As a child. In the "stagnant" childhood - so much so that those feelings are well remembered now - he waited for a repetition, but... Don’t look back on childhood movies. There are exceptions, but not this movie. Let’s say that in order to re-emotionalize, it is necessary to enter into a close aggregate state of feelings – acute childhood empathy and serenity of well-fed “stagnation”. Well, with childhood - it is clear - no, with a "fat" state, in order to sympathize more strongly with people going to physical torture and humiliation, exposing themselves to public display, only slightly different from the circus of freaks ... also in no way - there is already in sight that deep difference between them and us. We have lived to see that the presented is not something exceedingly unimaginable and impossible for a resident of our country, at the moment - one of the options in the case of the "polar fox" is quite visible in the future.
This is the place for the strongest empathy, because it is possible for us! But – no, for a complete immersion in history, there is not enough filmed backstory of the horror of the Great Depression, we can only imagine what is happening according to the characters. Yes, even from our own experience of the reality that has already come, and from knowledge about this part of the history of the state country. There's a flaw in the authors. In comparison: in Soviet cinema almost necessarily had to give context to what is happening, to make an eyeliner - in a very mediocre "I won't be a gangster, dear" by O'Henry clumsy, but this element of skill is present, but the "great" mode - not. By the way, O’Henry’s novels about time 20-30 years before those described in the film being analyzed, and the situations are about the same, there is a mystery – always and everywhere like this – what?
From the film was expected more film-creativity in the presentation of material, but dir. Pollack leaves mainly on the story itself, only occasionally involving a creative film approach: slow-motion shooting of the second race, the hysteria of the character of Susanna Yorke something third, flew out of my mind. That's it. For example, Alov and Naumov in their “Evil Anecdote” from 1966 – this is film creativity, and here is nothing more than a retelling of history, though not spoiled, a very high-quality retelling. If it were not for the actors in the lead roles with their identical reactions and acting out emotions throughout the film - a dance marathon. A bitch never tires of being a bitch, but an innocent baby, a baby. Boring, girls. Suzanne York and Gig Young replay G. And York showed a much more integral arc of character. Young, on the other hand, jumps across the spectrum, one might say, of character and lacks the integrity of that role. The reactions are unexpected and contradictory. The Oscars went wrong that year!
Without drawing the historical context of the conflict that launched the largest dance marathon on the west coast, the authors lost their understanding of the origins of the emotional picture presented to them. Already in the course of the plot, the authors miss opportunities to deepen empathy with film-art methods simply by retelling the story.
6 out of 10
The California coast of Santa Monica is not the best of 1932. In the courtyard is the Great Depression, which manifests itself not so much in external factors – the difficult socio-economic life, as in the internal psychological state of millions of people. People are fleeing poverty and live in hopes of a suddenly happy life. What’s more, many are willing to pay their meager savings – 20-30 cents – for a show that is even more miserable than they are. It is this feature of the human psyche has long mastered for himself cunning promoter Rocky, arranging dances to exhaustion. The prize is announced chic – fifteen hundred dollars (!) – and a lot of couples from all over the States are ready for days to dance literally to wear out to pull such a cherished in their gray life jackpot. And now, among the next such marathon-race at the Rocky competition comes a motley company - throwing into actresses blonde Alice, age sailor Sailor, pregnant young Ruby, cynically sharp on the tongue of Gloria, phlegmatically calm Robert and dozens and dozens of others. And all of them fall into the dance and entertainment wheel of the parade competition, occurring against the background of the plague, and turning into the same plague for its participants.
A very decent production of Sidney Pollack, which brought the director the status of not a seasonal manufacturer, but a solid master who studies social problems (at the level of Stanley Kramer). Pollack took up the novel of the same name by a certain Horace McCoy, which was written back in 1935 and touched on the topic – the economic crisis through the prism of the deprivations of ordinary people – kind of no longer relevant for the United States of the late 60s. However, the director took as the basis of the research not left-proletarian problems, but behavioral metamorphoses of people who fell into a rigid restrictive framework. The movie, which formally begins as a competition for exhaustion, turns into a survival show, essentially a paraphrase-slice of a lifetime. Run in circles for a beautiful chimera dream, where there is room for both a wide gesture of sacrifice and a small scum. Yes, it has long been more than just a dance, with all the ensuing nuances, including fatal denouements. There will also be a place for total disappointment, when before the heroes the “high priests” will bring the account-revelation, multiplying all suffering and deprivation by such an unjust zero.
But Pollack’s work is valuable not only for its philosophical and social content. Rather, the moralizing stuffing of the film, though deep, but certainly not refined. And the final denouement of the picture and does give excessively pathetic theatrical in the style of Chekhov’s plays with their invariable “fatal shot”. Pollack took off a very cute form, very colorfully drawing from a long past era of classy costumes, hairstyles and musical entourage. A very interesting feature of the film is the mention of thoroughly forgotten figures of the cinema of that era. But still, the main success of the production brought a very high-quality cast, which in individual mise-en-scene showed a very decent level.
