They Shoot Horses, Don't They?

Plot synopsis:
A young boy by the name of Robert sees his hillbilly father shoot a horse with a broken leg to put it out of its misery.Years later, it's the Great Depression, the 1930's. Robert dreamed of being a great filmmaker but is now almost broke. He decides to enter a Los Angeles dance marathon, a craze that many people are falling into in California with the promise of winning cash. It is there that he meets his first dance partner, a beautiful but caustic and bitter woman named Gloria, apparently recovering from a suicide attempt. For her, after years of bad luck with men and no money herself, the dance competition offers her false happiness. Together, she and Robert form a friendship.As the competition goes on, it becomes evident that the show host, Rocky, doesn't have much money himself and, despite showing genuine remorse about it, he frequently exploits and psychologically abuses the dancers and makes a spectacle out of them for the viewers of the show, who pay him a great deal of money every day just to get into the arena. Alice, an aspiring actress, goes into hysterics when her beloved dress is stolen, and a man's leg becomes paralyzed. When he falls unconscious, he is given castor oil and doused in ice water, and then forced to dance again. A pregnant woman dances and has to race with her husband around a track, often becoming exhausted and collapsing.Gloria becomes frustrated and snaps at Robert, jealous of the attention he gives to Alice, who bears a resemblance to Marilyn Monroe. When Robert discovers that Rocky is the one who stole and ripped up Alice's dress, he questions him, but Rocky tells him that it's just show business, and that the spectators want to see the dancers as miserable as they themselves feel because of the Depression.During a repeated, timed race around a track, Gloria's new dance partner, an elderly sailor, has a heart attack and dies, which Rocky cheerfully covers up from the audience. Upon seeing his death, Alice has a mental breakdown, losing her mind and hiding in the shower. Rocky, having seen similar breakdowns time and time again in his business, hugs her and then walks her to the nurses on duty, where she will presumably have to be sent away to psychiatric care.When Robert and Gloria partner up again, Rocky suggests that they marry each other as a publicity stunt for the show, trying to bribe Gloria with tons of free wedding gifts. He then lets it slip that even if Gloria and Robert do win the dance competition, they'll have to pay hidden expenses and will be left with next to nothing in cash, and he cautions her to get out while she can with her dignity still intact. She and Robert leave and, both nearly penniless and dejected, they walk down to the ocean at night, a place Robert has always adored but that now does nothing for him. Gloria repeatedly breaks down and cries, and reveals that it was never really the money or material items she was after, it was the promise of happiness, something she has been longing for but has now lost forever. At the end of her rope, she tries to shoot herself in the head but can't find the courage to pull the trigger, so she pleads for Robert to do it for her. Robert shoots her and is taken in by the police (meanwhile his misery at the death of his only friend is viewed by a circle of rubberneckers from the streets, despite the police trying to block off the death site). When a cop asks Robert why he did it, Robert says, "she asked me to - they shoot horses, don't they?" before he is locked up in jail.The film ends with a view of Rocky shouting out to the crowd at the dance competition, and the crowd is cheering and laughing, while the competing dancers look miserable and depressed.

Tags: depressing, flashback

Review:
A brutally bleak screen adaptation of the pulpy Horace McCoy novella, about a Depression-era dance marathon where down-and-outers drive themselves to the brink of exhaustion to win the cash prize.This film has become relevant again today in the age of reality T.V., where people tune in to watch strangers be humiliated, rejected and made fun of.
The M.C. of the dance marathon, played wonderfully by Gig Young in one of his last (if not the last) film performances before the troubled actor murdered his wife and then killed himself, creates little narratives and dramas around each of the dancers, so that the audience can have their favorites to root for.
The cast of dancers is led by Jane Fonda, in a break-out role as Gloria, the jaded woman-of-the-world who's seen it all and doesn't want to see anymore; Susannah York, as a pretentious wannabe actress, who acts up a storm during a mesmerizing breakdown scene; Red Buttons, as an aging ex-serviceman who struggles to keep up with the young kids around him; and Bruce Dern and Bonnie Bedelia, as a sweet couple of country bumpkins who are desperate to win the cash for their unborn baby.
It was destroyed by fire shortly afterward.Marathon dancing was, according to most historians, as brutal and exploitive as it is depicted in "Horses." It was for that reason that this early 20th century variety of Roman coliseum culture was banned in much of the country by the late 1930s.This movie uses fictitious characters to tell a story that appears to be remarkably accurate from a historical point of view.
That includes director Sydney Pollack, who had only made a few movies until this one.The deep cast in this film did not include big-name stars but they were known celebrities: actors like Michael Sarrazin, Susannah York, Red Buttons, Bonnie Bedalia, Bruce Dern and Al Lewis.This is a sad tale of desperate people in desperate times trying to make a few extra bucks during the Great Depression years.
