Harry and Tonto | |
---|---|
Directed by | Paul Mazursky |
Written by | Paul Mazursky Josh Greenfeld |
Produced by | Paul Mazursky |
Starring | Art Carney Herbert Berghof Philip Bruns Ellen Burstyn Geraldine Fitzgerald Larry Hagman Chief Dan George Melanie Mayron Joshua Mostel Arthur Hunnicutt Barbara Rhoades Cliff DeYoung Avon Long Tonto (cat) |
Cinematography | Michael Butler |
Edited by | Richard Halsey |
Music by | Bill Conti |
Distributed by | 20th Century-Fox |
Release date |
|
Running time | 115 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $980,000 |
Box office | $4.6 million (rentals) [1] |
Harry and Tonto is a 1974 American road comedy-drama directed by Paul Mazursky and written by Mazursky & Josh Greenfeld. It features Art Carney as Harry in an Oscar-winning performance. Tonto is his pet cat.
Harry Coombes (Art Carney) is an elderly widower and retired teacher who is evicted from his Upper West Side apartment in New York City because his building is going to be razed to build a parking lot. He initially stays with his eldest son Burt's family in the suburbs, but eventually chooses to travel cross-country with his pet cat Tonto.
Initially planning to fly to Chicago, Harry has a problem with airport security checking his cat carrier. He instead boards a long-distance bus. He gets off in the countryside, annoying the driver, so Tonto can urinate, and is left there. He buys a 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air [2] from a used car salesman, although his driver's license is expired. During his episodic journey, he befriends a Bible-quoting hitchhiker (Michael Butler) and underage runaway Ginger (Melanie Mayron), with whom he visits an old sweetheart (Geraldine Fitzgerald) in a retirement home; she only half-remembers him. He visits his daughter (Ellen Burstyn), a bookstore owner in Chicago, with whom he shares a prickly but mutually admiring relationship. Harry's shy grandson (who was supposed to take him back to New York) and Ginger end up going off to a commune in Colorado together in Harry's car, with his blessing, so he and Tonto are on their own again.
Continuing west, Harry accepts a ride with a health-food salesman (Arthur Hunnicutt), makes the acquaintance of an attractive hooker (Barbara Rhoades) on his way to Las Vegas, and spends a night in jail with a friendly Native American (Chief Dan George). He eventually arrives in Los Angeles, where he stays with his youngest son Eddie (Larry Hagman), a financially strapped real-estate salesman, before finding a place of his own with Tonto.
After Tonto dies, Harry is living alone, making new friends, enjoying the climate. He sees a young cat who looks exactly like Tonto, and follows it to the beach, where a child is building a sand castle.
Also appearing toward the end of the film as Celia is Sally Marr, mother of Lenny Bruce.
Mazursky had James Cagney in mind for the role of Harry, but the actor turned the part down, as did Laurence Olivier and Cary Grant. Mazursky then saw Art Carney in a play and approached him. Carney initially declined as well, in part because he was about fifteen years younger than Harry, but he eventually agreed. [3] Cast as an elderly man, Carney, born in 1918, was actually only 13 years older than the actors who played his sons, Larry Hagman and Phil Bruns, and 14 years older than Ellen Burstyn, who played his daughter. Thanks to the makeup of Emmy winning artist Bob O'Bradovich, Carney was effectively transformed into the elderly Harry.
At the time, Carney noted that prior to his work in Harry and Tonto, he "never liked cats" but said he wound up getting along well with the cat in the film. [4] Mazursky was offered the primary cat of the two who played Tonto by the animal wrangler, but had to decline because his wife had become allergic to them.
The woman who played the cab driver, Muriel Beerman, was in actuality a part-time taxi driver who had driven Mazursky to the casting office one day. Very talkative, Mazursky had her leave the meter running and her audition for him for the part.
