If this film were released today, it would be deemed a triumph by just getting reasonable distribution and some form of Oscar recognition: in essence, it has all the hallmarks of the quintessential "indie" product – and, yet, it was produced by a Hollywood major (Fox) and did cause an upset when Art Carney was surprisingly named Best Actor over such heavyweights as Dustin Hoffman in LENNY, Jack Nicholson in CHINATOWN and Al Pacino in THE GODFATHER, PART II (the remaining nominee i.e. Albert Finney in MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS was equally considered an outsider, especially as Gene Hackman's acclaimed turn in THE CONVERSATION was ultimately locked out of the race)! For the record, the film's sole other Academy Award nod was for Best Original Screenplay (co-written by the director).
Anyway, this is a road movie with a difference – since the titular figures are a dispossessed old widower and his 11 year-old cat. Harry first goes to live with his New Yorker son but, realizing he is imposing on his family (which includes Joshua Mostel as a young man who has taken a vow of silence and likes to experiment with drugs!), moves out to Chicago to stay with oft-divorced daughter Ellen Burstyn (second-billed in what constitutes a mere cameo: as it turned out, she won the Best Actress Oscar that same year for the not-too-dissimilar ALICE DOESN'T LIVE HERE ANYMORE!). However, when he runs into trouble with the airport authorities over the cat's cage, he opts to travel by bus – but, here too, he causes havoc as the greyhound is forced to make an unscheduled stop in order to allow Tonto to relieve itself! Left behind, they continue the journey by car – after Harry buys a second-hand vehicle, despite his driving license having expired since 1958! On the way, he picks up a teenage girl who has left home to live in a commune in Colorado; shacking up together in a motel, he is mildly disturbed when seeing her in the nude. Reaching Burstyn's place, he finds Mostel there – who has become a new man and even decides to leave with the teenager. Now reduced to hitch-hiking, he is picked up by a hooker who has no qualms about offering her services to him en route! Next stop is L.A. (after a brief stint in Vegas, where he proves a jinx to a gambler who had been having a very lucky streak up till then!), where Carney's other son – Larry Hagman – is a broke insurance broker; the old man also winds up in jail after he is caught urinating in the street and Tonto dies of natural causes some time later
While ostensibly a comedy, the melancholy relating to old age is patent throughout – right from the opening montage; Carney also treats an unemployed black man to dinner (while entertaining his son's family with a song-and-dance routine) and charges himself of a Polish immigrant's funeral. The supporting cast also includes three other previous Oscar nominees: Geraldine Fitzgerald (as a former celebrity flame, now suffering from dementia, of the protagonist), Arthur Hunnicutt (as a traveling salesman) and Chief Dan George (as an Indian medicine man/fellow convict who 'cures' Carney's arthritis). The moving finale sees Harry running into a cat-lady and taking a fancy to one which looks a lot like his beloved Tonto.
Anyway, this is a road movie with a difference – since the titular figures are a dispossessed old widower and his 11 year-old cat. Harry first goes to live with his New Yorker son but, realizing he is imposing on his family (which includes Joshua Mostel as a young man who has taken a vow of silence and likes to experiment with drugs!), moves out to Chicago to stay with oft-divorced daughter Ellen Burstyn (second-billed in what constitutes a mere cameo: as it turned out, she won the Best Actress Oscar that same year for the not-too-dissimilar ALICE DOESN'T LIVE HERE ANYMORE!). However, when he runs into trouble with the airport authorities over the cat's cage, he opts to travel by bus – but, here too, he causes havoc as the greyhound is forced to make an unscheduled stop in order to allow Tonto to relieve itself! Left behind, they continue the journey by car – after Harry buys a second-hand vehicle, despite his driving license having expired since 1958! On the way, he picks up a teenage girl who has left home to live in a commune in Colorado; shacking up together in a motel, he is mildly disturbed when seeing her in the nude. Reaching Burstyn's place, he finds Mostel there – who has become a new man and even decides to leave with the teenager. Now reduced to hitch-hiking, he is picked up by a hooker who has no qualms about offering her services to him en route! Next stop is L.A. (after a brief stint in Vegas, where he proves a jinx to a gambler who had been having a very lucky streak up till then!), where Carney's other son – Larry Hagman – is a broke insurance broker; the old man also winds up in jail after he is caught urinating in the street and Tonto dies of natural causes some time later
While ostensibly a comedy, the melancholy relating to old age is patent throughout – right from the opening montage; Carney also treats an unemployed black man to dinner (while entertaining his son's family with a song-and-dance routine) and charges himself of a Polish immigrant's funeral. The supporting cast also includes three other previous Oscar nominees: Geraldine Fitzgerald (as a former celebrity flame, now suffering from dementia, of the protagonist), Arthur Hunnicutt (as a traveling salesman) and Chief Dan George (as an Indian medicine man/fellow convict who 'cures' Carney's arthritis). The moving finale sees Harry running into a cat-lady and taking a fancy to one which looks a lot like his beloved Tonto.