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Contents © 2006
by Jim Holman.
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TALK ABOUT MOVIES
January 2006
MARTY
Directed by Delbert Mann. Starring Ernest Borgnine, Betsy Blair.1955, 91 minutes, Black and White, English, USA. Available at Kensington Video.
Ernie: The movie is refreshingly Catholic. I don't mean that it explores exclusively Catholic themes. But the faith, or rather being Catholic, is portrayed as an integral and normal part of the lives of these people. It doesn't seem abnormal for Marty to say "See you after Mass," to a pal from the bar.
Matthew: And one benefit of that is that Catholics, among their own, can be portrayed as real people with real vices. Marty's fellow Italian Catholics are the ones admiring how Mickey Spillane treats women like dirt, and they're the ones talking about going to a burlesque, or heading down to 72nd Street in hopes of "winding up with something good." Marty holds to his virtue, but he doesn't do it in pious terms; he doesn't even criticize his buddies. And even he admits to being suicidal after he gets back from the war. And his Mom and aunt are full of human problems, chief among them their fear of being alone and useless.
Ernie: He's become accustomed to suppressing his own feelings to please other people. He always tells his friend, "I don't know Ange', what do you want to do?" And he goes to the Stardust Ballroom to please his mother even though he knows he's likely to come home with "heartache." That's why he feels so torn when he really wants to be with Clara, but his mother doesn't like her because "She doesn't look like an Italian girl," and his friends think she's a dog.
Matthew: When he returns from the war, he doesn't know what to do with himself, so he devotes himself to pleasing others. There's virtue in it -- he takes care of his mother and his unmarried sisters -- but there's also weakness. It becomes comfortable and safe for him. But he becomes passive, to the point of sacrificing his own happiness. He begins to shut down. That's why he can't believe how much he's talking to Clara. He's finally coming out of himself.
Ernie: Marty's despair is presented subtly. It's not total, even though he admits to suicidal thinking as a younger man. He's simply resigned himself to bachelorhood and loneliness.
Matthew: His suffering has made him wise, and human. He says to Clara, "I'm a real professor of pain."