Click above for one of the greatest scenes from the film Marty.

Horse Feathers is a screenplay that I have been writing that is based on the 1955 film Marty but is also based on my own personal experiences.

If you haven’t seen this film yet, I highly recommend you do. Heck, I even named my chihuahua “Ernest Borgnine” because of this film.

Winner of Best Picture of 1955, Best Adapted Screenplay for Paddy Chayefsky,  Best Director for Delbert Mann, and Best Actor for Ernest Borgnine. 

Clara (Betsy Blair) is a shy, young, lonely teacher who rarely goes out. Convinced by her friend to go on a blind date, Clara arrives at the dance parlor with her friends, who are a couple, and her date. After seeing her, Clara’s date determines she is a “dog” and spends the evening trying to get rid of her. At one point he offers Marty money to go home with Clara so he can pick up somebody else. Appalled, Marty refuses so Clara’s date tires it with another man. When Clara figures out what is happening she gets upset and Marty goes to check if she’s alright and the rest is history. Even though they are considered a “dog” or stupid or fat, Marty and Clara realize that those things don’t matter. What matters is that they enjoy each other’s company. After dancing the two go out and spend the entire evening together, making plans to call each other and meet up the next day.

While the film quickly builds to a happy ending, complications arise the next day. As if they had planned it, all the people in Marty’s life suddenly decide to make his possible relationship difficult. Marty’s recently married cousin Tommy (Jerry Paris) and his wife Virginia (Karen Steele) are tired of living with Tommy’s mother, Marty’s Aunt Katherine (Augusta Ciolli). Infuriated that she is being put out and sent to live with Marty and his mother, Katherine tells Mrs. Piletti that when sons get married, all they do is abandon their mothers. Suddenly terrified that Marty will abandon her, Mrs. Piletti begins to try and convince Marty not to call Clara. Meanwhile Tommy and Virginia are fighting because Katherine is mad at Tommy for kicking her out of the house. This leads Tommy to tell Marty to stay a bachelor as long as possible. Angie, whom Marty ditched the night before, becomes jealous that Marty is moving towards a relationship. Angie attempts to convince Marty that he can do better than a “dog” like Clara and attempts to get him to ditch her. The entire film takes place in two days. The first day allows us to get to know the characters and ends with the first date between Marty and Clara. The second day consists of Marty trying to figure out how to proceed after the successful first date.

Though the overall message of the film is a pretty basic one, the film uses lovable characters to deliver the possibly overused point. The easiest way to state the message is simply the fact that outer beauty is not all that matters. Though “fat and dumb”, Marty is a charming lovable man and though she is considered a dog, Clara is a wonderfully intelligent person. Once Marty and Clara can get past what other people think, they realize what a wonderful time they had together.

Beyond simply winning the 1955 Oscar for Best Picture, Marty pulled in three more awards. Ernest Borgnine earned a well deserved Best Actor win and director Delbert Mann won for Best Director. Just to prove that it was a well rounded, well done film Paddy Chayefsky also won for Best Writing. Going up against Love is a Many Splendored Thing, Picnic, the Rose Tattoo and Mister Roberts, I believe that Marty deserved its best picture win. I would give the film an 8 out of 10. I thought there were a few holes in the dialogue but overall, this was an entertaining film with some great performances.

When you consider the current model for romantic comedies today–highly formulaic plots, archetypal lead and supporting characters, recycled themes and gags–it’s no wonder that Marty feels so fresh fifty-seen years later. Its differences that set it apart are also the ones that make it timeless and more accessible: an average-looking man and woman who have been romantically spurned time and again; the bachelor who has given up hope of finding love, not the stereotype we see today of a man clinging to adolescence; and the fear of loneliness and, as mirrored in Marty’s mother, growing old alone. Too many movies present men as people who fear commitment or, if they are searching for it, as romantic idealists. Marty is not a romantic nor is he clinging to a childish existence. He is a man with real emotional needs and, despite what others may think, may have finally found what he has been looking for in life.

4/5

291. Marty

Reviewed by Ally
First viewing

Synopsis:

Marty Pilletti (Ernest Borgnine) is a stocky Italian American butcher who, at the age of 34, still lives at home with his mother (Esther Minciotti). He hits the town with his best friend Angie (Joe Mantell), but regular rejections leave Marty feeling lonely and dispirited. He has resigned himself to the bachelor life until he meets kindred spirit, schoolteacher Clara (Betsy Blair).

Essential Scene:

Mrs. Pilletti has asked her nephew Tommy (Jerry Paris) where Marty should go to meet girls. Later, over dinner, she tells Marty go to the Stardust Ballroom, which is apparently “loaded with tomatoes.” Marty reacts with amusement but, as his mother persists, his true feelings come to the surface.

Marty: Ma, when you gonna give up? You got a bachelor on your hands, I ain’t ever gonna get married.

Mrs. Pilletti: You gonna get married!

