They Shoot Horses, Don't They?
They Shoot Horses, Don't They? is a 1969 American psychological drama film directed by Sydney Pollack, from a screenplay written by Robert E. Thompson and James Poe, based on Horace McCoy's 1935 novel of the same name, and starring Jane Fonda, Michael Sarrazin, Susannah York, Gig Young, Bonnie Bedelia, and Red Buttons. It focuses on a disparate group of individuals desperate to win a Depression-era dance marathon and an opportunistic emcee who urges them on.
Plot
Robert Syverton is a homeless man who recalls the events leading to an unstated crime. As a boy, he saw a horse breaking its leg, and it was shot and put out of its misery. Years later, in the Great Depression, he wanders into a dance marathon that is about to begin in the shabby ballroom near the Pacific Ocean on the Santa Monica Pier. Couples are competing for a prize of $1,500 in silver dollars, and hope to be spotted by Hollywood celebrities and talent scouts in the audience. Robert is recruited by Rocky, the contest's promoter and emcee, as the substitute partner of a bitter, world-weary yet still young woman named Gloria Beatty, after her previous partner is disqualified for bronchitis.
Awards
Cast
- Al Lewis
- Allyn Ann McLerie
- Art Metrano
- Bonnie Bedelia
- Bruce Dern
- Cynthia Myers
- Felice Orlandi
- Gig Young
- Jacquelyn Hyde
- Jane Fonda
- Madge Kennedy
- Marilyn Hassett
- Mary Gregory
- Michael Conrad
- Michael Sarrazin
- Paul Mantee
- Philo McCullough
- Red Buttons
- Robert Fields
- Severn Darden
- Susannah York
- Tom McFadden