There have been 97 movies that have won Oscar’s Best Picture, and I have seen all of them, including Marty.
Now, I don’t even consider this a humble brag. During Covid, I loaded up my Netflix DVD queue with as many Best Picture winners as possible. I barely left my couch during the pandemic, and got through every one of them.
Honestly, some of the movies were a total slog, like Ben Hur, which was 3 hours and 32 minutes, and Gone With the Wind, which was 3 hours and 58 minutes! But then, you have my favorite Best Picture winner, Marty, which is a little over an hour and a half. I honestly think it’s the perfect movie, and it’s not just because I can watch it without a bathroom break.
There Is No Fat To This Film Whatsoever, Making The Story Just Fly By
I once wrote about the 10 greatest movies to win Best Picture, and you know I included some heavy hitters. For example, of course I put one of Francis Ford Coppola’s best movies, The Godfather Part II, on there. I also included Lawrence of Arabia, and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. In a lot of ways, I think most people would put these sprawling, theater-going epics on lists for the greatest movies to win Best Picture.
Here’s the thing about epic movies, though. Even though I like a great many of them, there’s usually a section of any long film that I feel could be cut. Case in point: my favorite movie, which is also one of the greatest war movies of all time, Apocalypse Now. Now, I love this film to death. That said, there are certain sections that are just so slow (don’t even get me started on Apocalypse Now Redux)! I understand this is to create a mood, but that was great the first time that I watched it. Not the 20th.
1955’s Marty doesn’t have that problem. The story of a 34-year-old bachelor who is constantly pestered by his family to get married, this movie almost seems too simple to win Best Picture (even though it nabbed both that, and the prestigious Palme d’Or, making it one of only four films to ever win both awards).
There’s just no fat to this film. Marty, played by Ernest Borgnine, who won Best Actor for his performance, is depressed for almost the entire film, and you FEEL that depression. The only time he’s actually happy is when he’s with a woman named Clara, played by the magnificent Betsy Blair.
Both of them are lonely people who have pretty much given up on love since they think they’re either too plain or too ugly. In this way, the film is almost 100% inner conflict, which keeps you engaged for the entirety of its relatively short run time. That said, even though it’s about lonely people, it is a love story. Oh, and speaking of which…
Speaking Of Stories, It’s Magnificent! Simple, But Magnificent
There have been a few love stories that have won Best Picture, such as The English Patient, Out of Africa, and Titanic. The thing is, even the love stories that have won have felt epic in scope. It’s almost like, if there’s going to be a love story that is deemed worthy to win the award, then it has to deal with something BIG, like the Titanic sinking, or World War II.
Marty is different. It’s basically the story of two grown-ass adults with low self-esteem who still live with their parents. In a lot of ways, even though it’s old, it still feels incredibly current.
Marty thinks he’s fat and ugly, and Clara has been stood up for a date by the time she meets him, so neither of them are in enviable positions. But, they hit it off and spend the whole night dancing and talking. Marty even opens up to her, and Clara listens.
He takes Clara to his house, tries to kiss her, and fails. It’s not because she finds Marty creepy. No. It’s more because she’s not used to men taking an interest in her. When Clara meets Marty’s mother, the matriarch immediately dislikes her because it means her baby boy might leave her.
The rest of the film is people discouraging Marty from seeing Clara, with Marty having to decide for himself what he wants. Like I said, it’s super simple, but it still works! You’re rooting for Marty and Clara by the end of the film, which brings me to my next point.
The Acting Is Phenomenal
Quite recently, I wrote about my favorite actor, Robert Pattinson, and I went over how I love that he can play a lighthouse keeper in one movie, and then Batman in another. His versatility fascinates me, and I love actors who can make even the strangest characters feel real.
Then, you have Ernest Borgnine in Marty, which is the complete opposite of portraying a bizarre, out-there character. It’s more akin to capturing how people really are.
Not only do I feel like I know these people. I feel like I AM these people. Borgnine and Betsy Blair play lonely and quietly depressed people in a way that just feels real. All of the insecurities that they feel, I’ve lived through, and I think everybody has had those moments where they feel isolated and alone.
Borgnine and Blair are spectacular, but everybody’s acting in this film is great. Like Marty’s mom, played by Esther Minciotti. You can understand her sudden fear of losing her child to another woman as you see her brand of selfishness all the time in the real world.
Or Marty’s best friend Angie, played by Joe Mantell. Angie tries to sabotage Marty’s relationship, but only because he’s resigned himself to being a lifelong bachelor, and he doesn’t want to be alone. As viewers, we both loathe what he’s doing, but also might understand it, and none of that would have been possible if the acting wasn’t this damn good!
It’s One Of The Only Best Picture Winners That Genuinely Makes Me Feel Something
As I mentioned earlier, I’ve seen every movie that’s won Best Picture. Do you know how many of those 97 have made me cry? Just one, and it’s Spielberg’s masterpiece Schindler’s List (which, in an interesting turn of events, was released the same year as Jurassic Park).
Now, it’s not like every movie HAS to make me cry, but since it so seldom happens, the ones that genuinely move me definitely stand out. Marty didn’t unleash my tear ducts (it’s not that kind of movie), it is one of the only Best Picture winners that genuinely made me feel something.
That something was pathos. Because you legitimately feel sad for these people, and I don’t just mean the two leads. I mean everybody. There’s a general sense of loneliness that pervades this entire film.
Because here you have this story that takes place in New York City, which is one of the most densely populated cities in the world, and yet, you have these characters who just feel so alone.
I FEEL that. I live in New Jersey, which is the most densely populated state in the country, and you would think with people practically living on top of me that I would never feel alone and empty, but I do sometimes, and this movie captures that feeling so well. It really is quite something.
It Has A Truly Happy Ending
Finally, the reason why I think so many people fell in love with this movie back in the ’50s is because it has a truly happy ending.
A lot of this movie is about Marty growing as a human being, and that means not listening to all of the people who don’t make him happy. Marty’s friend calls Clara “a dog,” and even Marty refers to her as such.
However, this is just an example of his own self-hatred, because he also calls himself fat and ugly, and that even though his friends don’t find Clara attractive (as though they’re lookers themselves), he doesn’t care in the end. All he cares about is that when he’s with her, he’s happy, and hopefully she will be happy with him, too.
Even if we don’t know if Clara accepts Marty after he broke his promise and didn’t call her earlier, he does call her at the end of the film, a changed man.
Perfect. Absolutely perfect. Marty may be the shortest Best Picture winner ever, but it doesn’t waste a single second of its runtime.
What do you think? Have you seen this masterpiece? I’d love to hear your thoughts.