Marty: Ma, sooner or later there comes a point in a man’s life when he’s gotta face some facts. And one fact I gotta face is that whatever it is that women like, I ain’t got it. I chased after enough girls in my life, I went to enough dances. I got hurt enough, I don’t wanna get hurt no more. I just called up a girl this afternoon, I got a real brush-off, boy. I figured I was past the point of being hurt, but that hurt. Some stupid woman who I didn’t even wanna call up, she gave me the brush. No, Ma, I don’t wanna go to the Stardust Ballroom because all that ever happened to me there was, girls made me feel like I was a bug. I got feelings, you know, I had enough pain. No thanks, Ma.

Mrs. Pilletti: Marty–

Marty: [interrupting] No. I’m gonna stay home tonight and watch the Hit Parade.

Mrs. Pilletti: But you’re gonna die without a son!

Marty: So I’ll die without a son.

Mrs. Pilletti: Marty, put on the blue suit, huh?

Marty: Blue suit, grey suit, I’m just a fat little man, a fat ugly man.

Mrs. Pilletti: You’re not ugly.

Marty: [shouting] I’m ugly, I’m ugly, I’m ugly!

Mrs. Pilletti: Marty!

Marty: Ma, leave me alone! Ma, what do you want from me? What do you want for me? I’m miserable enough as it is. Alright, so I’ll go the Stardust Ballroom, I’ll put on the blue suit and I’ll go. And you know what I’m gonna get for my troubles? Heartache, a big night of heartache!

Thoughts:

Last night was the first time I saw Marty but it’s already vying for a spot in my top ten. Big words from an obsessive list-maker such as myself, but that’s how deeply it spoke to me. Ernest Borgnine is wonderful in the title role, for which he deservedly won an Oscar. In one early scene, he telephones a woman he had met the previous week to ask her out on a second date. We only hear his side of the conversation, but the look on his face and the resignation in his voice is heartbreaking. (I spent the rest of the film misting up at regular intervals.)

Marty: Oh, I cry all the time, any little thing. My brothers, my brother-in-laws, they’re always telling me what a goodhearted guy I am. Well, you don’t get goodhearted by accident. You get kicked around long enough, you get to be a real professor of pain. I know exactly how you feel.

Marty eventually meets Clara, a schoolteacher who is similarly unlucky at love. These two lonely souls reach out to each other and, as they spend the night talking, we learn a great deal about the characters and witness the beginnings of a truly sweet relationship. Kinda gives ya hope, don’t it?

Marty: See, dogs like us, we ain’t such dogs as we think we are.

—

Fascinating Fact: The “what do you wanna do tonight?” conversation between Marty and Angie was later referenced by the vultures in Disney’s The Jungle Book.

291. Marty

Reviewed by Ally
First viewing

Synopsis:

Marty Pilletti (Ernest Borgnine) is a stocky Italian American butcher who, at the age of 34, still lives at home with his mother (Esther Minciotti). He hits the town with his best friend Angie (Joe Mantell), but regular rejections leave Marty feeling lonely and dispirited. He has resigned himself to the bachelor life until he meets kindred spirit, schoolteacher Clara (Betsy Blair).

Essential Scene:

Mrs. Pilletti has asked her nephew Tommy (Jerry Paris) where Marty should go to meet girls. Later, over dinner, she tells Marty go to the Stardust Ballroom, which is apparently “loaded with tomatoes.” Marty reacts with amusement but, as his mother persists, his true feelings come to the surface.

Marty: Ma, when you gonna give up? You got a bachelor on your hands, I ain’t ever gonna get married.

Mrs. Pilletti: You gonna get married!

Marty: Ma, sooner or later there comes a point in a man’s life when he’s gotta face some facts. And one fact I gotta face is that whatever it is that women like, I ain’t got it. I chased after enough girls in my life, I went to enough dances. I got hurt enough, I don’t wanna get hurt no more. I just called up a girl this afternoon, I got a real brush-off, boy. I figured I was past the point of being hurt, but that hurt. Some stupid woman who I didn’t even wanna call up, she gave me the brush. No, Ma, I don’t wanna go to the Stardust Ballroom because all that ever happened to me there was, girls made me feel like I was a bug. I got feelings, you know, I had enough pain. No thanks, Ma.

Mrs. Pilletti: Marty–

Marty: [interrupting] No. I’m gonna stay home tonight and watch the Hit Parade.

Mrs. Pilletti: But you’re gonna die without a son!

Marty: So I’ll die without a son.

Mrs. Pilletti: Marty, put on the blue suit, huh?

Marty: Blue suit, grey suit, I’m just a fat little man, a fat ugly man.

Mrs. Pilletti: You’re not ugly.

Marty: [shouting] I’m ugly, I’m ugly, I’m ugly!

Mrs. Pilletti: Marty!

Marty: Ma, leave me alone! Ma, what do you want from me? What do you want for me? I’m miserable enough as it is. Alright, so I’ll go the Stardust Ballroom, I’ll put on the blue suit and I’ll go. And you know what I’m gonna get for my troubles? Heartache, a big night of heartache!

