Marty

"It's the love story of an unsung hero!"

1955 1h 30m EN

🙌

7.5

BANGER

★7.5TMDB · 476

DramaRomance

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Marty, a butcher who lives in the Bronx with his mother, is unmarried at 34. Good-natured but socially awkward, he faces constant badgering from family and friends to get married but has reluctantly resigned himself to bachelorhood. He then meets Clara, an unattractive school teacher. Realising their emotional connection, Marty promises to call, but family and friends try to convince him not to.

“It's the love story of an unsung hero!”

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Cast

Ernest Borgnine
Marty
Betsy Blair
Clara
Esther Minciotti
Mrs. Piletti
Augusta Ciolli
Aunt Catherine
Joe Mantell
Angie
Karen Steele
Virginia
Jerry Paris
Tommy
James Bell
Mr. Snyder (uncredited)

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Delbert Mann
Writers: Paddy Chayefsky, Paddy Chayefsky
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

90 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $0.3M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Made its money back 8.7× over at the box office.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

ERA

Did you know

71 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Delbert Mann, shot by Joseph LaShelle. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Roy Webb. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Ernest Borgnine and Betsy Blair and Esther Minciotti carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "It's the love story of an unsung hero!".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Delbert Mann directs. Joseph LaShelle behind the camera. Roy Webb scores. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

190 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.
2Shot for just $0.3M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
3Made its money back 8.7× over at the box office.
471 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
5Directed by Delbert Mann, shot by Joseph LaShelle. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Original score by Roy Webb. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
7Ernest Borgnine and Betsy Blair and Esther Minciotti carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "It's the love story of an unsung hero!".
9IMDB entry: tt0048356 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Classified under 12 themes, including "italian american", "bachelor", "marriage", "butcher".

The technical file

Cinematography: Joseph LaShelle
Original score: Roy Webb
Costume design: Norma Koch
Makeup / hair: Agnes Flanagan
Runtime: 90 min · 1h 30m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $343,000
Box office: $3,000,000
Return: 875% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): NR
IMDB: Marty (1955)

Awards

Palme d'Or
Academy Award for Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay
National Board of Review: Top Ten Films
National Board of Review Award for Best Film
Academy Award for Best Actor
Academy Award for Best Director
Academy Award for Best Picture

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

Delbert Mann

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Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

badelf2026-07-02
★ 7/10
Summary: 7/10: a well-crafted slice of 1950s life that earns its Best Picture Oscar even if much of it feels like anthropology now. Funny, amusing, and quite dated, but an enjoyable watch anyway. Paddy Chayefsky's Oscar-winning screenplay, expanded from his own television play, captures a specific moment in working-class Bronx life with sharp ear for dialogue and genuine affection for its characters, even when those characters are casually cruel to each other in ways that feel distinctly of their era. Ernest Borgnine is wonderful as Marty, the lonely butcher who's been told he's too ugly, too boring, too old to find love. Borgnine brings vulnerability and dignity to a man who's internalized everyone else's low opinion of him, and when he meets Clara at a dance, you believe completely in his cautious hope. Betsy Blair matches him perfectly as Clara, a schoolteacher equally convinced of her own undesirability. Their tentative connection feels real, hard-won, precious. The supporting cast is uniformly good, from Marty's suffocating mother to his buddies who offer terrible advice while standing on street corners with nothing better to do. Director Delbert Mann keeps the pacing tight and the focus intimate, preserving the television play's chamber piece quality even as it opens up to film. What dates the film isn't just the casual sexism and ethnic stereotypes, but the very specific social world it depicts: one where unmarried thirty-somethings are considered tragic figures, where mothers wield guilt like surgical instruments, where men gather nightly to complain about their boring lives without ever considering they might change them. Still, at its core, this is a sweet story about two lonely people finding each other, and Borgnine and Blair make you root for them.

Production companies