Marty, Network, and Paddy Chayefsky

With this, I enter the vast, overpopulated world of blogs. Aside from its vastness and overpopulatedness, I really know precious little about this territory of the internet. I don't know how one goes about starting these. Being that this is, in part, a movie blog, I'll start off by mentioning the last movie I watched: the classic, best picture winner, "Marty."

Seriously, this won Best Picture. Why does nobody ever even talk about this movie?

Marty is a 1955 movie staring the recently departed Ernest Borgnine. It's about a 35 year old, overweight, "average Joe", Marty (Brognine), whose friends constantly set him up with dates that ultimately end in his humiliation. Just when he decides to give up, he meets a plain, but fair looking girl, Clara (Betsy Blair), who's all too familiar with his romantic luck. They hit it off. It goes from there. This movie moved me in ways that I sometimes forget is possible. I genuinely cared for Marty and Clara. Granted, the acting was good--Borgnine's amazing performance as Marty won him an Oscar--but what should be credited for bringing such realism and making you connect with the characters is the writing.  Usually when I talk about the technical side of a movie, the first person I mention is the director, but in this case, the genius behind the picture is the writer, Paddy Chayefsky.

Chayefsky is one of those Hollywood icons of whom I hardly ever hear mentioned, but when mentioned is always regarded as one of the very best. The movies he wrote are the same way. His movie, "Network," (directed by Sidney Lumet) for example, is one of the greatest movies I've ever seen. It's a story about a second rate news station that puts its integrity aside in favor of a quest for ratings. Absurd, haunting, and horrifyingly believable madness ensues.

*the only part of the movie that has weaseled its way into popular culture* 

                 

In the commentary track on the DVD, Sidney Lumet (the director) said that "Network" was not Chayefsky's satire of the news, it was his prophecy. News didn't look the way it looks in "Network" in 1976, but it sure looks a lot like it does today! Despite its impressiveness, relevance, and enjoyability, it seems like it would be watched and talked about all the time. I never heard it brought up in conversation until I watched it. I would only come across "Network" in articles and books about film, and even then, practically exclusively in passing; never raving or praising, but in a more "oh, well yeah, 'Network' is brilliant... that kinda goes without saying," sort of way. That's how Chayefsky is typically mentioned as well. This is largely because he mostly worked in television, but nevertheless, people who know film--who brought "Casablanca" and "Citizen Kane" to the general public--know, like, and respect "Network" and "Marty," and I think it a shame that they haven't done the same with "Network" and "Marty" as they did with "Citizen Kane" and "Casablanca."

No film critic can talk about every movie all the time. I understand this. I merely find it a shame that such gems as "Marty" and "Network" are swept under the rug. I try to do my humble part in spreading the word on less known movies (even if I've been known to gab about well known ones in excess). I've been a long time suggester of "Network," and will without a doubt do the same with "Marty."