Thoughts:

Last night was the first time I saw Marty but it’s already vying for a spot in my top ten. Big words from an obsessive list-maker such as myself, but that’s how deeply it spoke to me. Ernest Borgnine is wonderful in the title role, for which he deservedly won an Oscar. In one early scene, he telephones a woman he had met the previous week to ask her out on a second date. We only hear his side of the conversation, but the look on his face and the resignation in his voice is heartbreaking. (I spent the rest of the film misting up at regular intervals.)

Marty: Oh, I cry all the time, any little thing. My brothers, my brother-in-laws, they’re always telling me what a goodhearted guy I am. Well, you don’t get goodhearted by accident. You get kicked around long enough, you get to be a real professor of pain. I know exactly how you feel.

Marty eventually meets Clara, a schoolteacher who is similarly unlucky at love. These two lonely souls reach out to each other and, as they spend the night talking, we learn a great deal about the characters and witness the beginnings of a truly sweet relationship. Kinda gives ya hope, don’t it?

Marty: See, dogs like us, we ain’t such dogs as we think we are.

—

Fascinating Fact: The “what do you wanna do tonight?” conversation between Marty and Angie was later referenced by the vultures in Disney’s The Jungle Book.

You see, Marty (Ernest Borgnine) is a thirty-four year old butcher, the oldest kid in his family and the only one not married.  He seems to hear every day that he aught to be ashamed not finding a girl yet.  The poor guy has just about had enough.

His gang of bachelor friends aren’t much help to him.  They hang around the dinner or house like a bunch of teenage boys.  They look at girlie magazines, eat off each other’s plates and can never decide what to do on Saturday night.  None of them would make a descent wing-man.

Now, Marty’s problem with girls isn’t just his boyish friends, but it seems that the ladies are just not into him.  His stout physique and pug-like features don’t exactly draw the ladies.  Sadly, he realizes this all too well and it’s a real discouragement.  One of the most revealing and heart-wrenching scenes is when Marty calls up a girl he met a while ago.  The camera stays on Marty the whole time and we only here his half of the conversation.  We don’t have to hear exactly what she says to know she’s just trying to blow him off, the hurt is all over poor Marty’s downcast eyes and in his voice.

Though he’s obviously depressed at the rejection, Marty’s mother (Esther Minciotti) doesn’t want him to mope around the house this Saturday night.  She suggests he go dancing at the Stardust, where his brother-in-law says “it’s full of tomatas.”  After a painful argument from Marty, he gives up and goes out, just expecting heartache.

At the Stardust, we meet a girl who seems to be a female Marty.  Clara (Betsy Blair), a twenty-nine year old schoolteacher, practically an old maid, is on a blind date.  The guy she’s with is so disappointed in her, that he offers Marty five bucks to take her home, so he don’t have to.  Marty is appalled at how cold that is and declines, but keeps an eye out to see what happens to her.  When poor Clara realizes her date is trying to, she goes out to the roof and cries.  Marty can sure relate, so he goes to talk to her and they spend the whole night talking together.

The next day, while Marty is on cloud nine about Clara, everyone else is sour.  You see, Marty’s sister and brother-in-law have been having some marriage trouble and they blame it on the mother-in-law, Aunt Cathrine living with them.  That day, Aunt Cathrine is moving in with Marty and his mother.  To make matters worse, his mother doesn’t care for Clara after their brief encounter, afraid that she will one day kick her out of her own house.  Misery loves company and with his friends calling Clara “a real dog” he’s not sure if he should call her up on a second date.

Ernest Borgnine is absolutely brilliant and lovable as Marty.  He shows us the heartache and pain of rejection so well that we just want to give him a hug.  When he’s found Clara, our heart lifts in celebration with him.  The best thing about Marty is that he’s one of the nicest guys you will ever meet.  The way he talks to Clara about his parents and his realistic ideas on beauty and marriage is wonderfully insightful and shows how all those color films fail spectacularly at portraying healthy love.  That Oscar for Best Actor is well deserved.

Marty is a beautifully simple film about patience, heartache and finding love on real values.  The dialogue feels real, never mushy or wooden.  Every actor’s face is full of pure human expression.  And every shot is thought out beautifully and layered without one detail out of place.  Marty is not your typical ridiculous romance novel love story, but we can believe in, smile and feel good about.  Even more important, the film is a portrait of Marty in the turning point of his life.  And the best part is, Marty is the kind of person who really deserves a happy ending.

“You know, us dogs aren’t really so much of the dogs that we think we are.”

Now, on to the good stuff. Very little to say. I liked the screenplay (which, halfway through the movie, when I remembered that Paddy Chayefsky wrote it, made a lot of sense). The movie in general was very cute. That’s about it. I smiled a lot, but I don’t feel like I’m going to remember this movie so well. This is the second romantic comedy we’ve watched, after It Happened One Night, and I feel like it has less to it, but it’s about as good. A pretty solid 8/10

The gang’s all here to take a look back at Delbert Mann’s 1955 Oscar winning classic “Marty” starring Ernest Borgnine.

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