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Trust Weighted
Great
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66Trust Points
Wick's Review
Summary - Great 4.0
Art Carney reached late career nirvana as Harry the cat lover in Harry and Tonto. Tonto? His ginger tabby. I prefer gray tabbies, so kinda understand his ardor. Carney won his sole Oscar as a gray-haired Best Actor.
Paul Mazursky’s second big directorial hit after Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice is very 1974 hip. A road movie, in which an old man travels to see his grown children and all their tzuris, it’s very Zen Americana.
Larry Hagman handing Art Carney a ten-gallon hat is a classic scene in anyone’s book, especially with Tonto in the picture. Harry and Tonto are pleasant company in the great movie that bears their names.
Acting - Really Great 4.5
Art Carney won the Best Acting Oscar as Harry Coombes. Tonto is Tonto. Literally. Tonto is Tonto. One scene among many: Harry arrives home, locks the door. Tonto goes to his litter box and Harry gets comfortable in his easy chair. Masterful. Tonto gets his 15 minutes at CinemaCats.
Tremendous Cast Behind Him
- Ellen Burstyn plays his daughter. She’s got issues.
- Larry Hagman plays his LA son.
- Phil Bruns plays his NY son, Dolly Jonah his wife. Cliff DeYoung & Joshua Mostel play his sons. Mostel stands out by playing mute.
- Geraldine Fitzgerald
- Chief Dan George as Sam Two Feathers
- Melanie Mayron was just a teen when she played a memorably mixed-up teen.
- Barbara Rhodes plays the hooker who picks up a hitchhiking Harry and Tonto. Harry gets lucky.
Male Stars - Perfect 5.0
Female Stars - Great 4.0
Female Costars - Great 4.0
Male Costars - Great 4.0
Film - Great 4.0
One of the great films from the first half of the Seventies, Harry and Tonto represents filmmaker Paul Mazursky at his best. He mixes deeply human touches – the son becomes father to the man – with shallow ones – the Ironsides obsession.
Direction - Very Good 3.5
Dialogue - Great 4.0
Josh Greenfield's only full screenwriting credit is for *Harry and Tonto*. Mazursky wrote a dozen or more movies, including the treasured "Moscow on the Hudson":http://www.viewguide.com/movies/381725 with Robin Williams.Music - Really Great 4.5
Art Carney opens the soundtrack singing. * _The Boulevard of Broken Dreams_ * _Where the Blue of the Night (Meets the Gold of the Day)_ Some lovely instrumentals follow. * _Give My Regards to Broadway_ * _Chicago (That Toddlin' Town)_ * _Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing_ * _Long Train Runnin'_ * _Roamin' in the Gloamin'_ * _Tea for Two_Visuals - Great 4.0
His car belches smoke.Edge - Tame 1.5
Sex Innocent 1.0
Violence Gentle 1.0
Rudeness Salty 2.5
Reality - Glib 1.4
While somewhat surreal, Harry and Tonto is a Seventies time capsule, recognizable but very different.
Men lorded over women back in the Seventies, girls too, a state of affairs clear even to me, a grown man.