Harry is a retired teacher in his 70s living in the Upper West Side of New York City where his late wife and he raised his children--where he's lived all his life. When the building he lives in is torn down to make way for a parking garage, Harry and his beloved cat Tonto begin a journey across the United States, visiting his children, seeing a world he never seemed to have the time to see before, making new friends, and saying goodbye to old friends.
Art Carney Ellen Burstyn Geraldine Fitzgerald Larry Hagman Chief Dan George René Enríquez Herbert Berghof Michael McCleery Avon Long Rashel Novikoff Philip Bruns Cliff DeYoung Josh Mostel Dolly Jonah Sybil Bowan Joe Madden Bette Howard Patricia Fay Muriel Beerman Louis Guss Clint Young Cliff Norton Melanie Mayron Michael Butler Letitia Toole W. Benson Terry Gregg Harris Mike Nussbaum Arthur Hunnicutt Show All…
Harry y tonto, Harry, o Amigo de Tonto, Harry e Tonto, הארי וטונטו, Harry und Tonto, Harry y Tonto, 해리와 톤토, 老人与猫, Гарри и Тонто, Harry et Tonto, Harry a Tonto
USA
Atlanta International Film Festival
USAR
UK
UK
USA
An experience marked by patience, compassion, and openness, driven by a desire to roam and watch rather than explain. When the circumstances allow, Harry and Tonto is this kind big-hearted film that reminds you of how much life one movie can hold, while simultaneously appreciating the subtleties of life in both glorious and prosaic ways, showing it all with unflinching honesty. Its melancholy and poignancy are unavoidable as it delves into emotional complexity and delicacy, allowing both humor and pathos to emerge, which all combines to make this film as much our story as Harry's.
Art Carney, who provides one of the most modest –– and powerful –– performances ever seen on screen, gives this the final shove, propelling it…
It's this light, sort of melancholic journey that is so incredibly special. It exemplifies the beauty, subtlety and chaos of 70s America while also being a gorgeous character study.
Bill Conti's score is perhaps my favorite aspect, he brings out these light, smooth and emotional piano themes that embody the time period and settings seamlessly. It allows me to feel nostalgia for a time I didn't even live in!
I don't have much to say about this, except that I would do anything for Harry and that Tonto is EASILY the cutest cat I’ve ever seen, and he’s in every other frame!
Talking about a movie that in many ways seemed design for me to enjoy. I mean, the misadventures of an old man and his cat, that's me in a decade or more from now. Also, apparently you can walk your cat on the street with a collar, who would have thought?
Even though the movie took some time to actually become interesting, it was definitely an entertaining road trip movie with a very authentic feel to it, which fits the decade in which it was released very well. As a whole, the script does a great job capturing the generational conflict between the old and the new, from their differences to the things they share in common. It also discusses…
Viewed with the COLLAB.
It's enjoyable to see Art Carney in a leading role, maybe even one that started the avante-garde "old person" character that's a dime a dozen in cinema now. He's chatting about life, adamant about his cat, and blows with the wind. More shocking than Carney getting the Oscar over the stacked nominations that year is probably how Carney was just 56 years old here... 56?!?! The man truly looks like a spry 75 year old (props to make-up team), but more to the point - wow, were folks road hard back in the day. I suppose if you went to the moon as many times as he (and Alice) did from Jackie Gleeson's fists, you too would be solidly gray. There's my Honeymooners joke, time to wrap this review up!
Art Carney won an Oscar for his performance in Paul Mazursky’s road comedy-drama as Harry, an old man going on a cross-country journey to visit his children after his apartment building is knocked down.
Although Jack Nicholson in Chinatown and Al Pacino in The Godfather Part II arguably gave more iconic, memorable performances that year, I thought Carney was really touching in the role, seeming to effortlessly transform into someone about fifteen years older. Particularly moving was the scene where Harry and his old sweetheart, played by Geraldine Fitzgerald, dance together in her retirement home.
