Marty

In his Academy award winning performance for best actor (the film also won awards for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Writing, 1955), Ernset Borgnine went against character to portray sympathetic 34 year old single butcher, Marty. Marty is harangued by his mother (Esther Minciotti) to find a nice Italian girl and settle down like his younger siblings, yet paradoxically is surrounded by family who are in unhappy marriages. When Marty meets shy schoolteacher Clara (Betsy Blair) at a dance, Marty instantly finds a soulmate amongst his emotionally stifled and unhappy family and friends. To his surprise his blossoming relationship with Clara is challenged by his mother who feels threatened by the shy, yet educated and socially aware woman, and his friends who unkindly view her as a “dog”. Marty struggles to make up his mind whether to pursue happiness and flee his emotional isolation.