Marty

Marty (1955) is a black-and-white romance you can watch online on iFILM. Marty Piletti, a Bronx butcher, has reached thirty-four still unmarried, and he has nearly talked himself into believing he always will be.

Kind, heavyset and hopeless around women, Marty hears the same needling question every night from his mother and his pals: when is he finally going to settle down. Then a Saturday dance changes things. He meets Clara, a plain schoolteacher everyone is quick to dismiss, and the two lonely people stumble into something real. He promises to call her. That is when the hard part begins, because his mother dreads being left alone and his friends decide the girl simply is not pretty enough. Ernest Borgnine, usually cast as a heavy, plays him with a tenderness that sneaks up on you.

Paddy Chayefsky adapted the screenplay from his own television play, and Delbert Mann directed. This modest story about two ordinary, overlooked people remains the only film ever to take both the Palme d'Or at Cannes and Hollywood's top prize, four wins in all, among them the lead acting honor for Borgnine. Stream Marty (1955) online on iFILM.