I really liked the film; it was a sweet character study that had a very low-key, understated style. The pace was a little bit slow in places and the nearly two hour runtime feels too long for the story, but overall it was a charming, character-driven film that, in its own good-natured way, takes a look at ageing and change.
75%
Harry and Tonto is such a heartwarming movie. Art Carney was just excellent here. He truly gave an Oscar worthy performance. I’m glad he won. He may not have been the best performance that year but he definitely deserved it. He just brought so much depth and emotion to the role. It’s one of those film where if the main performance isn’t good, it just wouldn’t work. It’s really about his character. Carney played Harry perfectly. I couldn’t imagine anyone else as the character. It’s a simple film. It’s really just about Harry as he travels around meeting new people and is accompanied by his adorable cat, Tonto. It’s just such a nice movie. It’s one of those gems…
In many ways, a familiar and formulaic road movie - someone goes on a road trip and meets various characters, and the experience is transformative. The difference here is that it's about a man in his 70s (with a cat) coming to terms with stage of life issues. The last stage of life with its attendant memories and losses. A mixture of upbeat and melancholy. And not bad for what it is, boosted by a solid performance by Art Carney.
It's also a familiar formula for writer/director Paul Mazursky, best known for his 1970s films about the dilemmas of middle-class characters: ultimately positive, caring, not-too-sharp portrayals, ensemble casts in a particular contemporary milieu. Roger Ebert was a…
Jack Nicholson - Chinatown
Al Pacino - The Godfather 2
Gene Hackman -The Conversation
Albert Finney - Murder on The Orient Express
How does one manage to win an Oscar against those aforementioned performances?Honestly i just saw The Honeymooners the first time today afternoon and was impressed by Art Carney's comedic abilities and after seeing him in this whimsical road trip full of nostalgia and redemption,if there was one actor who deserved it anyways it has to be him.The script is so natural.It's a bit long but thought provoking nonetheless.
I was looking forward to what appeared like upbeat Umberto D with a cat meets a road movie, but I quickly disengaged. Now, I don't think old age needs to be all suffering and introspective reflection, but there was something which felt off in Art Carney's Harry, besides the poor old age make-up and lack of chemistry with cat Tonto. I can't put my finger on it. Maybe how chipper he was or the lack of a real gripping arc/purpose. A road movie needs either self- or plot development to be investing. I did check out mentally half-way through, kind of like Tonto, so I also admit I may be talking a lot of rubbish.
Watched with the Collab
The 2022 Academy Awards will be airing tomorrow/tonight/some time in the past, depends on when you're reading this, and thus the cinephile world's collective glasses of schadenfreude have been filled in preparation. Because even people who don't watch the Oscars, like myself, have strong views on Hollywood's constructed self-image as expressed in its annual awards ceremony and collective congratulations/backslapping/circle jerk (pick an option based on how you feel about the Oscars), and how this doesn't measure up to what we outside of Tinseltown think about film. Yes, this one night isn't what critics think, or even the mug public, this is the film industry throwing a party in honour of itself, and so when they flop to an embarrassing extent,…
"I like you Norman."
"I like you too, Aunt Shirley. But I think you're a bitch."
The 1970s was the decade of the road movie, as the freewheeling possibilities of the '60s gave way to a post-Watergate aimless wandering. Like many of its contemporaries, Harry and Tonto kicks off a long journey through displacement - the times they are a-changing, and progress levels his apartment building. But while similar films take a distinctly pessimistic look at the direction that the country is heading, Art Carney's Harry is a bit more varied; while there's a bit of temptation to slip into simple sentimentality and the film is distinctly small-scale, there's also an element of poignancy in how all these different people's…
I came back to the collab because I saw there was a film that featured a cat as one of the title characters. However, I wish this movie was just simply called Tonto.
I sadly did not find Art Carney’s Harry to be all that likable, which colored my perception of the film I was suspicious of to begin with. (This is a perfect example of why I don’t usually love 70s films.) He wandered through a cast of characters during his road-trip cross country and came out the other side, maybe a little more relaxed but not all that different. After the first few quirky strangers, the shine wore off. The last sequence in California was a rapid fire…
