I like Ernest Borgnine. This guy looked in a mirror one day and didn’t see a short, fat, ugly-lookin’ dude who’d probably go nowhere in the entertainment industry. He saw an actor, a guy who could make it, and he took his shot. His first film credit dates from 1951, 6 years after he helped save the world by serving as a Gunner’s Mate (1st Class) in WWII, and he’s been working ever since. Most recently (at age 93), he had a key supporting role in last summer’s RED, the movie about how great Helen Mirren looks in a slinky white dress. Ernest Borgnine is a hero.
Marty, which won Best Picture for 1955 and for which Borgnine took home a Best Actor award, shows us why the man succeeded, and continues to succeed, in his chosen profession. The film is the story of a man who learns to stop seeing the world through the eyes of others and start seeing for himself. It’s standard coming of age material, but Borgnine sells it with sincerity and goodwill. When Marty agonizes over whether to buy a butcher shop, we want him to succeed. When Marty rescues a sobbing woman who’s just been ditched at a local ballroom, we wish we could show that kind of class in a tough situation. When Marty tries to balance the demands of his family, his friends, his profession, and his heart, we know something’s going to drop; and we care a lot about what does and what doesn’t.
This isn’t to say that Marty is perfect. The film, written by Paddy Chayefsky, can veer into the kind of writerliness that may feel right onstage but that, onscreen, feels stilted. Further, its ending took me by surprise: the credits rolled just as I was settling in for a third act. Yes, this may be a movie about Marty’s choices, but I wanted to see the results of those choices, the complications they’d cause, and Marty’s way of resolving them. I wanted a sharper climax, one that would give me a greater sense of closure.
Nevertheless, I’ll look back on Marty with fondness. The film allowed me to spend an hour and a half in the company of a guy who wasn’t the handsomest fellow on the block, who wasn’t the smoothest talker, who wasn’t the center of attention. It allowed me to spend an hour and a half with the best, most decent guy around. It allowed me to spend an hour and a half with Ernest Borgnine.
That’s time well spent.
PS There’s a whole other storyine here about Betsy Blair, the actress who played Clara, the love interest. The Black List had effectively ended her career when her husband, Gene Kelly, threatened to make no more films for MGM if she didn’t get the part that would eventually land her a Best Supporting Actress nomination. Her Wikipedia page, linked here (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0086198/bio), provides some details of a life lived with principle and passion.
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