One became mentally exhausted just watching these poor people on screen trying to survive these "marathons."Like a lot of movies which deal with unpleasant topics, this is a haunting film that will leave you thinking about it for a long time afterward.
Jane Fonda's performance as a marathon-entry at the end of her rope ranks with her very best work, and Oscar-winner Gig Young is smashing as the M.C. Also superb: Susannah York as a glamor girl who gets her clothes (and sanity) dirty, and Red Buttons as an over-the-hill sailor.
It's a glass-half-empty microcosm of capitalism.The film's loaded with strong acting, from Red Buttons whose career as a comedian somehow deepens the desperation his character suffers, Susannah York who captures the tragedy of a woman with no insight into her loss of touch with reality, a stunningly innocent Bonnie Bedelia before she was Mrs. McClaine, from Michael Sarrazin as young man whose blow of mercy presages and caps his life, which is ultimately as insignificant as everyone else's in this society where all are subjugated, a life perhaps only significant to Gloria.
Swollen-eyed, unkempt, stinking of must and smoke, Gig Young is inspired, a pointed change from his customary gourmet roles, as the powers that be, a man arguably as cynical and misanthropic as his desperate contestants.The film's awash with rather stunning period strokes, the songs, settings, costumes language, all so unsettling in such imperative ways.
The tragic social pitfalls of financial collapse caused by the Great Depression are the culprits to spurring on these dance marathons, nevertheless, regardless of cause and effect, the show must go on!!As the movie lingers on, it portrays the desperation and apocalyptic suffering all of the major characters endure...
this is one of my all-time favorite films.jane fonda's 'gloria beatty' is one of the best heroines in movie history (along with "klute"'s 'bree daniels', her other foray into genius).sydney pollack's direction, particularly in the 'sprint' sequences, is terrific, probably the best of his career (save, perhaps, "tootsie", its emotional opposite).i once got a bartender in a gay biker club to play this on the monitors behind the music.
Now that's cinema!Director Sydney Pollack inhales the gathering gloom of a motley group of 30's Depression-era victims and spits it out against the seedy backdrop of a dance marathon, pitting one miserable soul against another in a cruel contest of endurance while exposing each of their inner tales of woe.Jane Fonda blotted out her "Barbarella" eye candy image forever with her staggering portrayal of the brutally cynical spitfire Gloria, a never-was, never-will-be actress who refuses to see blue skies ahead for herself or anybody else -- despite the outcome.
Michael Sarrazin as Fonda's partner, a calm, poetic drifter, Susannah York as the Jean Harlow-like hopeful desperate for a chance to be discovered, and Bonnie Bedelia, a pitiable, impossibly pregnant waif are the stand-out participants of this grueling nightmare, while Gig Young's award-winning emcee touchingly reminds us that not all the pathetics are hugging the floorboards.
There isn't a false note in this elegy of misery.Pollack stages the couples' interactions and dance sequences most impressively, but its the so-called racing "sprints" shot in such a blurring, whirling, surreal fashion, that highlight this film masterpiece.One of the most exhilarating and depressing movies you'll ever witness..
There is not an ounce of comedy relief and the few scenes that take place outside the dark stifling dance hall in the welcome sun serves only the despair back inside where a sentimental audience tosses coins to a pregnant Bonnie Bedelia warbling "The best things in life are free." Without any upbeat distractions the film can become an endurance of melancholy for the viewer but Pollack and company keep things highly absorbing most of the way in what might be termed a dark piece of historical nostalgia ..
Horace McCoy's novel was not cheapened,its spirit remains intact.Who cares if they added some new characters such as Alice (Susannah York's best performance)?Jane Fonda,in the role of a lifetime,is brilliant, harsh but brittle, fighting but knowing from the start that , whatever fate has in store for her , it's a fool bargain.In this dark movie,the sun never shines on the poor who go round and round in circles: the only sun they get in this terrifying world  is the glittering mirror bowl in the dancing.
Jane Fonda (Oscar-nominated for the first time), Gig Young  (Best Supporting Actor winner) and especially Susannah York (also Oscar-nominated, whose shower scene is a particular standout) are electrifying, with solid support from Michael Sarrazin, Red Buttons, and Bruce Dern.
So, Gloria Beatty (Jane Fonda) and Robert Syverton (Michael Sarrazin) participate in a dance marathon viewed by a bunch of people who have never experienced hardship in their lives, while all the dancers are downright desperate.The movie really lets you see what the dancers are feeling as they become more and more fatigued, all for the entertainment of their audience.