This film was the first big dramatic role for 32-year-old Jane Fonda, who easily demonstrated that she is capable of much more than acting as a pretty girl-girlfriend and hiding behind the shadow of her eminent dad. Jane brilliantly coped with the image of a disappointed and acutely cynical girl going to her last race. Fair her first nomination for “Oscar” and as for me, it was Fonda that most deserved in 1970 to receive a statuette. I also liked her dance partner – a slow, correct and generally positive guy performed by a certain Michael Sarazin. Finally brightly in his career played Gig Young, who got the role of a cynical showman Rocky. It was he who brought the only Oscar to Pollack's work. Her only career nomination was given to Suzanne York, who played a smart contestant with the habits of an unrecognized VIP star (a good performance). I really liked Red Buttons in the role of a gray sailor, who could also qualify for the Oscar nomination (but everyone in the film could not give them away objectively). Also, her first characteristic role was played by a young (twenty-one year old) Bonnie Bedelia (played a very expressively pregnant contestant), who in the future will play the wife of Bruce Willis in Die Hard.
Not netlenka, but a very cute production with meaning and taste, in which actors were able to brightly self-realize themselves. I recommend it.
Did everyone get the forms? Fill in and sign. Get your number and step aside. Stand back, don't delay. Next, come here.
What? Speak properly, don't taunt. What do you got? We don't need a bike, we have a dance marathon. Do you have a date? We only register for couples. Find a partner and take a place with him in the queue. Next for registration.
Take the form, sign it here. Where are you in such a hurry? Read it first. No, no, be sure to read it before you sign. Do you have a date? If you lose your mate in a marathon, you will have twenty-four hours to find a new partner. Then you get disqualified. What questions? Anything can happen, do you live your first day? If someone breaks a leg, we fix it, we catch a cold. We are not responsible for the deeds of the Lord. Fire, earthquake, bilateral pneumonia - deal with the Lord, we are only responsible for you during the marathon, twenty-four by seven, while you dance. They danced, their own masters. So read and sign.
Did you get the forms? Take it, take it. Read and sign. Remember that a marathon is a show and you are the stars. It's your moment of glory. Or a few hundred hours - who is lucky. Where else do you get the chance to showcase your talents? If you are singing, juggling or tapping a step, you will be given the opportunity to perform with a solo number for which you can get a tip.
I've seen our marathon and love stories. If you are lucky enough to fall in love with a partner, we will play you a wedding, at which you can earn a hundred other wedding gifts at an auction. The toughest and strongest couple at the end of the marathon will receive the main prize – fifteen hundred dollars, minus costs. Remember that there are rules.
No, come on! You can’t change the rules because people have to believe in something. Lie to them once and they will stop coming. So read and sign. The marathon has begun and will continue until one pair remains.
Yauza! Yauza! Yauza!
Along with Cassavetes, Scorsese, Kubrick, and Friedkin, Pollack, with his "Hunted Horses," burst into the climax of what would later be called New Hollywood. This is the fifth film of the director, it will be the first such level of public interest - after him, Pollack will be talked about all over the world: nine Oscar nominations including director's [one was awarded to Giga Young for the role of Rocky, the host and leading of the marathon, he took for this role and the Golden Globe] and cult fame. Then he will shoot "Three Days of the Condor", "Tutsy" and "Out of Africa", which will give him two coveted bald men, who will finally cement his title of living classic.
According to the degree of tragedy, this story could be called “ancient”, but the scale here is different: from the epicenter, not kings and heroes, but small people [already, however, far from Gogol’s], despair pushes them on the slippery road of exhausting competitions. On the other side of the marathon, only victory or emptiness. What does it matter if the inside is already empty?
Sidney Pollack saw the similarity of the era of the Great Depression with the 1970s, on the threshold of which he filmed Horses. One can, of course, point to the hopelessness and uncertainty, the crushing of the poor masses by the economic rink, the indifference of the authorities to the problems of the simple little man. And to begin here a political conversation about the relevance of the old art of New Hollywood in the era of Space-X. And you can brew a seagull and enjoy the grainy picture and piercing music in a hipster way [such in American cinema was only in the seventies] and make a hundred scarves under the cleansing catharsis of the dance floor.
Yauza! Yauza! Yauza! Hurry to see you! Would you like to participate? Fill out the form. The marathon will continue...
1969 Sidney Pollack made the film "Are Horses Shooted, Don't They?", taking as a basis the book of the same name The plot is not very complicated. In the desperate times of American history, namely during the period of the Great Depression, a dance marathon was organized in a simple hangar on the coast with the main prize of $ 1,500. There was no one who wanted to take part in it, and this is not surprising.
