Review of They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969) by Bj E — 19 Jan 2009
Like most films shot in the late sixties, the end goal of TSHDT? is to make you leave the theater angry at America or traditional American values. Although the film can be looked at as a critique of the cruelty of the depression era, the film is also meant to be an existential view of life in general.This dance goes on and on-- until you shoot yourself in the head at least.
The movie interestingly enough takes place almost entirely in a dance hall during a contest to win the big grand prize of $1500. The prize doesn't go to the best dancers, but instead to the one couple that is left standing, err dancing, leaving a pile of crippled and mangled bodies in their wake.
If the dance hall is a metaphor for life, or America, it is obvious that the film is criticizing capitalism. After all, it's just wrong to make the people compete for money and success, why can't all the contestants walk away with a grand and a half after doing the jitterbug for a couple hours?
It's interesting how they try to paint the contest holders as the villains, as if they were forcing these poor people to dance against their will. And seriously, what kind of punishment is dancing anyway? In reality, they are pretty nice people and even come up with some ideas that might help the contestants earn some extra money.
One amusing aspect of the film is that it pushes a traditionally leftist viewpoint that it is better to kill your offspring than bring another poor soul into the world. Hanoi Jane's character Gloria repeatedly attacks some poor pregnant mother, insisting that she should kill the baby. I thought at some point later in the film that her character would grow and hopefully might apologize to the woman that was far braver than her, but no dice.
While the film is fairly well done and does have some good moments, it has its fair share of dead ends as well. The woman that is guilty of not killing her baby plot line doesn't go anywhere. Another plot line that involves the main couple gaining a sponsor doesn't go anywhere either. And for a couple scenes this looked like it might have something to do with the main plot. Finally, the main couple are asked to get married in order to make the show more interesting. You guessed it, this plot line doesn't go anywhere either.
Even with these dead ends, TSHDT? is a decent film and the fact that it is an existential film means it's not really supposed to go anywhere anyway.
This review of They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969) was written by Bj E on 19 Jan 2009.
They Shoot Horses, Don't They? has generally received very positive reviews.
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