Thompson, the movie takes the semi-famous 1935 Horace McCoy novel and highlights the microcosm that the author created to show how hopeless people felt during the depths of the Depression, none more so than Gloria Beatty, the embittered and failed wannabe actress desperate to win half the $1,500 grand prize.In her breakthrough dramatic role, Jane Fonda brings an unmitigated feral quality to Gloria that must have been startling at the time since her previous two films were the lightweight "Barefoot in the Park" and the campy pin-up comic fantasy, "Barbarella".
The other standouts in the cast are a very young Bonnie Bedelia as the extremely pregnant Ruby clinging in exhaustion to her husband, Susannah York as the unstable starlet Alice, Red Buttons as seen-it-all Sailor, and Gig Young who upturned his long-established light comedy image as the Machiavellian dance emcee Rocky.You will likely recognize Al Lewis (Grandpa on "The Munsters") as Rocky's mercenary assistant Turkey and Michael Conrad (Sgt. Phil Esterhaus on "Hill Street Blues") as the cynical roller skating referee.
Among the contestants vying for the $1,500 victory are a depressive and damaged aspiring actress (Jane Fonda), a wannabe filmmaker-turned-criminal (Michael Sarrazin), another aspiring Hollywood starlet (Susannah York), and a pregnant wife and her husband (Bonnie Bedelia and Bruce Dern).
The premise is almost paper-thin and on the surface sounds somewhat dull: a dance marathon where contestants have to stay on their feet for hundreds upon hundreds of hours till they all fall down; but the emotional depth of the characters is the key ingredient that enriches the entire film.Each of the characters carry with them an array of baggage and psychological complexity that is subtly unraveled, and the writing is really the glue that keeps the show together, supplemented with career-defining performances from Fonda and York.
Set against the backdrop of a depression-era dance marathon, THEY SHOOT HORSES, DON'T THEY stars Jane Fonda and Michael Sarazzin as an unexpected couple literally competing for their lives.
The idea that one could at one time or another end up anywhere on the wheel must have been great solace to those who felt they were at the bottom.In Sydney Pollack's 1969 film, `They Shoot Horses, Don't They?' we are given this idea of life in a microcosm.
The dancers are an ensemble cast including: Jane Fonda as Gloria Beatty, Michael Sarrazin as Robert Syverton, Susannah York as Alice LeBlanc, Red Buttons as `Sailor,' Bonnie Bedelia as Ruby, Bruce Dern as James, and other minor characters.Of course, certain people have always seemed to be outside of the desperation of life.
This woman simply can not act, she delivers her lines poorly and is not helped by some woeful dialogue 'I've got my eye on you' one referee says to her, 'Which one?' she replies.Amazingly she would later win two thoroughly undeserved Best Actress Oscars for equally poor performances in Coming Home and Klute.The weak characterisations mean that we can never care sufficiently about the dancers to find their plight either harrowing, disturbing or even worth watching and the story is further confused by unnecessary flash-forwards relating to the totally unbelievable climax to this rather pointless film..
A young, wide-eyed Michael Sarrizin functions well as our point of access into this alien world of 1930's marathon dance contests, but I agree with the critic Pauline Kael that his big action at the end is under-motivated, based on how he's decided to play his character up to that point.But the movie belongs to Jane Fonda.
Other participants include confident elderly sailer Harry Kline (Red Buttons), aspiring actors Alice (Susannah York) and Joel (Robert Fields), and poverty-stricken James (Bruce Dern) and his pregnant wife Ruby (Bonnie Bedelia) who are willing to dance simply for the food.Director Sydney Pollack is able to bring a sense of rising desperation to the movie.
Sydney Pollack's pungent film adaptation of Horace McCoy's 1935 novel about a dance marathon contest during the Depression-era - the ultimate test of energy and endurance, which blurs the line between competition and reality show.
He is the one granted with an opening flashback, as a young boy witnessing a horse being shot after breaking a leg (and the one who articulates the profound title in the coda) and flash-forward sequences (which viewers will only realise near the end) of being interrogated for an unspecified crime, Sarration is so unassuming and non-threatening against the whole backdrop of competition and dissatisfaction, his innocence is the last straw of hop in the story, which albeit hasn't been shown on screen, will be harshly stripped of in audience's mind picture, again, one should truly admire the courage of the filmmakers here, all the wistful tunes, big band rollicking aside, the film can blow you away for its uncompromising reprimand of what a degraded world we are living and a high point in Pollack's just burgeoning career..
This film does a good job of conveying the desperation of the time and is excellently acted, particularly by Fonda as a bitter woman, York as a Jean Harlow wannabe, Bedilia as a pregnant contestant, and Young as the MC.