“What the roots of vines and trees have worked on must be destroyed so that prices do not fall, and this is the saddest and bitterest of all. Oranges are dumped on the ground in whole wagons. People travel miles to pick up discarded fruit, but it's totally unacceptable! Who would pay twenty cents a dozen for oranges if you could go out of town and get them for nothing? And the orange mountains are pouring kerosene out of the hose, and those who do this hate themselves for such a crime, hate people who come to pick up fruit. Millions of hungry people need fruit, and the golden mountains are watered with kerosene. And the smell of decay rises over the country. – John Steinbeck Grapes of anger/
This was the time when the dance marathon made its call over a handful of participants who had to fulfill its only condition – not to fall.
This is not a competition, this is a show. Under such laws, horses now live, released into the arena in front of the audience, so that “The Show Must Go On” does not happen. Pesada, meser, curbet, croupada, balotada, capriole, and then allure. And the circle again.
For all the simplicity of the storyline, the film is very deep and emotionally devastating. The tragedy of that time unfolds before us. When the audience, participants and organizers of the show become a single mass called to kill. Killing dignity, fortitude, compassion, dreams, love, life itself and all for money. There is a huge gap between them all. Society in the face of the viewer ignores the problems, the participants strive to win, knowing that "happiness always awaits us only tomorrow...", the organizers create heat and entertainment, thinking only about profit.
The tragic final chord, which sounded at the beginning, did not weaken to the very credits. The operator masterfully pumped his echoes in close-up plans. The ensemble deserves the highest awards, but especially the game Jane Fonda. But she wanted to abandon the role, but her husband director Roger Vadim convinced her otherwise. In the career of the actress, this role occupies a special place.
I was going to see this picture for a long time, but I put it off knowing how heavy it was. And yet I decided, and with great pleasure, to plunge into the Great Depression, when life itself was worthless. I recommend the film for mandatory viewing.
It's always tomorrow, she said bitterly. Happiness is always waiting for us only tomorrow.
That’s why I still love this 1969 movie. Because it's really iconic, and at one time was mega popular. Even now he looks very interested. Why not? The fact is that the directing is excellent, the acting work is the strongest, so the film is still so good.
Sidney Pollack was a wonderful director and actor. He left a mark on himself in cinema. Even to take this sports drama - it's brilliant. There were so many emotions from watching then and now. And it's all his credit. Pollack made a powerful, dramatic movie that blasts the viewer from within and shocks. I appreciated this film again with great interest, and it was really interesting.
We see a time of great depression in the United States, when there was no work and people had nothing to eat. They took any job to get it. A dance marathon with a prize of $ 1,500 gathered many people who wanted to win the prize. Heroes came from all over the country and entered a ruthless race for the prize. Here, in a doubtful hangar, serious passions unfold ...
I'll get off the lap, she said. I'm fed up with this filth.
- What abomination?
- Life.
How good is Jane Fonda. She's an amazing actress. This role has played brilliantly. I'm surprised she didn't get an Oscar, even though she deserved the nomination. Jane gave a hundred percent. That’s what all actors strive for: to show the truth on the screen, to play convincingly so that the viewer believed, and there was not even a hint of falsehood. That's what Jane Fonda did. It's an amazing act. The pinnacle of her career.
Michael Sarazin has always been associated with this film. He played wonderfully, and the duet with Fonda they turned out to be famous. This is a rare film that does not lose its relevance. He has so much power, impulses, emotions. Fame is superfluous here, you just need to look with your own eyes. I recommend all film fans or fans of the drama genre to view.
They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (a long title, but perfect for this film) is an American sports drama from 1969. Sidney Pollack’s movie is beautiful, and I personally appreciate it and consider it a special film. You have to watch it!
The film "Hunted Horses Are Shooted, Don't They?" directed by Sidney Pollack, which has become a classic, justifiably occupies a worthy place in the treasury of world cinema. It is shot according to the classical rule of “three unity”, which came from the dramaturgy of classicism: the unity of place, action and time. So, the plot unfolds in the sealed space of the hangar, equipped for a dance hall, with many spectators, an ambitious host and directly people fighting for the main cash prize of fifteen hundred dollars. “Bread and circuses” was said by the ancient Romans, and this idea more than ever accurately expresses everything described in the film.
The film for me lies in two planes. The first is in the plane of reality, the second in the plane of metaphor. As for the first, I still cannot believe that the situation described in the film took place in the history of the United States. The film tells about the difficult times of the Great Depression, which led to the degradation of most industries. As a result, people survived as they could, earned as they could, and did everything they could.
At the beginning of the film, we see a faceless crowd registering for a dubious marathon, but soon the creators make it clear: this is not just a crowd. Everyone has their own story, everyone has their own tragedy, but one goal is to survive. Magnificent actors Jane Fonda (Gloria), Michael Sarazin (Robert), Red Buttons (Sailor), Suzanne York (Alice) and others were able to convincingly convey the transition of their characters from the mooded for victory, elegantly dressed people to people falling from fatigue and gradually falling into despair.
