'They Shoot Horses, Don't They?' Review (1969, dir. Sydney Pollack)

I wanted to review They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? as I think it’s an underappreciated standout in the work of Sydney Pollack as well as of its star Jane Fonda. Fonda is one of my favourite actresses of all time, and I’ve been obsessively following and watching her work since I was a teen, and then carrying that admiration into the essays and dissertation I wrote on her at University. Out of all the incredible performances she’s given over the years, I think They Shoot Horses is one of her best and I wish we talked about it more. So if you haven’t seen the film, I hope this review encourages you to watch it!

They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? takes place in 1932 and is a grim retelling of the Depression era dance marathons that people would take part in in the hopes of being the last pair standing to win a cash prize. It sounds fairly innocent until you realise that these marathons would last over 1000 hours (which for context is around 40 days) where the contestants were allowed only 10-15 minutes every hour to sleep or be fed, all the while others would pay to sit and watch. What Pollack does so well with the film is convey an utterly desperate and miserable atmosphere – it makes you feel dirty and sweaty just watching it.

The film has an impressive cast, including Gig Young, Red Buttons, Susannah York, Michael Sarrazin and Bruce Dern (all play contestants in the marathon bar Young), but it’s Jane Fonda as Gloria Beatty who is the main focus. When she glides into frame for the first time, I’m always struck by how deep and serious Fonda’s voice is. I can’t even imagine the shock audiences had hearing and seeing her as Gloria in 1969 when only a year earlier she was playing the bouncing, girly sex-goddess Barbarella. They Shoot Horses marks a significant turning point in her career, when she starts to take on more serious and complex characters to play.

Fonda as Barbarella in 1968.

Fonda in 'They Shoot Horses' a year later.

Whilst there is little backstory given for the characters in this film, it is obvious from the outset that our main character Gloria is bitter, depressed and pessimistic, and that entering this dance marathon is not a choice but a last resort in order to get her hands on some money. In her first line of dialogue, while queuing to register for the marathon, she says that cattle have it better than the contestants because they’re constantly fed and don’t know when they’re about to be slaughtered. This line alone tells you enough about her past and her perspective on life and the world. The arc Gloria is given is unique and I love that there’s no attempt to sweeten her - she is not characterised as someone who is hopeful and bright eyed in the beginning but loses hope once she is confronted with reality. You get the full impression that she has had a very rough life, and this marathon serves only to deepen her hopelessness. A funny but achingly sad line she bluntly gives when asked what she’d do with the prize money if she won is “maybe I’d buy some good rat poison.” Fonda mixes dry wit with emotional desperation to make Gloria and They Shoot Horses some of her best work, which was rewarded with her first Oscar nomination for Best Actress.

Next to Fonda as a standout in the film is Gig Young as Rocky, the man in charge of the dance marathon. I was used to watching Young in Doris Day romantic comedies, so much like with Fonda, his turn as a capitalist pig in this film is much different from what I was used to when I first watched this. His performance is stellar as Rocky, winning him the Best Supporting Actor Oscar after two previous nominations.

Gig Young as Rocky energising the crowd.

Rocky pretty much serves as an allegory in They Shoot Horses. He embodies the ironies of capitalism and entertainment in the western world, symbolising the key to who makes it and who doesn’t. He goads the audiences watching the contestants and whips up a sadistic frenzy by shouting things like “These wonderful kids deserve your cheers because each one of them is fighting down pain, exhaustion, weariness, struggling to keep going, battling to win – and isn’t that the American way?! Yes it is.” The land of the free does not sound or look very free through the eyes of Pollack’s film. Whilst the film is set in 1932, the fact of being so grimly entertained and satisfied by the misery of others does not feel so far away as that year might feel. Today we are bombarded with Reality TV shows that thrive on there being ‘drama’ for its contestants in order to keep audiences hooked. They Shoot Horses definitely makes you think and perhaps encourages you to be a little more critical of practises that have become so normalised in our society, even after 55 years since its release. It’s an uncomfortable watch, but necessarily so, and I’d definitely recommend.

Disclaimer: I do not own these images.