1974 sentimental tear jerker starring Art Carney as an old geezer traveling across country with his cat, Tonto. Yes, Tonto dies -- has to! -- it's some kind of requirement in sentimental films that pets die. (See: The Yearling, Old Yeller, Marley & Me, Turner & Hooch and countless others.)
This turned up on late night TV recently and I recognized it instantly at a glance and stayed to watch. I first saw this in a theatre in '74, when I was but a lass of 18 (do the math). I've probably caught it on TV once or twice in the 48 years (GULP!) since then. So I was a kid when I saw it originally and now I am ... a decade older than Art Carney was he filmed this.
Carney was merely 56, and in heavy makeup, but he does an excellent job of coming across as an older man (though perhaps 65 vs. 72). He seems suspiciously fit and healthy for 72, but of course... he's a charmer. Probably not Oscar material (though he won!) except on sentiment for The Honeymooners and a long career (against Jack Nicholson! Chinatown!) but hey, OK.
Of course to an 18 year old... 56 is as old as 72 and vice versa.
It's a sweet, if long and slow movie. I see parallels here with a 1994 film, called "The Straight Story" featuring the late Richard Farnsworth (who was authentically 80-something). Both are tales of elderly men undergoing a "hejira" -- a spiritual and physical journey -- in the last chapter of their lives.
This film is perhaps a bit too filled with contrivances; the cat can't go on an airplane? (not even true today in the era of Homeland Security!) in a carrier? More likely you wouldn't be able to take a cat on a BUS. And all the people Harry meets seem so contrived: a widow at the end offers him a free room in her apartment plus free Jewish cooking (she's not terrified of a strange homeless man she meets on the beach? He's not afraid of a senile nutty woman with no boundaries? Santa Monica is affordable? Boy, 50 years HAVE gone by!) He also seems to find a new, younger incarnation of his beloved Tonto.
A harmless film, with some sweetness to it and a lot of good actors in small supporting roles... but not very deep about the realities of old age and infirmity, as Harry is, of course, a 56 year old in the GUISE of a 72 year old. A well liked, well reviewed film in its day and of course that Oscar win for the legendary Art Carney.
Conclusion: if you have nothing better to do, or want to wax sentimental about the 70s, when a senior on an SS check and nothing more could afford to live in $$$$$ Santa Monica near the ocean.
This turned up on late night TV recently and I recognized it instantly at a glance and stayed to watch. I first saw this in a theatre in '74, when I was but a lass of 18 (do the math). I've probably caught it on TV once or twice in the 48 years (GULP!) since then. So I was a kid when I saw it originally and now I am ... a decade older than Art Carney was he filmed this.
Carney was merely 56, and in heavy makeup, but he does an excellent job of coming across as an older man (though perhaps 65 vs. 72). He seems suspiciously fit and healthy for 72, but of course... he's a charmer. Probably not Oscar material (though he won!) except on sentiment for The Honeymooners and a long career (against Jack Nicholson! Chinatown!) but hey, OK.
Of course to an 18 year old... 56 is as old as 72 and vice versa.
It's a sweet, if long and slow movie. I see parallels here with a 1994 film, called "The Straight Story" featuring the late Richard Farnsworth (who was authentically 80-something). Both are tales of elderly men undergoing a "hejira" -- a spiritual and physical journey -- in the last chapter of their lives.
This film is perhaps a bit too filled with contrivances; the cat can't go on an airplane? (not even true today in the era of Homeland Security!) in a carrier? More likely you wouldn't be able to take a cat on a BUS. And all the people Harry meets seem so contrived: a widow at the end offers him a free room in her apartment plus free Jewish cooking (she's not terrified of a strange homeless man she meets on the beach? He's not afraid of a senile nutty woman with no boundaries? Santa Monica is affordable? Boy, 50 years HAVE gone by!) He also seems to find a new, younger incarnation of his beloved Tonto.
A harmless film, with some sweetness to it and a lot of good actors in small supporting roles... but not very deep about the realities of old age and infirmity, as Harry is, of course, a 56 year old in the GUISE of a 72 year old. A well liked, well reviewed film in its day and of course that Oscar win for the legendary Art Carney.
Conclusion: if you have nothing better to do, or want to wax sentimental about the 70s, when a senior on an SS check and nothing more could afford to live in $$$$$ Santa Monica near the ocean.