While the motives of the participants can still be understood, the goals pursued by the audience are depressing. The psychology of people is so arranged: people are willing to pay for the opportunity to see the suffering of other people in order to make them feel better. This idea is voiced by one of the secondary characters, ready, in other words, to indulge the desires of the audience, turning the dance contest into a performance.
As for the second plane. It's the plane of metaphor. The dance marathon that we see in the film is nothing more than a cycle of life, a life path with various obstacles and barriers, a path where you can not turn, cheat the onset of the inevitable end, opening the door to infinity. Here, everyone is given their own number of hours of dancing, the partners we choose for a couple, and the number of steps we take before we leave the race voluntarily or under duress.
The film “Hunted Horses Are Shooted, Don’t They?” directed by Sidney Pollack, which has become a classic, justifiably occupies a worthy place in the treasury of world cinema. It is shot according to the classical rule of “three unity”, which came from the dramaturgy of classicism: the unity of place, action and time. So, the plot unfolds in the sealed space of the hangar, equipped for a dance hall, with many spectators, an ambitious host and directly people fighting for the main cash prize of fifteen hundred dollars. “Bread and circuses” was said by the ancient Romans, and this idea more than ever accurately expresses everything described in the film.
The film for me lies in two planes. The first is in the plane of reality, the second in the plane of metaphor. As for the first, I still cannot believe that the situation described in the film took place in the history of the United States. The film tells about the difficult times of the Great Depression, which led to the degradation of most industries. As a result, people survived as they could, earned as they could, and did everything they could.
At the beginning of the film, we see a faceless crowd registering for a dubious marathon, but soon the creators make it clear: this is not just a crowd. Everyone has their own story, everyone has their own tragedy, but one goal is to survive. Magnificent actors Jane Fonda (Gloria), Michael Sarazin (Robert), Red Buttons (Sailor), Suzanne York (Alice) and others were able to convincingly convey the transition of their characters from the mood for victory, elegantly dressed people to people falling from fatigue and gradually falling into despair.
While the motives of the participants can still be understood, the goals pursued by the audience are depressing. The psychology of people is so arranged: people are willing to pay for the opportunity to see the suffering of other people in order to make them feel better. This idea is voiced by one of the secondary characters, ready, in other words, to indulge the desires of the audience, turning the dance contest into a performance.
As for the second plane. It's the plane of metaphor. The dance marathon that we see in the film is nothing more than a cycle of life, a life path with various obstacles and barriers, a path where you can not turn, cheat the onset of the inevitable end, opening the door to infinity. Here, everyone is given their own number of hours of dancing, the partners we choose for a couple and the number of steps we take before we leave the race voluntarily or under duress.
My subjective assessment of the film:
I remember from my childhood the severity of this film. Not in all the details, but quite clearly: a dance marathon with a solid final prize during the Great Depression. They eat a lot, but they sleep very little, so they feel tired, exhausted and sick. This is a show, because the rules are constantly changing in the direction of tightening for participants - you need to keep the viewer in the sphere of attraction of the action. Tension increases and in the end, internally devastated, the heroine asks her partner to shoot her. The policeman says, “They shoot horses, don’t they?”
The “beastly rock of imperialism” entered the group of impressions under such a label, and there it lay. Without the desire to refresh the memories and correct the original. It's time. I now think that the rock of imperialism has about the same relation to this history as the ecological situation in the forests of medieval Europe to the fairy tale of Red Riding Hood is included in one aspect.
And cinema speaks to the audience at the level of archetypes, because it turned out so good. Which is deeper and more powerful. About this: if you think that you can sell yourself to the system, hitting a big jackpot with a simultaneous effort, at least you even had to not only step on the throat of your own song, but dance on it. A thousand hours in all known dance rhythms. If you want to be baptized, you need to be baptized.
Don't play with the system on her field. Don't hang out with oak if you're a calf. Join the yoke and do your thing. And someday you can rest in his shadow. The key word here is "own business." And the Great Depression didn't root out the population, did it?
For me, the film was quite heavy, not even the film itself, but the feeling, the mood that it left behind. Some devastation, hopelessness and no answers to their own life questions.
Of course, it is quite scary to be aware of this killing race of life - sweat, tears, faces, exhausted, suffering from fatigue, the severity of death, the violence of loved ones, callousness, selfishness of others. And for what? For the prize?
I will love the contrast... Not even a contrast, but on the contrary, a subjectively indistinguishable perception of the converging but essentially contrasting things — black and white; good, sincere and evil or seemingly evil; a dance that was supposed to imply something liberating, healing and violence as it appears here; and all those masks of one face.
