Marty (1955)

Directed by Delbert Mann. Starring Ernest Borgnine, Betsy Blair, Esther Minciotti, Joe Mantell, Augusta Ciolli, Jerry Paris, Karen Steele, Frank Sutton.

Simple, sweet story of shy, overweight Italian-American butcher Borgnine, unmarried in his mid-thirties but pressured by friends and family to find someone to be with. Then one night, he meets a similarly shy and “plain” woman (Blair) that he gets to know and really likes, but before even formally meeting her, the same friends and family decide that she’s not good enough. Borgnine and Blair are both genuine, awkwardly vulnerable, and quite appealing (they were each nominated for Oscars, and he won), and Paddy Chayefsky’s script, expanded from his own teleplay, is written with intelligence and warmth, able to capture all of the characters in simple, lucid strokes. It does suffer, however, from filmmaking ordinariness and an often static visual presentation, and despite the refreshing economy present in the Oscar-winning screenplay, there’s a sense of incompleteness that makes it feel like a reel or two are missing from the final print. First film to ever win the Palme d’Or from Cannes and the Best Picture Oscar (a feat that wouldn’t be repeated for almost 65 years when 2019’s Parasite did the same); at just a hair over an hour-and-a-half, it’s also the shortest Best Picture winner to date. Material was later reworked for the 1991 John Candy vehicle, Only the Lonely.

69/100