Marty (Delbert Mann, 1955)

Best Picture Oscar winners merit the oxymoronic expression "extremely okay." They're so aggressively average, aiming so intently at the status quo, that they leave one with not much to say. They're just...there. And so with Marty. If you care about acting, Borgnine gives a spirited performance as the titular Bronx butcher shamed for being a bachelor at 31. The working-class milieu is trenchantly observed. The story is an early and welcome primer on the evils of ghosting. The third act feels rushed which occasions the disappearance of Clara (Betsy Blair), the gal Marty falls for, from the narrative. Overall, it's a solid reminder of how oppressive the 1950s could be. But wow, there are at least two dozen Hollywood films from the same year that tell us far more about America and/or are stylistically more adventurous, none of which were nominated for Best Picture, starting with Night of the Hunter and The Long Grey Line on to terrific westerns by de Toth, Mann, and Vidor, Sirk's There's Always Tomorrow and Donen/Kelly's It's Always Fair Weather (a great double feature!), and two of Joan Crawford's greatest films. Instead, this not-half-bad-but-not-half-good-either flicker took the statue. 

Grade: B