28th Academy Awards · 1956
Marty
Directed byCooked up by Delbert Mann
“It's the love story of an unsung hero!”
“Soft boy butcher era. Haters said mid, Marty said W 🥩”
The storyThe lore 📖
Marty, a butcher who lives in the Bronx with his mother, is unmarried at 34. Good-natured but socially awkward, he faces constant badgering from family and friends to get married but has reluctantly resigned himself to bachelorhood. He then meets Clara, an unattractive school teacher. Realising their emotional connection, Marty promises to call, but family and friends try to convince him not to.
Marty is a sweet Bronx butcher, 34 and single, and literally everyone keeps asking 'so when are you getting married bestie?' 💀. He meets Clara, a shy teacher, at a dance and they vibe check each other perfectly. But his friends and mom call her mid, and Marty has to decide if he cares about the haters. Wholesome king behavior ✨.
What critics & audiences sayThe receipts 🧾
Tomatometer
96%
Fresh
#17 of 98 winnersFamous linesLines living rent free
You see, dogs like us, we ain't such dogs as we think we are.
You don't get to be good-hearted by accident. You get kicked around long enough, you become a professor of pain.
Ma, sooner or later, there comes a point in a man's life when he's gotta face some facts. And one fact I gotta face is that, whatever it is that women like, I ain't got it.
Mrs. Pilletti: I say, why don't you go to the Stardust Ballroom? It's loaded with tomatoes.
Marty: It's loaded with what?
Mrs. Pilletti: Tomatoes.
Blue suit, gray suit, I'm just a fat, little man. A fat ugly man.
I've been looking for a girl every Saturday night of my life.
And you know what I'm gonna get for my trouble? Heartache. A big night of heartache.
Mrs. Pilletti: You're gonna die without a son.
Marty: So I'll die without a son.
She's a dog and I'm a fat, ugly man. Well, all I know is I had a good time last night. I'm gonna have a good time tonight.
College girls are one step from the street, I tell you.
Quotes via Wikiquote
Filming locationsWhere they shot it 📍
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Grand Concourse
The Bronx, New York City
Location shooting began in the Bronx in September 1954, taking in the borough's grand boulevard.
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Arthur Avenue
The Bronx, New York City
One of the Bronx streets depicted as the film captured everyday life in the borough.
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Gun Hill Road
The Bronx, New York City
Another Bronx thoroughfare featured in the film's location work.
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White Plains Road
The Bronx, New York City
Filmed along with the White Plains Road elevated line that runs above it.
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IRT Third Avenue Line
The Bronx, New York City
One of several Bronx elevated and subway lines, alongside the Concourse and Jerome Avenue lines, seen in the film.
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Samuel Goldwyn Studios
Hollywood, Los Angeles, California
On-set filming moved to the Goldwyn lot on November 1, 1954.
Fun factsFacts that go hard 🤓
- Rod Steiger, who played Marty on television, turned down the film role after producers Harold Hecht and Burt Lancaster demanded he sign a multiple-picture deal, opening the door for Ernest Borgnine.Wikipedia · Production
- According to Ernest Borgnine, Marty was meant to be partially completed and written off as a tax loss, but the tax man said they had to finish it and show it at least once first.Wikipedia · Production
- Marty received the first Palme d'Or ever awarded, and is one of only four films, with The Lost Weekend, Parasite and Anora, to win both Best Picture and the top prize at Cannes.Wikipedia · Awards and nominations
- Betsy Blair was blacklisted when she lobbied to play Clara. Her husband, Gene Kelly, reportedly threatened to withdraw from It's Always Fair Weather if she didn't get the part.Wikipedia · Production
- At 93 minutes, Marty is tied with Annie Hall as the shortest film ever to win Best Picture.Wikipedia · Awards and nominations
- Director Delbert Mann, making his directorial debut, shot the film in just sixteen days, plus three more for retakes.Wikipedia · Production
- Made on a budget of $343,000, Marty generated $3 million in U.S. revenues, making it a box-office success.Wikipedia · Reception
- Bronx native Jerry Orbach made his film debut as an uncredited ballroom patron, and screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky has an uncredited cameo as Leo.Wikipedia · Production
- Variety's review said that if Marty showed what could be found on TV, "studio story editors better spend more time at home looking at television."Wikipedia · Reception
- Gossip columnist Louella Parsons enjoyed Marty but felt it would not likely be nominated for Oscars. It went on to win Best Picture.Wikipedia · Reception