They Shoot Horses, Don't They
- 2 days ago
- 2 min read
Of all the American writers who made a name for themselves writing hardboiled stories in the 1930s and 1940s, one of my favorites is Horace McCoy. His best-known novel is They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? It’s a Depression-era story about a dance marathon, which was a real-life popular fad at the time. McCoy—working as a reporter in California—was assigned to write a story about a marathon held in a ballroom out on the famed Santa Monica pier. He found what he saw there so fascinating, so tragic, so revealing about the desperate measures that people will take to survive that it gave birth to his novel. It was published in 1935 and then adapted into a terrific film version made in 1969, starring Jane Fonda in a riveting performance, along with Michael Sarrazin, Susannah York, and a great cast of supporting actors.
In the film, the rules of the dance marathon are simple. Couples compete for a $1,500 cash prize by dancing nonstop before an audience, until only one couple is left standing. That’s it. Of course, how long the marathon will last is anyone’s guess, turning it into a brutal endurance contest. But to make the competition even harder, the contestants are periodically forced to stop dancing, grab hold of their partners and then race around a track in the ballroom at breakneck speed. Come in among the last and you’re disqualified.
Through all of it, the suffering of the dancers is unbearable. The only relief they get is an occasional break where they can collapse and grab a nap. But then the music resumes and the inhuman marathon of dancing and running continues. The marathon depicted in the film lasts for more than 60 days!
The story is a haunting metaphor for the often cruel struggle of life—a nonstop dance, a race to nowhere.
As you might imagine, the ordeal of the marathon takes a toll. Eventually the dance floor resembles more of a killing floor, where the human spirit is crushed by a gauntlet of fatigue, injury, and even death. The actor Gig Young won a well-deserved Oscar for his role as a seedy emcee who provides a cheerful, showbiz commentary on the awful spectacle. Eventually we begin to see the dance marathon in the same way that Horace McCoy did. More than a Depression-era fad, the story is a haunting metaphor for the often cruel struggle of life—a nonstop dance, a race to nowhere.
I give They Shoot Horses, Don’t They four out of four stars. It’s a brilliant, one-of-a-kind movie. Can it be depressing? Yes. But the truth-telling of its drama is searing and unforgettable. Kudos to director Sydney Pollack for creating such an enduring work of art.
