NFR Project: “Marty”
Dir: Delbert Mann
Scr: Paddy Chayefsky
Pho: Joseph LaShelle
Ed: Alan Crosland Jr.
Premiere: April 11, 1955
93 min.
Paddy Chayefsky (1923-1981) was a genius writer. Acclaimed with three Oscars, he is still considered one of America’s outstanding dramatists.
After serving in World War II, Chayefsky went to work in the new medium of television. Beginning in 1949, he cranked out scripts for what then were uniformly live broadcasts. The challenges of creating compelling drama in a studio, live, with limited resources did not daunt him. He was a master of naturalism, of “real-life” dialogue that was informal, direct, and elegant. Chayefsky reached people.
On May 24, 1953, “Marty” premiered on The Philco Television Playhouse. It starred Rod Steiger in a career-making performance, and featured Nancy Marchand as well. The broadcast made such an impact that a plan to make a movie of the script went into development immediately. It was the first time television impacted the world of moviemaking.
Chayefsky demanded creative control, consultation on casting, and the use of the broadcast director Delbert Mann as the film’s director. He got what he wanted.
Ernest Borgnine took over the role of Marty, and Betsy Blair played his date Clara. Filming took place in the Bronx for 16 days, another boost for New York City as a viable filming center. Such was the power of the result was that the film earned Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor for Borgnine, and Best Screenplay at the Oscars that year.
It’s a simple story, really. Marty is a butcher, 34 years old, still living with his mother in the Bronx, his brothers and sisters all married. It seems that everyone he runs into nags him about getting married. Marty bears this harassment patiently, until his mother questions him and he loses his temper.
He calls himself “a fat, ugly man.” He continues, “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.”
Still, he is persuaded by his buddy Ange (Joe Mantell) to go with him to the Stardust Ballroom and look for women to pick up. He reluctantly complies. There he is accosted by a guy who wants to give him five bucks to take his date home, as he thinks she’s homely. She is Clara, 29, a sensitive single teacher. Marty declines – but he looks at Clara, goes over to her, asks her to dance.
They start talking and talk for hours. Marty takes her to his home, and briefly tries to kiss her. She rebuffs him, but she makes it very clear that she wants to see him again. Marty’s mother comes home and tries to interrogate her. Marty takes Clara home, promising to call her the next day.
The next day, he has second thoughts. His pal Ange and his mother both speak out against Clara, dismissing her and her impact on Marty. The butcher stews quietly until the early evening, when he cuts loose.
“You don't like her. My mother don't like her. She's a dog. And I'm a fat, ugly man. Well, all I know is I had a good time last night. I'm gonna have a good time tonight. If we have enough good times together, I'm gonna get down on my knees. I'm gonna beg that girl to marry me. If we make a party on New Year's, I got a date for that party. You don't like her? That's too bad.”
He goes to the pay phone to call her, and the film ends.
Borgnine, after playing villains and brutes for years, finally gets to ACT, and he does wonderful job as Marty, who is gentle, thoughtful, shy, and painfully polite. Betsy Blair was not the choice of the producers for Clara – she was a leftist, and this being the Red Scare – but, being the wife of Gene Kelly, she got her way.
Extra kudos to Esther Minicotti as Marty's mother, and Augusta Ciolli as the perfectly bitchy Aunt Katherine.
It’s a great story about two lonely people. We watch Marty and Clara fall in love, and this beautiful, quiet little drama touches our hearts.
The NFR Project is one writer’s attempt to review all the films listed in the National Film Registry in chronological order. Next time: The Night of the Hunter.
