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Marty (1955)

tomatometer

100

Average Rating: 8/10
Reviews Counted: 28
Fresh: 28 | Rotten: 0

Scriptwriter Paddy Chayefsky's solid dialogue is bolstered by strong performances from Ernest Borgnine and Betsy Blair in this appealingly low-key character study.

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Average Rating: N/A
Critic Reviews: 4
Fresh: 4 | Rotten: 0

Scriptwriter Paddy Chayefsky's solid dialogue is bolstered by strong performances from Ernest Borgnine and Betsy Blair in this appealingly low-key character study.

audience

86

liked it
Average Rating: 3.9/5
User Ratings: 5,532

My Rating

Movie Info

Paddy Chayefsky's Oscar-winning slice-of-life drama originated as a live 1953 broadcast directed by Delbert Mann on The Philco-Goodyear Television Playhouse starring Rod Steiger and Nancy Marchand. The Hecht-Lancaster movie version, also directed by Mann, replaces the two leads with Ernest Borgnine and Betsy Blair (as well as featuring several soon-to-be-familiar faces, including Jerry Paris, Frank Sutton, and Karen Steele, plus Joe Mantell, Nehemiah Persoff, and Betsy Palmer from the TV

Unrated, 1 hr. 31 min.

Drama, Romance, Classics

Paddy Chayefsky

Jun 19, 2001

MGM Home Entertainment

Cast

All Critics (28) | Top Critics (4) | Fresh (28) | Rotten (0) | DVD (4)

Ernest Borgnine as Marty lives up to all the promise he showed as the sadist in From Here to Eternity, and at the same time brilliantly shatters the type-cast he molded for himself in that picture.

February 18, 2009 Full Review Source: TIME Magazine | Comment
TIME Magazine
Top Critic IconTop Critic

It's a warm, human, sometimes sentimental and an enjoyable experience.

February 19, 2008 Full Review Source: Variety | Comment
Variety
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Paddy Chayevsky's script, adapted from his own TV play, shows his flair for dialogue at its best, and the film manages to be touching, if minor.

December 12, 2006 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | Comment
Chicago Reader
Top Critic IconTop Critic

A warm and winning film, full of the sort of candid comment on plain, drab people that seldom reaches the screen.

May 20, 2003 Full Review Source: New York Times | Comment
New York Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Enormously influential, it spawned Hollywood's interest in smaller scale, prosaic dramas, few of which failed to match its resonance.

February 20, 2008 Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | Comment
Empire Magazine

Chayevsky's TV drama transferred effortlessly to cinema.

February 19, 2008 Full Review Source: Film4 | Comment

Dowdy but winning and poignant.

December 12, 2006 Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | Comment
TV Guide's Movie Guide

Ernest Borgning and Betsy Blair are the highlights of this short and unassuming picture about the trials of love and family.

November 8, 2006 Full Review Source: Oscar Guy | Comment
Oscar Guy

It does have doggy charm and a certain perceptiveness.

June 24, 2006 Full Review Source: Time Out | Comment

Too self-conscious by half, the film both invites you in and makes you wonder if it's not all a trick.

May 2, 2006 Full Review Source: Goatdog's Movies | Comment

This modest Oscar-winning film is realistic in its attention to detail in describing Bronx working class milieu, but it patronizes its "little" people.

December 19, 2005 Comment

A bravura performance from Borgnine

June 11, 2005 Comment
Moviehole

Tragicomic and simple, Marty's celebrated status is rightly earned, but it may be a bit to naive and simplistic for today's hard-bitten audiences.

October 19, 2004 Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | Comment
Filmcritic.com

Ernest Borgnine can act!?!?!? He was great in this classic tale about a guy who thinks love is unattainable.

August 5, 2004 Comment
WaffleMovies.com

Um filme simples e eficaz.

November 10, 2003 Comment
Cinema em Cena

A solidly crafted work that still pleases.

July 6, 2003 Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | Comment
Ozus' World Movie Reviews
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Marty

Another big film to cross off my shame list. Totally charming and worth everyone's time.

December 4, 2007
kenstachnik

Super Reviewer

Marty is a wonderful film! The great screenplay of Paddy Chayefsky, makes the audience stay to see the simple life of the main character to the begining to the end. Ernest Borgnine as Marty is perfect. The best of hollywood. Fresh.

May 17, 2011
Lucas Martins

Super Reviewer

    1. Angie: What do you feel like doing tonight?
    2. Marty Pilletti: I don?t know, Ange. What do you feel like doing?
    – Submitted by Chris P (9 months ago)

Latest News for Marty

January 23, 2009:
Five Favorite Films With Ernest Borgnine
Ernest Borgnine is one of Hollywood's most venerable character actors, with a career that spans more...

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Foreign Titles

  • Marty (1955) (DE)
  • Marty (1955) (UK)
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