Marty (1955)

Directed by Delbert Mann

"Marty" is a story about ugly people. The title character, Marty Piletti (Ernest Borgnine), is self-described as fat and ugly while his love interest, Clara (Betsy Blair), is described by everyone in the film, including Marty, as a "dog". The supporting characters are not necessarily physically ugly or terrible people, but the only actions they take in the film are out of selfishness and not a one of them comes out of the film looking pretty. Yet the film was a smash hit and took best picture honors at both the Cannes Film Festival and the Academy Awards, becoming only the second film to achieve that feat and no film has managed it since.

How "Marty" achieved this I do not know. "Marty" is a fine film, but it is not a great one. The plot is simple enough: Marty is a 34 year-old butcher who has just seen his 19 year-old kid brother get married, leaving him as the lone bachelor in the family. This distresses his mother, whom he still lives with, and she is constantly urging him to meet a nice girl and marry her. Marty has a few friends he hangs out with, including his best friend, Angie (Joe Mantell), who are all also bachelors and still go out on the town every night looking for a good time. Marty, however, has grown weary of that and has given up trying to find a girl until his mother convinces him one night to put on his blue suit and go to the Stardust Ballroom. He and Angie go and while there Marty runs into a guy looking to ditch his date and is willing to pay Marty to take her home for him. Marty refuses the money on principle, but introduces himself to the girl, Clara, after watching her get dumped and...magic! They, of course, are instantly attracted to each other and the only question is whether or not our lovable chump is going to manage to screw this up.

The best part of the picture is the script by the legendary Paddy Chayefsky, who deservedly won the first of his three Oscars for it. The script crackles with wit and charm and even features what would be called Altmanesque touches if it hadn't been written well before Altman made overlapping dialogue his trademark. Borgnine also excels as Marty in his first leading role. Before "Marty" he had been typecast as a heavy, and Borgnine jumps at the chance to play a romantic role and show his more sensitive and human side.

The script and lead performance don't explain how on earth "Marty" became such a huge box office and awards success though. And let's be clear--it was a huge success. Adapted from Chayefsky's script from an episode of The Goodyear Television Playhouse (where Marty was played by Rod Steiger--who is not Italian, which is interesting considering the Italian-centric nature of the film) the film was made for $343,000 and made over $3 million at the domestic box office alone. It was then nominated for eight Oscars, winning four. Besides Best Picture, it picked up Oscars for Borgnine, first-time director Delbert Mann (who became the first man to win that honor for his debut), and for Chayefsky's script.

Truth be told, 1955 was a year where the best films were not nominated for Best Picture by the Academy. "Rebel Without a Cause," "The Night of the Hunter," "East of Eden," and "Bad Day at Black Rock" were all snubbed for the big prize that year, leaving a nice, popular, middlebrow film like "Marty" with a great script and quality lead performance to walk away with the statue. Which, in a way, is a perfect outcome for "Marty." It's not the prettiest film you'll ever see, but you'll have a pretty nice time watching it. 3 out of 4 stars.