Really?
During the Great Depression, millions of Americans who had recently enjoyed a rich and well-fed life descended to such a state that they were ready to do anything for a pittance. Of course, these could not but take advantage of the rich tycoons who organized various humiliating events in which the main place was given to the poor. One of these places is shown in the social drama “They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?”
Synopsis A young unemployed Robert, walking along the beach, accidentally enters the hangar, where, as it turns out, the legendary dance marathon takes place, the participants of which must dance non-stop for several days and even months in front of the audience. Winners will receive a coveted prize of $1,500. Robert unwittingly becomes participants in the marathon, and he gets a daring Gloria as a partner.
Game of actors In fact, the acting was beyond praise. Actors of the main roles literally got used to their roles. First of all, I would like to note the magnificent performance of the unsurpassed Jane Fonda, who played the dramatic role of Gloria, a Texas girl who was completely disappointed in life and people, and therefore did not really know why she needed this competition. I also liked the performance of Suzanne York, a bohemian failed actress. Perhaps the best role was played by Gig Young, who won an Oscar and played the cynical but intelligent host Rocky, who is ashamed to do such a business, and at the same time understands that there can be no other way.
Directorship Director Sidney Pollack directed an extraordinary social drama. In fact, in one film, different characters, different images collide, which not only have to get along with each other, but also understand. Of course, Pollack, in my opinion, very successfully reflected the tragedy of the time when people for a piece of bread were ready to go not just to much, but to humiliation, torment, to threaten their lives. The main characters are striving for an impossible dream - $ 1,500. But they understand that the main thing in this marathon is not a prize, the main thing is their torment, which is enjoyed by the eyes of cruel and heartless spectators.
Scenario Unfortunately, I have not read the novel based on which the film was staged, but I can highlight some points. First of all, I would like to once again praise the image of a person experiencing the “Great Depression”, when people literally slid into terrible poverty. Marathon is a phenomenon of collision of two social strata. The dance marathon in the plot of the film is also an interpretation of the cruelty and evil irony of life in general, as the characters eventually learn the truth, and for them the worst thing is that it is impossible to stop. As the marathon continues and will continue.
Result I won’t hide it, I was slightly embarrassed by the film’s not-so-small title and ended up enjoying watching a movie that shows the limits of a person’s despair. Of course, the film may seem too depressing, but this is its goal - to show the world of heroes meaningless, empty and devoid of any hope.
10 out of 10
America during the Great Depression. Residents of cities receive dull cardboard envelopes in offices. Farmers lose their land, unable to pay interest to the bank. Thousands of people are forced to break away from their places and go on long journeys in the hope of earning money. Someone goes to pick oranges in California for 10 cents an hour, but someone wants to grab a big jackpot at once and agrees to participate in a dance marathon for the amusement of a wealthy audience.
"They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" is a film that takes place all the time in one place - a spacious hangar on the ocean. This hangar is a stage, an auditorium, and a home for several dozen people who want to try their hand at a dance marathon.
The first thing I want to mention in the film is dialogue. They are brilliant, starting with the first dialogues in the queue for registration of marathon participants. Not a single word will be said in the entire film. It is immediately evident that, unlike many modern films, the screenwriter of the film "Hunted Horses Are Shooted, Aren't They Really" invested his whole soul in the dialogue.
The second merit of the film is the well-written characters of the main characters.
The main character, Gloria is sharp and bitchy, who has already seen life and is used to pulling out everything that is due to her rightfully with her nails and teeth. And what is not due either.
The main character, Robert - soft and a little infantile, who ended up in the marathon by pure chance, unlike all the other participants.
A young actress, very naive and enthusiastic, who came to the marathon not for money, but for fame and successful contracts. Just like her dance partner.
An old sailor for whom such a marathon is not the first in a row. He is determined and ready to wipe the nose of all young people.
A pregnant woman is exhausted, unhappy, but, as it turned out, the strongest of all. She is not afraid for her health or that of her child. All she thinks about is money for her future family. Apparently, this goal helps to keep it. Unlike many others.
The great race begins.
Someone falls without strength, someone does not stand up and collects suitcases. Someone's going crazy. Someone's heart can't stand it. A pregnant woman lasts a week, a month and a half. She can't give up.
Others give up. When you sleep several times a day for 10 minutes — and during these same breaks you need to have time to wash, wash your things, do some other necessary things ... after a while, all the feelings become dull. Desire is blunted. And those who came without a special purpose, just to "make money" - become the first victims of this strict regime.
The main characters have no goals other than the goal of making money. And when earnings are in doubt, they break down. After all, money was the only thing they wanted for a month and a half. And when they were deprived of this desire, they had nothing more to desire.
The film "Hunted Horses Are Shooted, Don't They?" clearly shows what happens to people who are obsessed with a single desire and put everything at their disposal - their strength, their time, their health and their lives on the line.
