X
- 1969
- M
- Cinerama Releasing Corporation
- 2 h 9 m
- 1969
- M
- Cinerama Releasing Corporation
- 2 h 9 m
Summary The lives of a disparate group of contestants intertwine in an inhumanely grueling dance marathon.
Directed By: Sydney Pollack
Written By: Horace McCoy, James Poe, Robert E. Thompson
- 1969
- M
- Cinerama Releasing Corporation
- 2 h 9 m
- 1969
- M
- Cinerama Releasing Corporation
- 2 h 9 m
They Shoot Horses, Don't They?
72
7.2
Summary The lives of a disparate group of contestants intertwine in an inhumanely grueling dance marathon.
Directed By: Sydney Pollack
Written By: Horace McCoy, James Poe, Robert E. Thompson
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 8 Critic Reviews
72
75% Positive
6 Reviews
6 Reviews
25% Mixed
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 8 Critic Reviews
72
75% Positive
6 Reviews
6 Reviews
25% Mixed
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
The movie's delicately timed pacing and Pollack's visual style work almost stealthily to involve us; we begin to feel the physical weariness and spiritual desperation of the characters.
The movie is so unrelievedly pessimistic that only the most dedicated misanthrope could love it. But there’s something oddly bracing—noble, even—about a Hollywood picture that’s willing to say, without even a hint of soft-pedaling, that life isn’t worth living, and that it’s squalid, unfair, and disappointing.
A suitably glum yet cathartic film experience.
A film with Jane Fonda as a hard-as-nails babe. It becomes, in a recreated old ballroom, a sordid spectacle of hard times, a kind of existentialist allegory of life.
The material is simple and irresistible, and Sydney Pollack stages it well (though without transcending the essential superficiality of his talent).
The director, Sydney Pollack, isn't particularly inventive, but he has tight control of the actors. They work well for him, and he keeps the grisly central situation going with energy and drive.
The acting is strident and overblown, the narrative technique gimmicky and obvious, and the implication that the competitors' situation is a microcosm of a wider-reaching American malaise (though safely distanced by the period and the flash-back-and-forth narrative technique) rather pretentious.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 9 User Ratings
7.2
67% Positive
6 Ratings
6 Ratings
33% Mixed
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 9 User Ratings
7.2
67% Positive
6 Ratings
6 Ratings
33% Mixed
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
There are no user reviews yet. Be the first to add a review.
Production Company
ABC Pictures,
Palomar Pictures (I),
Palomar Pictures International,
American Broadcasting Company (ABC),
Chartoff-Winkler/Pollack
Release Date Dec 10, 1969
Duration 2 h 9 m
Rating M
Genres
Tagline They Danced Till They Dropped
Awards
Academy Awards, USA
• 1 Win & 9 Nominations
Golden Globes, USA
• 1 Win & 6 Nominations
BAFTA Awards
• 1 Win & 6 Nominations