The colors are muted and dusty against the cheery façade of the event, and the sweaty and haggard faces show through the performance makeup.Jane Fonda, Michael Sarrazin, Susannah York, Red Buttons, Bruce Dern, Robert Fields, and Bonnie Bedelia are the featured dance contestants, and Gig Young is the MC.
For James and Ruby (Dern and Bedilia) it's food for themselves and the baby that's on the way; for Alice and Joel (York and Fields) it's the chance of being seen by someone influential from the movie industry; for Gloria (Fonda), and for the Sailor and Shirl (Buttons and McLerie) it's to earn some money; and, as succinctly expressed in a scene between Robert (Sarrazin) and Rocky (Young), for the former the marathon is a competition, whilst for the latter, it's a show.
They want to see the chaotic potential of the marathon, they want to see these human beings brought to their breaking point, and they get that in spades.Focusing on the young Robert (Michael Sarrazin) and Gloria (Jane Fonda), two loners who partner up for the contest, the film explores some dark themes through their experience of the contest and the downward spiral they are pushed through.
There are flashes to Robert being arrested for an unknown crime that we see several times throughout the film, which provide an interesting look at his character and a curious mystery to try and decipher, but the primary focus of the film is on those themes of bringing a person to their breaking point and seeing what comes out as a result.The performances are uniformly strong, from the powerfully broken Fonda, to the borderline psychotic Susannah York, to the energetic and determined Red Buttons, but special note should be given to Young who is charismatic and malicious as the host of ceremonies but in his moments out of the spotlight presents a sort of bitter melancholy towards the world that adds another layer to his character.
Fonda is Gloria, a hard-edged, world-weary woman, who has been lied to and used for so long and fallen so far down on her luck that she finds herself competing in one of those grueling, spirit- breaking, mind-destroying dance marathon contests that proliferated for a few years during the Depression when folks would do anything for money and which serves as an allegory for the age.
The film takes place during the Great Depression, when poor people would do almost anything for money, including endure a non-stop, month long dance marathon.This is really Robert Syverton's (Michael Sarrazin) story.
The marathon will eventually break the spirits or minds or bodies of almost everyone involved in one shape or form, leading to a finale that may be downbeat, but all the same I feel that there's really no other way this film could've ended.There are flaws in the late Sydney Pollack's depressing Depression-era masterpiece, the first being the flash-forwards that take us out of the action and try to make it be a murder mystery that really doesn't matter (I feel Pollack was trying too hard to make Robert, Gloria's dance partner, likable), and the second is Michael Sarrazin's bland performance next to the ferocity of Jane Fonda's amazing performance as the brave but breaking spirit Gloria, the quiet explosion of Susannah York and Gig Young as the ringmaster who knows he's manipulating the contestants.
But Pollack's film is tonally assured--one can almost feel the exhaustion of the parade of desperate people who become human race horses, agreeing to be part of a non-stop dance contest in the blind hope of getting a $1,500 prize money.
Other down-and-out contestants include Red Buttons, Susanna York, Bruce Dern and Bonnie Bedelia.Gig Young stands out as the charismatic MC who justifies the marathon and constantly makes brutal exploitation sound like good fun.
Dancing with Gloria are Robert Syverton (Michael Sarrazin), who seems to have committed a crime which makes this a story told in extensive flashbacks; Alice LeBlanc (Susannah York), who with partner Joel (Robert Fields) aspired to be a star; Ruby (Bonnie Bedelia) and James (Bruce Dern), a young married couple expecting their first child; and the Sailor (Red Buttons), a veteran of dance marathons.
It's rare indeed for any movie to possess this kind of power but the sheer intensity of its story, the desperation of its characters and the quality of its cast really do make this film extremely memorable and quite unique.This depression-era drama about the experiences of a group of poverty stricken people who enter a dance marathon at a run-down ballroom on the Santa Monica Pier near L.A. describes the hopes that motivate them and also shows the suffering and humiliation that they experience as they struggle against impossible odds to chase their dreams of a $1,500 prize or the fame and fortune that could follow, if they get spotted by any of the talent scouts who might be in the audience.
Jane Fonda and Susannah York make their characters unforgettable and Red Buttons is marvellous as the determinedly optimistic and energetic "old salt"."They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" is a tragic and very human story which, despite its depressing subject matter and shocking conclusion, is both thought provoking and riveting from start to finish..
"They Shoot Horses, Don't They,?" is only moderately successful in recreating the dance marathon of the 1930s during the depression years.Jane Fonda and Susannah York received well-deserved Oscar nominations for their portrayals as dance contestants eager to win the big prize for survival.
Regarding the Dance Marathon, whoever will win the 1500 dollars prize will be less interesting than the dozens of delightful losers.Take the character Alice, played by Susannah York, she's a young actress coming with her partner, together they expect to catch the eye of a director.