Marty

Pros: Proves "little" films can grow-up to win Best Picture.
Cons: Displays its technical low-budget roots, at times.

The underdog has always been a staple of Hollywood films. Anti-heroes and just-plain-Joes have an appeal that most movie-goers can relate to from their own humble day-to-day experiences. There’s Dustin Hoffman’s Ratso Rizzo from ...

Pros: This movie is a wonderful showcase for the versatility of veteran actor Ernest Borgnine.
Cons: no cons!

In one of the best roles of his long career, Ernest Borgnine gives a stellar performance in 1955's Academy Award-winning film, Marty. Not usually given romantic parts, Borgnine is powerful and touching as the male lead in this film. He ...

Pros: everything
Cons: black and white may keep some youngsters from discovering it

A few years back when one of the Brady Bunch movies came out, I remember someone lamenting the modern movie scene saying, "We used to get our ideas for making movies from literature or from the stage. Now we're recycling stuff that was on television." I...

Pros: Borgnine's Performance, Chayefsky's Script, Likable Comedy
Cons: Too Short, Unresolved Questions, Verbal Abuse

On the heels of watching the wonderfully scripted Network, I browsed at Paddy Chayefsky’s credentials and found this early gem from 1955 that won him best screenplay as well as best actor and best picture, a story of an underdog that finally gets ...

Pros: Likable protagonist, Decent acting
Cons: Light on DVD bonus features, Seems more like a play than a movie

Throughout my quest to get through every film that won the Best Picture Oscar, I have been very slow to get into the films from the 1950s. I don't exactly have a phobia of them or anything, but I've never been a huge fan of black and white movies or ...

Pros: realistic and insightful script, direction, characters
Cons: leads are not 'dogs', butcher shop purchase unresolved

Marty began life as a teleplay in 1953, starring Rod Steiger and broadcast on NBC as a Goodyear Television Playhouse production. The play apparently caught the attention of movie star Burt Lancaster, who at the time was also a partner in a film...

Pros: A simpleton who finally becomes his 'own man.'
Cons: No cons.

Although this movie was filmed in the 50s, the frustration of being single remains the same. Marty is the neighbor next door, trying to find his way in life. Leaving behind the the 'boyhood' routines and slowly becoming his own man, Marty realizes his...