Nora Sayre of The New York Times wrote that the film had been "directed at far too slow a pace, which means that the comic possibilities and the social comment have been diminished. The muted style robs the picture of the point it's meant to make: that imaginative energy transcends the generations." [5] Variety called it "pleasant, if commercially unexciting," with an "excellent" performance by Carney. [6] Roger Ebert gave the film 4 stars out of 4, praising Carney for a performance that was "totally original, all his own, and worthy of the Academy Award it received." [7] Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune awarded 3.5 out of 4 stars, calling it "an extremely funny movie without a single gag or a Bob Hope punch line. Rather, it's crammed full of believable people who say the kind of screwball things that make your head spin and smile." [8] Charles Champlin of the Los Angeles Times described the film as "eventful, sentimental, enjoyable and firmly optimistic." [9] Gary Arnold of The Washington Post called it "an unusually mellow and affectionate film comedy, but it might be wise to recommend it with a slight note of caution. It's what's known as a 'good little picture.'" [10] In The Monthly Film Bulletin , Jonathan Rosenbaum wrote that the film "presumes to say something smart and 'sophisticated' about everything from urban renewal to Carlos Castaneda's medicinal lore, along with a continuous lesson about growing old gracefully that is dished out at every opportunity; yet it winds up telling us virtually nothing at all." [11]
The film holds a score of 88% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 32 reviews, with an average grade of 7.3 out of 10; critics' consensus stating that: "Making his sorely belated debut in a big-screen leading role, Art Carney brings Harry and Tonto brilliantly to life.". [12]
Award | Category | Nominee(s) | Result |
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Academy Awards [13] | Best Actor | Art Carney | Won |
Best Original Screenplay | Paul Mazursky and Josh Greenfeld | Nominated | |
Golden Globe Awards [14] | Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy | Nominated | |
Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy | Art Carney | Won | |
Kinema Junpo Awards | Best Foreign Language Film | Paul Mazursky | Won |
National Board of Review Awards [15] | Top Ten Films | 5th Place | |
PATSY Awards [3] | Best Animal Performer in a Motion Picture | Tonto the Cat | Won |
Writers Guild of America Awards [16] | Best Drama Written Directly for the Screen | Paul Mazursky and Josh Greenfeld | Nominated |
Arthur William Matthew Carney was an American actor and comedian. A recipient of an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and six Primetime Emmy Awards, he was best known for his role as Ed Norton on the sitcom The Honeymooners (1955–1956).
Ellen Burstyn is an American actress. Known for her portrayals of complex women in dramas, she is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a Tony Award, and two Primetime Emmy Awards, making her one of the few performers to achieve the "Triple Crown of Acting". She has also received a BAFTA Award and a Golden Globe Award.
Jay Silverheels was an Indigenous Canadian actor and athlete. He was well known for his role as Tonto, the Native American companion of the Lone Ranger in the American Western television series The Lone Ranger.
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Larry Martin Hagman was an American film and television actor, director, and producer, best known for playing ruthless oil baron J. R. Ewing in the 1978–1991 primetime television soap opera Dallas, and the befuddled astronaut Major Anthony Nelson in the 1965–1970 sitcom I Dream of Jeannie. Hagman had supporting roles in numerous films, including Fail-Safe, Harry and Tonto, S.O.B., Nixon, and Primary Colors. His television appearances also included guest roles on dozens of shows spanning from the late 1950s until his death, and a reprise of his signature role on the 2012 revival of Dallas. Hagman also worked as a television producer and director. He was the son of actress Mary Martin. Hagman underwent a life-saving liver transplant in 1995. He died on November 23, 2012, from complications of acute myeloid leukemia.
Irwin Lawrence "Paul" Mazursky was an American film director, screenwriter, and actor. Known for his dramatic comedies that often dealt with modern social issues, he was nominated for five Academy Awards for Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969), An Unmarried Woman (1978), Harry and Tonto (1974), and Enemies, A Love Story (1989). He is also known for directing such films as Next Stop, Greenwich Village (1976), Moscow on the Hudson (1984), Down and Out in Beverly Hills (1986), Moon over Parador (1988), and Scenes from a Mall (1991).
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