Poland
David Poland
Hot Button

A solidly crafted work that still pleases.

Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | comment Comment
07/06/03
Dennis Schwartz
Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

A modest film (for an Oscar-winner) that captures with attention to detail its Bronx working class milieu, but it patronizes its "little" people: "You're not really as much of a dog as you think you are, the butcher Marty tells his girlfriend Clara.

Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com | comment Comment
12/19/05
Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com

No review available.

comment Comment
02/17/03
Jeffrey Westhoff
Jeffrey Westhoff
Northwest Herald (Crystal Lake, IL)

Paddy Chayevsky's script, adapted from his own TV play, shows his flair for dialogue at its best, and the film manages to be touching, if minor.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
12/12/06
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Chicago Reader

A compelling and thoughtful film, its strong performances by Borgnine and Blair alone would make it a must see.

Full Review Source: Flick Filosopher | comment Comment
01/01/00
MaryAnn Johanson
MaryAnn Johanson
Flick Filosopher

One of the most amazing portrayals of an average Shmoe you could ever imagine. Ernest Borgnine is lovable, disgusting, creepy and just a great guy.

Full Review Source: Zap2it.com | comment Comment
11/07/02
Michael Szymanski
Michael Szymanski
Zap2it.com
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by rotten rating; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 >> >|
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Latest News for Marty

January 23, 2009: Five Favorite Films With Ernest Borgnine
Ernest Borgnine is one of Hollywood's most venerable character actors, with a career that spans more than five decades. To celebrate Borgnine's 92nd birthday this week, Turner... More...

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