I was disappointed in Harry and Tonto. I'm a senior and was expecting to be wowed by this flick, but I was not.
Art Carney stars as Harry, a widower who gets evicted from his NYC apartment that is being torn down. He has a network of nice friends, but as he says, all his friends are dead or dying. He seizes the opportunity to travel out west along with his best friend, his cat Tonto.
Along the way, he has many different adventures. He reminds us of the planes, trains, and automobiles movies. He's on a bus. He's hitchhiking. He's in a car. He tries a plane. It's pretty funny to see how his travels go. Maybe the theme of this movie is to show you that old people can be flexible, because that's Harry - nothing flusters him.
He travels to Chicago to visit his daughter. He's out in Arizona, then an obligatory stop in Las Vegas, then to California to visit his other son. Then the movie ends and I felt like - that's it?
There are other famous actors here too - Ellen Burstyn is very good as his daughter. Larry Hagman (Dallas TV series) as his son. But the lead is Carney, and sadly, his performance was underwhelming, despite his winning the Academy award for Best Actor.
I found his acting to lack breadth and depth. He always had the same emotion and look on his face and sound in his voice. He meets death, same. He tries to cry in one scene and it came off as fake and forced. He smiles but never really laughs, despite some occassions where he could have been very happy or very sad and angry. But he's even keeled, and that disappointed me.
I expected a better performance. I was hoping for something like Clint Eastwood in his more recent performances as an old guy who pokes fun at himself like Cry Macho or The Mule or earlier Gran Torino. But no, we did not get such a performance.
The funniest info about Harry and Tonto is that this was an R rated film. Absolutely no nudity, sex, drugs. Maybe some curses. There was one implied scene, and that one scene alone drew an R rating in the 1970s. Boy how times have changed.
I am happy that Carney was awarded for this film because his entire body of work deserves recognition. This award may have been like with Pacino won Best Actory for Scent of a Woman, except Pacino delivered a powerful portrayal that I found lacking in Harry and Tonto.
All told, if you watch this film, you'll get a good view of what life was like back in the 70s when I was a teenager. And you will be treated to an interesting plot. But overall, I was sadly disappointed in this movie, most.
Art Carney stars as Harry, a widower who gets evicted from his NYC apartment that is being torn down. He has a network of nice friends, but as he says, all his friends are dead or dying. He seizes the opportunity to travel out west along with his best friend, his cat Tonto.
Along the way, he has many different adventures. He reminds us of the planes, trains, and automobiles movies. He's on a bus. He's hitchhiking. He's in a car. He tries a plane. It's pretty funny to see how his travels go. Maybe the theme of this movie is to show you that old people can be flexible, because that's Harry - nothing flusters him.
He travels to Chicago to visit his daughter. He's out in Arizona, then an obligatory stop in Las Vegas, then to California to visit his other son. Then the movie ends and I felt like - that's it?
There are other famous actors here too - Ellen Burstyn is very good as his daughter. Larry Hagman (Dallas TV series) as his son. But the lead is Carney, and sadly, his performance was underwhelming, despite his winning the Academy award for Best Actor.
I found his acting to lack breadth and depth. He always had the same emotion and look on his face and sound in his voice. He meets death, same. He tries to cry in one scene and it came off as fake and forced. He smiles but never really laughs, despite some occassions where he could have been very happy or very sad and angry. But he's even keeled, and that disappointed me.
I expected a better performance. I was hoping for something like Clint Eastwood in his more recent performances as an old guy who pokes fun at himself like Cry Macho or The Mule or earlier Gran Torino. But no, we did not get such a performance.
The funniest info about Harry and Tonto is that this was an R rated film. Absolutely no nudity, sex, drugs. Maybe some curses. There was one implied scene, and that one scene alone drew an R rating in the 1970s. Boy how times have changed.
I am happy that Carney was awarded for this film because his entire body of work deserves recognition. This award may have been like with Pacino won Best Actory for Scent of a Woman, except Pacino delivered a powerful portrayal that I found lacking in Harry and Tonto.
All told, if you watch this film, you'll get a good view of what life was like back in the 70s when I was a teenager. And you will be treated to an interesting plot. But overall, I was sadly disappointed in this movie, most.