THEY SHOOT HORSES, DON'T THEY? (1969)

Not to be confused with They Shoot Human Centipedes, Don't They? THEY SHOOT HORSES, DON'T THEY? is about a dance marathon back in the 1930's where contestants team up to see who can dance the longest. And we're talking about weeks, not hours. Things go smoothly for our penniless heroes, Jane Fonda and Michael Sarrazin, for the first 600 hours or so, but then the lack of sleep, mental/physical exhaustion and the roar of the blood-thirsty crowds start to take its toll and things get cray. (One psycho even said that they like Will Smith movies!)  Still these desperate people fight on.  How long can it possible go?

A dark subject matter like this would have been perfect for directors like Polanski or Kubrick (can you imagine the intensity of the end game in a dance marathon film by Kubrick?!), but that didn't happen, so instead of a masterpiece about dehumanization and a social commentary with some black humor mixed in, we get an alright but overall forgettable film that honestly was kinda boring.  The speed-walking scenes were engaging, but other than that I really wasn't into it.  None of the characters were successfully fleshed out, the flash forwards were distracting and unneeded, the pacing was a drag, the sets and costumes looked just like that, the continuity of the contest didn't come off very well and that ending.  Lame.

It might sound like I disliked the film, but that's not true.  It just didn't click with me.  I'm sure there's tons of people out there that love this film (hell, it had 9 Oscar nominations and even won 1).  I'm just not one of them.