The ending is beautiful. Whatever happens, the marathon continues. It doesn’t matter who wins it. We will never know that.
On the other hand, it is possible that there are no winners among the participants. And only the organizers of the show and the audience will win.
Among the disadvantages of the film, I would note the excessive chatter of the organizer of the marathon.
First, he tells the main character the truth about the missing dress actress. Why was he so sure that the hero would keep silent, and not tell other participants about it and not make a noise?
And another time, he even more compromises himself, telling the main character the truth about how the winnings will be distributed. She could also tell all the participants about it. And then they would all make a voluntary decision to leave the show. And the show would have failed.
However, this point is very controversial. After all, a cheerful sailor has already participated in such marathons. And he won there. He wouldn't have participated again if he hadn't seen the money the previous time. So it is not known whether the presenter told the truth. Or his words were said only to push the promising couple into action. But he took risks anyway.
The silence of the main characters in both cases reflects the baseness of human nature. Why share valuable knowledge with your competitors? I have suffered and let them suffer to the end. Despite the losses, the marathon continues its course.
I have always been interested in films with unusual titles. “They shoot horses, don’t they?” was no exception. The plot is simple, without much action and script, but, nevertheless, the film leaves a strange aftertaste: ordinary people, the situations in which they fall, their psychological motives. Throughout this film, I was expecting to see something extraordinary, because the film itself wasn’t particularly catchy, and that’s understandable: since 1969, millions of different films have come out, and this one, at first glance, doesn’t seem particularly extraordinary, but the last scene — it struck me. And not so much the scene as Robert’s explanation of his action: “They shoot horses, don’t they?” – all these characters really were horses, and Gloria – for her there was no strength to continue the race with the Great Depression. Yes, you can say, sitting on a soft couch in the 21st century, that she had a lot of opportunities to fix, to fix her life, to try something different, to get back on her feet, but when you just don’t have the strength to fight, when you learn that the last month of continuous, hot fight for winning was one of the first reality shows (which we see on TV every day), that all this was useless and there will be no real win – here you give up. What can be the struggle if the aim of this struggle evaporates? What was the reason for this race if you were left with nothing at the finish line?
At the beginning of the film, there is a scene where participants compare themselves to horses. One said the animals' fate is better because they don't know what will happen to them in the end. And what do we see at the end? All the participants were these animals who did not know their fate. And like any chased animal, they should get shot.
Good movie with good direction. Beautiful camera work. The characters turned out great: the actors showed their best side (especially I discovered Jane Fonda - she is amazing).
The film is about shattered dreams and ambitions, about the power of a person in his desire for the better, about psychological motives and the desire to win. Definitely worth seeing.
Starting the plot design of his film from a certain point of alienation, a visual, but not yet received a symbolic meaning demonstration of what happens to horses driven, Sidney Pollack unfolds the action in a downward spiral, progressively destroying the hope for any bright ending, diligently trampling it into the dance floor with dozens of pairs of shoes on the verge of wear. By closing the event cycle within one room, creating the illusion of chamberliness, but not static, the director masterfully recreates the atmosphere of a dance marathon for survival. One hundred and two couples, in the abstract - daredevils, objectively - people who have lost hope, who have nowhere to go and nothing to feed themselves, sign up for the competition in the hope of getting a tidy sum. Behind the walls of the pavilion, the Great Depression rages, but here you can hear only echoes - dialogues and the incoherent babbling of desperate people, not everyone of whom realizes the essence of what is happening. The competition is not important, the prize is still far away, the main thing is that there is a roof over your head and they are fed seven times a day, a victory for many. But not for those who sit in the stands. Not for those for whom all this exhausting in its cynicism analogue of reality TV is arranged. After all, all this is really only business, and those who want to look at those who live worse than others will always be there.
There seems to be only a specific moment in Pollack's film. Everything that happens is possible only here and now, and there is no alternative development. This, if you will, note of hopelessness will not sound immediately, but big things always begin small, and the anxious mood, once snuck into the soul, only deeper rooted there. Over time, a monstrous indifference begins to pile up, it becomes absolutely no matter what happens next and only a silent expectation of the end reigns. It comes to the realization that all these people, impotent trampling on the worn parquet, have long been dead and it is unclear why they are trying to stretch their way to the grave. The characters of all the characters begin to seem torn from somewhere and placed in a kind of Hell, all the circles of which can pass only two. But their path will be meaningless, because in “Hunted Horses...” the winner pays much more than the loser. And what's most merciless is that only within this damn box, the abstract structure on the shore, is there life, there's movement and there's struggle, while music plays and the clock measures infinity. There is only the noise of the sea and death, which bring peace in their own way. And the lucky one is the one for whom both these categories will eventually merge into one, marking the end of the struggle.
