Sorry to use such a stale, cliché saw as a title, but I can’t help but feel that way about what I’m going to write. In this instance, I’m referring to movies. As of late, since we converted from satellite to cable, I’ve been reveling in all the great old movies and TV shows I’ve been able to watch. In my mind, they’re classics all. That in itself should reveal the fact that when it comes to this type of entertainment, I’m old school. Not that I don’t enjoy today’s movies and such…still, it’s just not the same it once was, back in the day. But at this moment, I want to talk about one particular movie released in 1955, and the actor who won an Academy Award for his role in it: Marty,  starring Ernest Borgnine.

Over the years I’d come across references to the movie in relation to Ernest Borgnine’s great performance, and it had always been an answer to clues in the crossword puzzles I’m so addicted to. Yet, I’d never had the opportunity to see it. But just last week it popped up on the schedule, and being such a Borgnine fan, I jumped at the chance to finally see it. And what an experience it was; it absolutely blew my mind! And why, you may wonder. Well, that’s the rest of the story.

This was early in Borgnine’s career, his eleventh movie. In quite a few of the first ten, he’d always been cast as a ruffian, a rough and tough bad guy, basically, a no-goodnick villain, the most notable role being that of Staff Sergeant James R. Judson, the man in charge of the Army brig in the 1953 classic From Here to Eternity. And he aced that one, as well as another character he portrayed, Dutch Engstrom, over a decade later in the then controversial The Wild Bunch, which in my mind’s eye, along with the Outlaw Josey Wales, are the best westerns ever made. That persona for which he is so often remembered, and was often typecast for, is what makes his portrayal of the shy, middle-aged nice guy Marty such a hallmark moment.

The setting is in New York City, the Bronx, and Marty Piletti is an Italian-American butcher, single at 34 and still living at home with his mother. All his younger brothers and sisters are already married and his mother is constantly nagging him about it being his time to get married and start a family. Though he would like nothing more, the way he sees it is that he’s fat and ugly and hasn’t a chance of ever finding love. But the irony in this entire movie is how it is that he’s not the only one in the same predicament, the other one being a plain looking lady, and their coming together is the stuff of dreams come true. And all the quirks and twists and turns in how this came to be is the beauty of storytelling and how fate can lead to happiness. And I’ll leave it at that and say no more, for I don’t want to be a spoiler. If I’ve perked your interest, you just need to check it our yourself.

Marty was originally a TV teleplay which aired on The Philco Television Playhouse, written by “Paddy” Chayefsky, considered one of the top dramatists in that bygone era of the so-called Golden Age of Television, and was one of the, if not the, first from TV to the big screen productions. And not only did Ernest Borgnine win the Best Actor Academy Award for this movie, the movie itself won for Best Picture, Delbert Mann won for Best Director for his first ever film directed and Chayefsky won for Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay.

Without a doubt, this movie could be what’s called in this day and age a schmucky, sappy chick flick. And though I’m a guy, your typical American male you could say, I guess, I actually love movies like this. Can you say Sleepless in Seattle? But this poignant movie touched me in a personal way because Marty reminded me of the once-upon-a-time me. I, too, was a very shy fellow, totally inept at social interaction with the fairer gender, always in search of but never finding that special one. But my o’ my, how things can change; dreams really do come true. And be you either a guy, or a chick, who has no problem with being schmucky and sappy, I would advise you to see this one and compare it with today’s fare. Also, it would really be great if you did it the way I did over these years, see Borgnine’s roles in From Here to Eternity and The Wild Bunch first before seeing Marty. The difference will astound you and be proof positive that you shouldn’t stereotype anyone. Happy movie watching, y’all!