They Shoot Horses, Don't They?

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Plot: In the dark years of the 1930s, dance marathons became popular as a way for desperate people to compete for prize money. Sometimes the events would drag on for weeks as contestants pushed themselves f...( read more read more... )ar beyond the point of physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion, the dancers shambling around the floor in a half-dead stupor. People would then pay to sit in the bleachers, watch the event, and cheer on their favorites. They Shoot Horses is taken from hard-boiled pulp writer Horace McCoy's novel of the same name; Jane Fonda plays a bitter young woman paired up with Michael Sarrazin for the ordeal. Gig Young portrays the unctuous MC of the event, bringing equal parts compassion and sleaze to his role. Many of the film's images are unforgettable, such as "the derby," a heel-and-toe race around the dance floor with bouncy, lighthearted music to accompany the miserable spectacle. It's a powerful, tragic period piece that reminds us of the privations of the Great Depression. In the largest sense, the film has existential overtones that go far beyond the story of enervated dancers staying on their feet for a month or more. This film brought home a string of Academy Award nominations for the cast and director Sydney Pollack and a win for Young. --Jerry Renshaw

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They Shoot Horses, Don't They? Recent Reviews
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  • xmkatx
    xmkatx
    4.0 Stars
    MCT:
    August 26, 2008
    This movie made me feel so uncomfortable. I think it's because it's a dance competition during a really hard period. So basically there are scenes of people struggling and suffering with happy music in the background.
  • SDphotoggirl
    SDphotoggirl
    2.5 Stars
    MCT:
    July 18, 2008
    An odd film with weird flashforwards and flashbacks. About a marathon dance contest and the desperate people entered in it during the Despression.
  • MikeKiddo
    MikeKiddo
    4.5 Stars
    MCT:
    July 8, 2008
    Vicious and wickely twisted to a point where it's almost just wrong. I think it's my favorite Jane Fonda performance, I doubt I ever thought I would almost cry over a ripped stocking on a film, but Jane was just *that* good...
  • Epicouros
    Epicouros
    5.0 Stars
    MCT:
    July 4, 2008
    Sydney Pollack in , maybe his best film , makes a wild film , based in true events .
    a cruel world , the real world and of course the "famous " american dream
  • jes25924
    jes25924
    5.0 Stars
    MCT:
    June 27, 2008
    "The most depressing film ever made."

    ...or so I said the first time I saw this. Even now though I can't really think of anything bleaker, nihilistic, or generally cruel as this film. See human biengs dance to tune of desperation, despair, apathy and greed. A rainy day movie.

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  • alush1
    alush1
    Pollack's masterpiece,in my humble opinion...

    This is a difficult film to watch and is impossible to forget.Based on the novel by the same name,They Shoot Horses Don't They, is set in 1930's depression era USA, when dance marathons provided a means by which to earn small amounts of money by sheer endurance and desperation. Dancers were provided with food and water to compete for several days,sometimes weeks.People regularly dropped to the floor with exhaustion,amidst an audience which paid admission to watch the horrific events, and cheer on their favorites. These events were not unlike the entertainment at the Roman Collloseum,only the ravages were psychological and not always lethal...

    The film is shocking in the display of human desperation,fatigue and existential pointlessness. The cost of this most inhumane and socially cannibalistic "entertainment,can be symbolically related to much of the human condition as well today as when it was first filmed.
    posted 187 days ago
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