They Shoot Horses, Don't They?
Sydney Pollack, 1969 Yowza!
I had to do it once.
Bondo and I synchronized viewings; for Bondo of course a rewatch, and for me, this is first contact with Syndey Pollack's They Shoot Horses, Don't They? I was warned that the content would be a bit of a downer, but my intellectual engagement with the concept was able to just outpace the overall desolation on hand. I'm going to kick off the conversation discussing the primary concept involved, which is of course a dance marathon during the Great Depression (1933! I did math!...I think) that is meant to represent the self-perpetuating and doomed cycle of poverty. I'm going to avoid writing too much because I don't want entry into the conversation to be overly prohibitive. Basically, I don't want to make you work through too much more of a ramble.
What's wonderful about this film is the many angles of attack it takes to expose the ills of a greatly imbalanced society, the fallout from capitalism run amok. Not looking for a new debate on that, it's simply what I see on display, people desperate for money dancing for the entertainment of others who don't have to worry about such things. It made me think of the imbalance in a great many aspects of life. While watching the charade on hand, I thought of:
1. The enlistees in our mighty military, many who go the route of the armed forces because it's the only way they can see to get out of their impoverished situation. Their family risks everything to fight wars that far wealthier and privileged people get us into. The dancers are in boot camp, and the rich who will inevitably send them into the war zone throw them their pittance. The winner becomes an officer, but maybe just for a day.
2. The nature of a past Gilded Age that feasted on the cheap labor provided by men and children alike with no thoughts to benefits or a decent wage. Wage slaves, a sort of neo-indentured servitude at the time before unionization took hold in our country; and now, how it's been beaten back. I think of modern day Amazon and Walmart employees. Their days are routine, predictable, except for, of course, how many hours they'll get, plus where to find the best doctors Medicaid can buy them, if they're even working, what job will they get? Inevitably, there's no getting ahead, there's hardly even getting along, for so many, it's a death dance. Which was driven home by the tap dancing sailor played by Red Buttons, whose (I'm assuming) corpse is scraped off the ground during one of the regular races these contestants - who'd been dance for over 1,000 straight - have to get their sponsors and crowd all going.
3. Speaking of sponsors, we tackle the literal patronization of the poor by the rich. They sponsor these people so that they may continue torturing themselves for...something. I can't figure out if its a commentary that's being made on the nature of private charity, but just watching the crowds, which become bigger and nicer the longer these people go through this torment and humiliation, makes me a little nauseous. I wonder if this was big enough, prominent enough to get people crying "class warfare" at the time.
It's funny I came to this just after bowing out on a conversation I no longer wanted to have about capitalism. Because it is this very scenario, the total exploitation of people who are desperate enough to be willingly and dangerous exploited, the figurative bottom in the race to the bottom that occurs when the oligarchs take control and redistribute the money into their pockets, leaving no hope for a better way of life, until we just start asking to be put down like sick animals.
I do wonder if there's a mental health aspect regarding Gloria that made her assisted suicide seem a bit more problematic than at first blush. Then again, I don't think this film overtly suggests that Robert, who pulled the trigger for her, was painted as innocent, either. She seemed like she needed a lot of help, but I'm sure she was just so CINECAST!ing trapped, and when it's totally hopeless, truly and completely, who makes that call? Should be you, right? Maybe after a bit more deliberation, but went into this competition sad, humiliated, and alone, and that's how she went out.
There are other touches, moments, and scenarios to work out, but this is my first time, and I'd like people who know and understand this film even better to have a chance to give their thoughts, especially on the analytic vs. the evaluative side of things. I'll put more of my Did you like/love/hate it? in the Respond thread.
Bring it, everyone. I engineered my whole day around being rested and in a good state of mind to see this.