Harry and Tonto
by Paul Mazursky
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Art Carney, Ellen Burstyn, Herbert Berghof, Michael McCleery, René EnríquezDirector: Paul Mazursky
Brand: Fox
Cinematographer: Michael C. Butler
Producer: Paul Mazursky
Writer: Paul Mazursky
Editor: Richard Halsey
Writer: Josh Greenfeld
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 1.0; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 1.0
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 115 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-09-06
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Movie Reviews of Harry and Tonto
Movie Review: "I'll tell you something Harry, I don't always like you...but I love you."
Summary: 5 Stars
Well, I'll agree Art Carney was certainly the unlikely Oscar winner in 1975 for his role as gallivanting, cat toting septuagenarian Harry Coombes in the film Harry and Tonto (1974), especially given his competition including Jack Nicholson (Chinatown), Al Pacino (The Godfather: Part II), Dustin Hoffman (Lenny), and Albert Finney (Murder on the Orient Express), but that shouldn't overshadow the fact that this is just a really wonderful film, one worth checking out. Produced, co-written, and directed by Paul Mazursky (Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, Down and Out in Beverly Hills), the film stars, as I mentioned, Art Carney (W.W. and the Dixie Dancekings, Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood), probably best know for his role of Ed Norton, the world's most famous sewer worker, on the 1950s series "The Honeymooners". Also appearing is Philip Bruns (The Great Waldo Pepper), Cliff De Young (F/X), Josh Mostel (City Slickers), Geraldine Fitzgerald (Wuthering Heights), Melanie Mayron (My Blue Heaven), Chief Dan George (The Outlaw Josey Wales), Larry Hagman ("I Dream of Jeannie"), and Ellen Burstyn (The Exorcist), who won an Oscar for another film she appeared in released the same year titled Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore.
Carney plays Harry Coombes, a widowed, 72 year old retired teacher who's recently found out that he and his orange tabby named Tonto, are soon to be among the homeless throngs as their NY apartment building is slated for destruction, to be replaced by a parking lot. Harry reluctantly moves in with his son Burt (Bruns) in his suburban home, but quickly realizes living with a group isn't his (or Tonto's) bag. Harry begins looking for a new place in the city, but it's difficult, especially when you've got a cat in tow. After the death of a close friend, Harry decides to do a little traveling and spend time with his two, other children, one of whom named Shirley (Burstyn) lives in Chicago, and the other named Eddie (Hagman) who lives in California. After problems not only at the airport and subsequently on the bus, Harry and Tonto find themselves on foot somewhere between the moon and New York City, eventually buying a car, picking up a couple of hitchhikers (the scripture quoting hitchhiker soon finds another ride, thank God, as he's headed south rather than west), one of them a runaway named Ginger (Mayron), who manages to convince Harry to look up an old flame (Fitzgerald) along the way (it's not like Harry or Ginger are in that big of a hurry to get anywhere in particular). The trio do make it to Chicago and see Harry's daughter, but they're soon on their way again, with Harry's grandson Norman (Mostel) along for the ride (Norman was sent from NY to collect his grandfather, but ends up sort of hooking up with Ginger). After some interesting encounters (a vitamin salesman, a benevolent prostitute, and an honest to goodness Native American medicine man), Harry and Tonto finally make it out west, learning the journey can often times be more enjoyable than the destination.
Here's one of my favorite lines from the film...it comes from an elderly landlady of a shoddy NYC apartment building as Harry, who's looking for a new place, comments on the limited view..."At our age, if you don't know what the world looks like, you never will." Everyone's a comedian...I like how she just walked in on the tenant still living in the apartment to show it (apparently, he was moving out at the end of the week). You know what's strange? I've never seen anyone walking a cat (as they would a dog, with a leash), until I saw this film. This is a fairly sweet, mellow, sometimes sad film that flows along at a amiable pace, taking its' time in the telling. Carney, who was in his mid 50s at the time, is really wonderful as Harry, an educated man (he's always got a line of Shakespeare handy), and devoted cat owner, always with a song in his heart, just beginning to explore the opportunities now in front of him, some of which he traded off on many years past in choosing to settle down and raise a family. One of my favorite elements of the character is, despite the time spent in the Big Apple (he'd been mugged four times that year), he displays a willingness to open himself up to the experience of traveling the country by the seat of his pants with his furry companion, meeting new and interesting people, and seeing the world outside of a major, metropolitan city. He does seem a little naïve at times, but I think it's more of him just leaving his preconceptions behind and his willingness to want to understand how the rest of the world lives. As far as the rest of the performances, they were all very well done, doing exactly what they should have, supporting Carney's role. I thought Harry's children interesting...there's Burt, the sort of clingy, overly concerned son, Shirley, the independent daughter who seems to have inherited her father's intelligence as well as his stubbornness, and finally Eddie (Hagman), the seemingly well-to-do Hollywood schmoozer who puts up a good, but transparent façade (he's broke as the day is long). As I said, the story moves along pretty well, and I hardly even realized nearly two hours had passed by the time it was over. I was really engaged in the characters and relationships, along with the bits of humor and drama. There are a couple of poignant moments in the film, but they're never milked as they would have been in other films, and for that I was impressed and thankful. They were relatively short, sweet, and appropriate, and kept the film well away from the realm of schmaltzy sentimentality.
The picture, presented in anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1), looks clean and comes across well, as do the audio tracks, available in both Dolby Digital mono (English and Spanish) and stereo (English only). There's a commentary track with producer, co-writer, and director Paul Mazursky, along with a theatrical teaser, a theatrical trailer, and three television spots, and English and Spanish subtitles.
Cookieman108
By the way, not only did Mazursky produce, co-write, and direct this film, but he also appeared in a bit part credited as the `Gay Hustler'. Watch for his scene in the last third of the film, as Harry's at a bus terminal in L.A. waiting for his son Eddie to pick him up. One last thing, if this film taught me anything it's that people sure loved the Raymond Burr television series "Ironsides" back in the day.
Summary of Harry and Tonto
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