Horace McCoy’s existential Great Depression novel (published in 1935) is the basis for a brutally compelling movie, and the first performance where Jane Fonda could show her chops (ironically she’s playing a failed actress). The setting is a dance marathon presided over by emcee Rocky (Gig Young). Keep moving for a potential $1,500 cash prize. As the hours turn into days Rocky stirs the point, introducing a series of grueling derbies in which the exhausted dancers (among them, Red Buttons, Susannah York and Bonnie Bedelia) must compete.
It was a germinal moment… It was the first time a director asked me for input on how I saw the character and the story. And this was the first time in my life as an actor that I was working on a film about larger societal issues, and instead of my professional work feeling peripheral to life, it felt relevant.
Jane Fonda
Sydney Pollack’s dance-marathon movie has probably aged better than any American film of its time.
Entertainment Weekly (1996)
Sydney Pollack
Jane Fonda, Michael Sarazzin, Susannah York, Red Buttons, Bonnie Bedelia, Bruce Dern, Gig Young
USA
1969
English
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
Credits
Screenwriter
James Poe, Robert E. Thompson
Cinematography
Philip H. Lathrop
Editor
Fredric Steinkamp
Original Music
Johnny Green
Production Design
Harry Horner
Also in This Series
Getting Real charts the evolution of screen acting in American film from 1945-1980, diving into the psychological realism which took audiences somewhere deeper and more authentic than ever before.
In the Heat of the Night
Sidney Poitier in an indelible role a Philadelphia police detective Virgil Tibbs, pulled in as a murder suspect when changing trains in Mississippi. He allies with bigoted local sheriff (Rod Steiger) to solve the case.
The Miracle Worker
Academy Awards went to Best Actress Anne Bancroft and Best Supporting Actress Patty Duke for their moving portrayals of Annie Sullivan and her remarkable blind and deaf pupil, Helen Keller. "A film that storms where most biopics respectfully tiptoe."
Rachel, Rachel
The story of a shy schoolteacher whose sexual awakening in her mid-30s leads to a deeper re-evaluation of her life, the film is sensitive and sympathetic, as well as a surprising directorial debut from Paul Newman.
The Chase
Bubba Reeves (Robert Redford) escapes from prison and the south Texas town where his wife (Jane Fonda) is carrying on with his best friend (James Fox) is in uproar. Sheriff Marlon Brando tries and fails to keep a lid on the unpleasantness.
The Graduate
In The Graduate Benjamin (Dustin Hoffman, 30 playing 20 with masterly understatement) comes home from college and is surprised to be seduced by the wife of his father's business partner, Mrs Robinson (Anne Bancroft).
Midnight Cowboy
Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman are street hustlers on different ends of the innocence / experience spectrum who establish something more than a business partnership in the seedy world of late 60s New York City in John Schlesinger's New Hollywood classic.
Wanda
Barbara Loden's vérité feminist masterpiece, a landmark in the history of women filmmakers -- and "the anti-Bonnie & Clyde". "Writer-director-actor Barbara Loden's 1970 feature has a wonderful, hard-won sense of everyday rapture," Chuck Bowen, Slant
They Shoot Horses, Don't They?
Horace McCoy's existential Great Depression novel is the basis for a brutally compelling movie, and the first performance where Jane Fonda could show her chops. She's one of many desperate souls competing in a dance marathon that lasts for days and weeks.