Curiously, Pollack's film is difficult to characterize within the genre niche he occupies. “Hunted Horses...” is both a drama of time (the Great Depression breaks people down, leading to complete despair), and a social drama (random people in a random place, a diverse crowd that will soon turn into thinning islands of madness), and the drama of relationships that hurts in its tear. When the measured hours go by the hundreds, the legs are poured with lead weight, and the air – fatigue of indifference, the most important person in life becomes the partner. And it does not matter that brought together these two people only a number on the back and fifteen thousand dollars on an unattainable horizon. Now they are one, one common movement for two, an escape from death (no matter whether physical or spiritual), or vice versa, an approach to it. And it is not known what will bring greater relief in the end, because the whole world around it becomes one continuous embodiment of angry pessimism. Therefore, the final chord seems to mark a new level of understanding between the two main characters. Between the one who never managed to find himself again, and the one who may never have sought himself. The marathon continues, and these living dead are still struggling, not realizing that hope is already dead. It is not a matter of insanity; it is a matter of salvation. If not, you know what they do with horses, don’t you?
"They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" is a film about dancing that was very popular in the middle of the last century. Pair dances lasted for several hours, with a break of 10 minutes, and three breaks for lunch and dinner per day. There was a very small amount of sleep, and it lasted a few months. The winners, a couple who survived this difficult marathon, received the main prize - $ 1,500.
Maybe by those standards and a considerable amount, but, no money is not worth ruined health, not to mention the lives interrupted right on the dance floor.
It's a heavy film, a heavy atmosphere, almost from the beginning. It would seem that a film about dancing should be fun and interesting. But fun is out of the question. It's not just dancing for fun. This is a real race for survival, where the strongest and hardy will win. There are not many of them here.
In the center of events among the numerous pairs stand out several, the main and the strongest, who are competitors for each other. And, as it turns out, some girls are stronger than their partners, both physically and morally.
They're scary to watch. Emaciated, exhausted, disheveled, pale, terrible looking outwardly, broken from the inside, they continue to move from the last forces. Women drag men on themselves while they sleep, a pregnant woman runs like a driven horse in a circle along with everyone else, putting at risk not only her life, but also the life of her baby. And all for the sake of a cash prize, which may not quite live up to expectations.
It’s a shock to me that so many people accept this kind of income. What moved them? Money? Glory? It's only temporary. And even more so, how confident do you have to be to do that? After all, the dropouts get nothing. Although the question is not so much to the participants of the dances, as to the organizers, who apparently decided not to bother with the further fates of their wards. After all, at all times, the audience demanded bread and circuses. The organizers had quite good money from this event, the favorites of the public appeared their sponsors.
"They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" is a cruel, morally heavy film, with an interesting backlash, with a good acting and an unexpected ending. The film is interesting and worthwhile, especially for that time. It is very old and little known to the general public, but for those who come across it, I advise you to look.
Amazing in its semantic load film. The rarity of the Cinema. True fiction or sad reality.
In this film, everything is striking, the acting, the director’s work, the script idea ... The idea is probably that this movie is the most important thing. You can hardly find at least a dozen films that take subtext as much as this work of Pollack. Comes to mind “Flying Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” and “Clockwork Orange”, that’s all.
The problems raised in the film are still relevant, no less relevant, even over time they have become more serious and weighty, and this film is 40 years old!!
After watching films, individual moments of the picture burst into memory, in the case of the work of Sidney Pollack, the film crashed into consciousness and sits there tightly, not wanting to leave it, or rather the consciousness does not want to let go of this story from itself, forcing it to rethink again and again, making certain conclusions.
Thank you very much to the creators, and evaluating this film all I can say, 10 points is not enough for him. That’s why I give him an estimate of Excellent!!!
Old movies are fascinating in a special way. Even if you expect a little different from the session, it is difficult to put a low assessment of everything that happened on the screen after it.
No, I’m not saying that I didn’t like ZLPDL (sorry, I’ll abridge the name) at all. Rather, I really expected a little different from him. A little tougher. But this was a mistake on my part, and only on my part, because for the late 60s of the last century it is quite normal not to go overboard with cruelty in movies. It would have done something similar now, but with rivers of blood, at least fifteen minutes of explicit sex and dynamic plot development. I may be exaggerating, but the fact remains that this drama remained a drama to the fullest, taking nothing from the thriller. I could have...
And yet, the creators of the picture decided that it was superfluous, in which they were right: the proper reasonableness, not exceeding conceivable limits, and the atmosphere of those times were preserved. The whole gravity of the situation, the impulses to get out of it at any cost are visible to the viewer, who does not get tired even from the long scenes. After all, this is an old movie, and how not to love it, especially so direct?
In general, I liked and impressed. Some scenes are just great, it was impossible to stop watching. Of course, there were some blunders, because I still, in fact, a skeptic, can not believe that twenty-one couples will dance for so long, even if these dances then turned into trampling on the spot. And the pregnant woman also, however, did not give birth (with such a belly), did not fall, was like everyone else. Is it possible?
