This was a role that was written specifically for James Cagney but he refused to end his retirement at that time so Art Carney stepped in and surprised everyone with his often neglected dramatic skills. Story is about a widower in his seventies in New York City who has to vacate his apartment because his building is being torn down. Carney plays Harry Coombes who along with his cat Tonto has to go live with one of his sons Burt (Philip Burns) but it doesn't work out and Harry decides to travel to Chicago and visit his daughter. Harry turns down the opportunity to fly and decides to go by bus instead but Tonto can't go to the bathroom so Harry is left on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere. He buys a used car and picks up a teenage runaway named Ginger (Melanie Mayron). The two of them decide to see Harry's first love Jessie (Geraldine Fitzgerald) who is in a retirement home and then when they get to Chicago they stay with Harry's daughter Shirley (Ellen Burstyn).
*****SPOILER ALERT*****
Harry lets his nephew Norman (Josh Mostel) take Ginger in his car and now he decides to hitchhike across country to Los Angeles. Along the way he encounters a vitamin salesmen (Arthur Hunnicutt), a prostitute (Barbara Rhoades), and after getting arrested in Las Vegas he meets Sam Two Feathers (Chief Dan George) while in jail. Once he arrives in Los Angeles he meets up with his other son Eddie (Larry Hagman) who is down in his luck. Harry stays in L.A. and while there Tonto passes away from old age but Southern California seems to agree with him and Harry decides to live there.
This film was directed by Paul Mazursky who has the rare ability to write and direct both comedy and drama. In some of his films he combines both genre's as he does here. Mazursky's scripts are all well written and his films come off as both poignant and insightful. This is the case here and this film balances both comedy and drama extremely well. The overall story of the film is serious but there are enough comedic moments and characters that keep this from becoming heavy handed. At first glance this appears to be a lightweight story but I could see in the script that this was a film about an elderly man that suddenly had nowhere to go and most of his friends were dead. It's got to be a terrifying feeling to wake-up and be old and people are telling you that your a burden. At the heart of this film is an excellent performance by Carney. He only had two good roles in films and besides this he starred in "The Late Show" with Lily Tomlin. Carney was only 56 when he was cast but he made up for it with a performance that is both sad and relevant. Carney plays a man that is really scared but hides it well with a personality that everyone (Including strangers) takes an instant shine to. The one scene that shows his anger and sadness is when he thinks he may have lost Tonto after getting off the bus. Tonto represented the last grasp of Harry being a useful man and being needed. Carney never allows his performance to go over the top into sentimentality and it's his strong and restrained effort that makes this film work. Yes, we all know that this shouldn't have garnered him an Oscar but the main success of this film was the result of his performance.
*****SPOILER ALERT*****
Harry lets his nephew Norman (Josh Mostel) take Ginger in his car and now he decides to hitchhike across country to Los Angeles. Along the way he encounters a vitamin salesmen (Arthur Hunnicutt), a prostitute (Barbara Rhoades), and after getting arrested in Las Vegas he meets Sam Two Feathers (Chief Dan George) while in jail. Once he arrives in Los Angeles he meets up with his other son Eddie (Larry Hagman) who is down in his luck. Harry stays in L.A. and while there Tonto passes away from old age but Southern California seems to agree with him and Harry decides to live there.
This film was directed by Paul Mazursky who has the rare ability to write and direct both comedy and drama. In some of his films he combines both genre's as he does here. Mazursky's scripts are all well written and his films come off as both poignant and insightful. This is the case here and this film balances both comedy and drama extremely well. The overall story of the film is serious but there are enough comedic moments and characters that keep this from becoming heavy handed. At first glance this appears to be a lightweight story but I could see in the script that this was a film about an elderly man that suddenly had nowhere to go and most of his friends were dead. It's got to be a terrifying feeling to wake-up and be old and people are telling you that your a burden. At the heart of this film is an excellent performance by Carney. He only had two good roles in films and besides this he starred in "The Late Show" with Lily Tomlin. Carney was only 56 when he was cast but he made up for it with a performance that is both sad and relevant. Carney plays a man that is really scared but hides it well with a personality that everyone (Including strangers) takes an instant shine to. The one scene that shows his anger and sadness is when he thinks he may have lost Tonto after getting off the bus. Tonto represented the last grasp of Harry being a useful man and being needed. Carney never allows his performance to go over the top into sentimentality and it's his strong and restrained effort that makes this film work. Yes, we all know that this shouldn't have garnered him an Oscar but the main success of this film was the result of his performance.