Review of They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969) by Michael S — 07 Jan 2009

A film whose existence is still something of a shock when considering how truly bleak and unforgiving its outlook is. One would be hard pressed to find a film with a more barren, horrifying philosophy.

The fact that it holds up so well after over thrity years is also shocking. This is an exquisite film, a poetic and impressionistic catalogue of human frailty as well as its tenacity. One always remembers the sweaty faces bleached out by the roaming spotlights as the marathon dancers stampede their way through the bracing derby sequences.

I wonder if people remember the film's myriad quieter moments, which are in some ways more powerful. I haven't seen as many movies which say so much in so many moments with so little dialogue.

Some of Jane Fonda's facial expressions in this film rival Meryl Streep's most nuanced work in my book. Jane Fonda's character strolling around the empty ballroom in the middle of the night in one long and meditative take - the sounds of the ocean and the wind being her only companion, the sight of Michael Sarrazin's character finding a hypnotic solace in a beam of sunlight pouring through a crack in a window, Bonnie Bedelia's heartbreaking and bereft rendition of 'The Best Things in Life Are Free', Susannah York's shower scene (one of the eeriest and displacing moments from any film I've seen) - all rather quiet and indelible moments in a film whose overall impact is rather blunt and savage upon recollection.

My favorite films all share one element in common to me, among others, and that is that they all create a very visceral, tangible world all their own. You live with the characters in this film; you're on the dance floor with them and you're sharing their ten minute breaks and you're right beside them when they start to fall to pieces.

A truly forgotten and neglected American classic. Watch it with caution.