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
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Credits
Screenwriter
James Poe, Robert E. Thompson
Cinematography
Philip H. Lathrop
Editor
Fredric Steinkamp
Original Music
Johnny Green
Production Design
Harry Horner
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