They Shoot Horses Don’t They (1969) –  Harrowing watch

“We have become a race of peeping Toms. Instead, we should go out and look inside at ourselves”. This is an excellent quote from one of the greatest thrillers, Rear Window(1954), essentially about human voyeurism that is integral to our basic instinct. 

 

Modern “reality” and “game shows” have only taken these aspects, far ahead. Why would a show like Big Boss be so popular? A TV audience peeps into the scripted or unscripted lives of a select few and gleefully celebrates the exits or entries of contestants/ participants. Why? The same basic instinct is still in place. But are the contestants so desperate for their two minutes of fame, that they put up with any and every form of humiliation, taunts, and insults in a rat-eat-rat game? 

 

Sidney Pollack asks the same question in this truly harrowing film. The 1969 release is set in Depression-era America, where the “dance marathon” brings some hope to the otherwise dull lives of the people. The audience in this marathon can’t participate, but they can monetarily “sponsor” candidates in the marathon. The sponsor can “encourage” “my candidate” as he/ she stands to gain or lose if their candidate wins or loses.

 

 

The dance marathon has strict rules. Namely, the contestants should constantly be on their feet. Sleep is for about an hour. So are other essentials like eating. “The Dance” is all that matters. 

 

 

All kinds of desperate people sign up. A failed actress. A would-be director. An aged sailor. A couple where the wife is heavily pregnant. The young. The desperate . the old.

 

 As the clock starts, the game becomes increasingly harrowing. And inhumane. 

 

A “Good” Dance Marathon will go well in the history books and remove the era’s gloom. The sponsors don’t much care for human desperation. They just want a good show. 

 

 

Sidney Pollack was already showing his tendency for offbeat topics. By 1969, films were moving away from the established “Old Hollywood” style. The “New Hollywood” was marching on and Pollack fit perfectly into the new age with this incredibly watchable film about human desperation and fame, however fleeting such fame may be. 

 

The contestants know they can’t do it, but they have no choice as each wants to outdo the other. There is that one maddening race where everyone has to do the murderous round fast, not caring who is being left behind. The watchers and the audience egg them on – but we, the viewers, are appalled by such inhumanity on the part of the “organizers” for whom rules are rules. Nothing else matters. 

 

 

Soon the well-coiffured women and the snappily dressed men start looking increasingly tired, disheveled, and ready to drop dead. But they can’t. The lure of the final prize is too much. 

 

 

So who will win the prize? Who will drop out? And why do you shoot horses, and for what? 

 

The performances are incredible. A very young Jane Fonda is in superb 

form as the struggling actress. The handsome and somewhat underrated Michael Sarazzin, who probably deserved more fame, is very subdued as he, too, is lured into the game. Old-timer Red Buttons, usually famous for comic roles, is the old sailor who wants one last throw of the dice. Bonnie Bedelia (of Die Hard “Holly McLane fame) is the pregnant wife to Bruce Dern’s husband. 

 

This is a terrific film and a harrowing watch at the same time. And it is free on YouTube 

 

https://youtu.be/qsKQiVJkEvI

 

For dramatic films, I would be using a different rating scale. 

 

Script – 4 out of 5

Story – 4 out of 5

Direction – 5 out of 5

Photography – 5 out of 5

“Masala elements” (maximum=0 minimum=5) – 4

 

Total – 4.4 out of 5