Marty

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Marty
original movie poster
Directed by	Delbert Mann
Produced by	Harold Hecht
Written by	Paddy Chayefsky
Starring	Ernest Borgnine Betsy Blair Frank Sutton Esther Minciotti Augusta Ciolli
Distributed by	United Artists
Release date(s)	April 11, 1955 (NYC premiere)
Running time	94 min
Language	English
Budget	$343,000 (US)
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

For other uses, see Marty (disambiguation).

Marty (1955) is a romance film directed by Delbert Mann, based on a teleplay by Paddy Chayefsky. It stars Ernest Borgnine as Marty, an Italian-American butcher who lives in the Bronx with his possessive mother. Unmarried in his thirties, the sweet but awkward man faces a turning point when he meets a plain, spinster schoolteacher at a dance hall and they enjoy each other's company. The crux of the story is whether Marty will follow his heart, or listen to his mother and friends who discourage the romance.

1 Production
2 Awards and recognition
- 2.1 Wins
- 2.2 Nominations
3 Popular culture references
4 External links

[edit] Production

Chayefsky's script had been produced for television before the movie was made. The television version of Marty aired on 24 May 1953 on NBC's Goodyear Television Playhouse and starred Rod Steiger.

[edit] Awards and recognition

Upon its release at the Cannes Film Festival, the producers were initially taken aback when it was announced that the film won the Palme d'Or (Golden Palm). After they had won, they decided to promote the film heavily for its general release. (The trailer has Burt Lancaster claiming the film was superb in every way.) The opinions of critics was unanimous, Marty was believed to be one of the best films of that year. At a budget of $343,000 (USD) the film generated rentals of $3,000,000 in the USA alone, a box office smash.

Marty has been deemed "culturally significant" by the Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry, in 1994.

[edit] Wins

Marty won four Oscars:

Academy Award for Best Picture — Harold Hecht, producer
Academy Award for Best Actor — Ernest Borgnine
Academy Award for Directing — Delbert Mann
Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay — Paddy Chayefsky

The film was also the first winner of the "Palme d'Or" at the 1955 Cannes Film Festival.

[edit] Nominations

Marty was nominated for a further four Oscars:

Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor — Joe Mantell
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress — Betsy Blair
Academy Award for Best Art Direction — Set Decoration, Black-and-White — Ted Haworth, Robert Priestley, Walter M. Simonds
Academy Award for Best Cinematography, Black-and-White — Joseph LaShelle

[edit] Popular culture references

It has been suggested that the character Marty McFly in 1985's Back to the Future was named after this film, as Marty McFly travels back in time to 1955 in Back to the Future. However, the writer and director of the 1985 film insist this was a coincidence and not intentional.^{[citation needed]}
The film, and Herbert Stempel's knowledge of its status as Best Picture of 1955, played an important role in the so-called Quiz show scandals. See also Quiz Show.