Oh, come on. My little nitpicking doesn't diminish the "masterpiece" of the film. I especially remember the acting game, so reliable and powerful. You do not need to make faces many times to call yourself an artist - emotions manifest themselves in different ways. After all, neither the young Jane Fonda, nor the Oscar-winning Gig Young, nor all the other masters of their profession did not hysteria, scratching walls and torn in nervous convulsions. They did not play, but lived in their roles. This look, this gesture, this silence - and you already believe them. You believe unconditionally, impulsively.
The dance marathon, shown so casually and beautifully in its own way, does not strain with excessive suspense, terrible experiences. It is beautiful in its own way, but under this “wrap” painted for high gentlemen in festive colors, a rotten “candy” of indifference to other people’s poverty, vulgar idleness and lazy satisfaction from the humiliation of “cattle” yawns. Someone makes bets sitting in his comfortable chair with a full set of “bread and circuses”, and has the right to leave the event at any time. And someone undermines health for days, forgetting about their own dignity, hoping to one day sit in this chair and at least forget a relatively calm sleep. Someone loathed the clouds in the seventh sky, and someone in the swamp is good, as long as the heavy pieces of those clouds do not drown them, falling on the heads graying from the sultry dance.
Well, here it is, the rotten part of our society. Nobody cares about anyone, because they don’t care about themselves. A man who respects himself will not sell his soul to the Devil for a good life, for the Devil, a well-known business, will give nothing but empty and aching hope, and the soul will work out to the full.
Definitely a great movie! And if there is something to find fault with, then, hiding your face, reddened with shame, only to some details of the plot and production. Just a little. The rest of the time, I'm fascinated.
Thank you for the fact that the truth once acquired such a shade. Although it is bitter again, this is the advantage. When there are so many lies in such a world, the truth is revealed with the slightest effort to comprehend it.
8 out of 10
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the biggest dance marathon in history! More than a hundred couples will compete for the right to win an amazing amount of money! Of course, they try not only for themselves, but also for you - so bet, ladies and gentlemen, and cheer for your favorites! But the winner of our grand show will be only one! .
Around this dance floor, money revolves much larger than the declared winning sum of fifteen hundred dollars. Here relationships are formed and fates are destroyed. Doctors are on duty here, just in case. Day after day, with short breaks to sleep, rest and clean up, dancing couples compete here. Skill here does not matter: the winner is the last one to stay on his feet. It is not forbidden to leave if suddenly it becomes bad, although people prefer to stick to the end. Outside the window economic crisis: in the United States during the Great Depression.
Anyone can try themselves in dancing. Second-rate film actress, experienced sailor in retirement, a woman in a month of pregnancy. The organizers made sure that the show was more spectacular. Yes, and “faceless” participants will also necessarily come up with some kind of mask, so that the audience put on them. All this is quite creepy, since we observe what is happening not from a height, not through the eyes of the audience, but through the heroes of the performance. The picture is stunningly assembled: without the injection of unnecessary emotions, without melodramatism, but ... take at least a short episode with what is happening behind the scenes, while a pregnant participant of the show sings on stage. So, willy-nilly, we, moviegoers, are drawn into the game arranged by director Pollack. We are worried about the participants and even hope that, for example, this one will win the coveted sum of money. There are no miracles.
The main character of the film, an unfortunate cynical girl named Gloria, is played by Jane Fonda. This actress deserves a special mention. Conditionally, the creativity of the Funds in the cinema can be divided into two clear stages. The first - roles, as a rule, in melodramas and comedies, cemented for the heroine Jane the status of a simple frivolous blonde. At the peak of her popularity, she was led by the films of Roger Vadim, who made Jane Fonda one of the main sex symbols of the sixties. As an actress, she wanted to grow. And the first work Jane, which she declared herself as a serious dramatic actress was just the role of Gloria. For her, she received nominations for several prestigious awards at once, including her first Oscar nomination.
“They shoot horses, don’t they?” This film has been shown many times in the Soviet Union. Perhaps because he was supposed to paint to Soviet citizens all the horrors of capitalism, under which people suffer because of rags, and compete with each other like horses on the run. Now another Jane, not only beautiful, but also smart, said later that the film should have ended differently. That her heroine had to announce publicly how rotten the system around them was. Strictly speaking, I must say that it would already be a rougher movie, a protest. And Sidney Pollack is not going to declare a protest: he only shows reality as it is, and suggests to draw conclusions.
However, the film itself is not an anti-bourgeois satire. It’s a metaphor for life in which you have to rely on your partner at a difficult time. And an epitaph to the bullied “little man” who struggles and fights with her until he finally falls down. They shoot horses, don’t they? This derby never ends.