Best Picture Rewind: Marty
This Forgotten Best Picture Winner Is Worth Remembering
By Tom Houseman
March 14, 2012
BoxOfficeProphets.com
The Movie
Marty, 1955, Directed by Delbert Mann, Written by Paddy Chayefsky
What it Won
Best Picture
Best Director
Best Actor Ernest Borgnine
Best Writing, Screenplay
Also Nominated For
Best Supporting Actor Joe Mantell
Best Supporting Actress Betsy Blair
Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White
Best Cinematography, Black-and-White
Its Competition
Love is a Many-Splendered Thing
Mister Roberts
Picnic
The Rose Tattoo
Other Notable Nominees
Blackboard Jungle
To Catch a Thief
East of Eden
Guys and Dolls
The Man with the Golden Arm
Mr. Hulot's Holiday
Oklahoma
Rebel Without a Cause
What I Brought Into It
Before I looked at its IMDb page I knew essentially one thing about Marty, which is that it is the subject of the trivia question that John Turturro's character is supposed to answer wrong on purpose in the movie Quiz Show. Marty was made during that span between the feel good '40s and the edgy '60s when Hollywood couldn't figure out what kind of movies to make. As a result, we ended up with some Best Picture nominees that did not stand the test of time, from The Greatest Show on Earth to Around the World in 80 Days to Gigi.
So I knew almost nothing about Marty going in (my girlfriend asked me what it was about and I said “Marty.” She didn't think that was as funny as I did). I gleaned that it was about a butcher, that it was based on a 1953 teleplay, and that it was written by the man who would go on to write one of the greatest screenplays of all time, Network. Also, it stars Ernest Borgnine, who played the weird old guy in Baseketball, so that's pretty awesome.
What I Took Out of It
Marty is an old-fashioned movie, which is not to say that it is dated, because its themes and ideas are still very relevant today. But it is the kind of movie that would never be made today. It is very low-concept with no action, few laughs, and almost complete lack of robots punching each other. What it is is one of the sweetest and most touching movies I've ever seen.
Marty is the kind of guy that nobody would make a movie about. “I set out in Marty to write a love story,” said Chayefsky, “the most ordinary love story in the world. I didn't want my hero to be handsome, and I didn't want the girl to be pretty.” Can you imagine pitching that story to a major studio today? Marty is a good guy, a nice guy, who works hard and is liked by everybody. But beneath his smile we see somebody desperately lonely. Thirty-four years old, he lives with his mother and all three of his younger siblings have moved out and gotten married. Everybody around him is pressuring him to get married, and he finally breaks down in front of his mother, admitting that he has given up on ever finding love. “And one fact I gotta face is that, whatever it is that women like, I ain't got it.”
The film follows Marty through the course of two days, as he meets a girl who appreciates what a nice, sweet guy he is. Borgnine and Blair have spectacular chemistry because they both seem like normal people who really enjoy spending time with each other. Neither of them are clever or funny, and the humor in their conversation arises from their awkwardness. Both the man and the movie are entirely devoid of cynicism. We see unhappy people struggling with their personal issues, mostly their fear of being alone and forgotten. But the message of Marty is that if we stop worrying so much about never being loved and instead just open ourselves up to the possibility of loving, that we will find happiness. It is surprising that such an uplifting film came from the pen of the same man who would go on to write Network, a masterpiece of cynicism.
Marty is not a classic by any stretch of the imagination. Cinematically it is as simple as it gets, as Mann smartly chooses not to let the camera distract from the story. There are a few memorable scenes but no great performances (although Borgnine certainly has his moments) and if it hadn't won Best Picture or the Palm D'Or (one of only two films to win both prizes) I'm sure it would be forgotten by now. But considering all of the sweeping epics and depressing dramas that have won Best Picture, Marty stands out because it is simple and sweet and thoroughly enjoyable.
Did It Deserve to Win Best Picture?
I can't really answer that question. I have never heard of any of the other Best Picture nominees from this year (this is sort of the Oscar year that time forgot) and of all of the movies nominated for any award, the only one that I've seen is Rebel Without a Cause. So I don't have a problem with Marty's win because it is a good movie, but I don't have much in the way of comparison to make against its competition.
Marty's Best Picture win reminds me of the way The King's Speech won. Both are simple, straightforward movies that are not masterpieces but are emotionally affecting. Both were made by TV directors making their jump to the big screen who won Academy Awards for their debuts (Mann was the first first-time director to take the big prize). Both beat out competition from legends. Tom Hooper beat David Fincher, Christopher Nolan, and The Coen Brothers, while Delbert Mann beat Elia Kazan, David Lean, and Joshua Logan. I can't imagine anybody in 1955 thinking that Marty would be remembered as a classic for decades to come, but it is a film that is easy to love, that can be slipped into like a warm bath and embraced for everything it does so well. If the litmus test for a Best Picture winner is how easy it is to love, then there are few films as deserving of the award as Marty.