History Film / TheyShootHorsesDontThey

-->"But what do we say about the Depression? [''raspberry''] That's what we say about the Depression!"

* CatchPhrase: Rocky is very fond of peppering his speeches to the audience with the word "Yowza!" [[note]]Young patterned his performance as Rocky after '30s bandleader and radio personality Ben Bernie, who also used the phrase liberally.[[/note]]

* AdaptationDisplacement: The film tends to be better-received than the book is, probably due to the fact that the film [[AdaptationExpansion can expand]] more easily on the themes of the very short book.

The film was a hit with critics and audiences, though it holds the dubious distinction of receiving the highest number of Academy Award nominations without being nominated for Best Picture, with nine (it won just one: Best Supporting Actor for Gig Young as Rocky). The film's title is perhaps more widely known than the film itself, with many works named by variants of [[TheJoyOfX "They Shoot ____, Don't They?"]], whether or not the plot bears any resemblance to that of the film. ([[Website/TheyShootPicturesDontThey This website]], for example.)

Rocky keenly exploits the dancers' various vulnerabilities for audience amusement, and periodically organises hellish "derbies" in which the contestants must complete several circuits of the ballroom, with the last three couples automatically eliminated from the overall marathon. During once such derby, Harry suffers a fatal heart attack and is dragged across the finish line by Gloria; his dead body falls into Alice's arms, causing her to suffer a nervous breakdown and withdraw from the competition, re-uniting Robert and Gloria as dancing partners. Rocky tries to persuade them to be married on the dance floor, but when Gloria refuses and states her determination to win the competition, Rocky makes a devastating revelation.

A 1969 film [[TheFilmOfTheBook based on]] [[Literature/TheyShootHorsesDontThey the Horace McCoy novel of the same name]] and directed by Creator/SydneyPollack, '''''They Shoot Horses, Don't They?''''' focuses on the participants in a grueling dance marathon in 1932, at the height of TheGreatDepression.

[[quoteright:299:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/6340e038858f16cb57e5c483b8fa4974.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:299:Robert and Gloria.]]

* CatchPhrase: Rocky is very fond of peppering his speeches to the audience with the word "Yowza!"[[note]] Young patterned his performance as Rocky after '30s bandleader and radio personality Ben Bernie, who also used the phrase liberally.[[/note]]

* CatchPhrase: Rocky is very fond of peppering his speeches to the audience with the word "Yowza!"[[note]] Young patterned his performance as Rocky after '30s bandleader and MC Ben Bernie, who also used the phrase liberally.[[/note]]

* CatchPhrase: Rocky is very fond of peppering his speeches to the audience with the word "Yowza!"[[note]] Young patterned his performance as Rocky after MC and composer Ben Bernie, who also used the phrase liberally.[[/note]]

* AdaptationalAttractiveness: In Horace [=McCoy's=] novel, Robert says of Gloria, "I could see why Gloria didn't get registered by Central. She was too blonde and too small and looked too old. With a nice wardrobe she might have looked attractive, but even then I wouldn't have called her pretty." In the film, she is played by Creator/JaneFonda, who matches no part of that description.

Would-be film director Robert Syverton (Michael Sarrazin) wanders into the La Monica Ballroom on the Santa Monica Pier just as contestants are being signed in for a dance marathon with a cash prize of $1,500. When the partner of cynical aspiring actress Gloria Beatty (Creator/JaneFonda) is disqualified for having a cough that could be a sign of tuberculosis, Rocky (Gig Young), the fast-talking MC of the marathon, recruits Robert as Gloria's new partner. Other contestants include middle-aged sailor Harry Kline (Red Buttons), aspiring actress Alice (Susannah York) and her partner Joel (Robert Fields), and farm worker James (Creator/BruceDern) and his heavily pregnant wife Ruby (Bonnie Bedilia).

The film was a hit with critics and audiences, though it holds the dubious distinction of receiving the highest number of Academy Award nominations without being nominated for Best Picture, with nine (it won just one: Best Supporting Actor for Gig Young as Rocky). The film's title is perhaps more widely known than the film itself, with many works named by variants of "They Shoot ____, Don't They?", whether or not the plot bears any resemblance to that of the film. ([[Website/TheyShootPicturesDontThey This website]], for example.)

[[quoteright:299:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/fotocena7_5553.jpg]]

A 1969 film [[TheFilmOfTheBook based on]] [[Literature/TheyShootHorsesDontThey the Horace McCoy novel of the same name]], directed by Creator/SydneyPollack, '''''They Shoot Horses, Don't They?''''' focuses on the participants in a grueling dance marathon in 1932, at the height of TheGreatDepression.

A 1969 film [[TheFilmOfTheBook based on]] [[Literature/TheyShootHorsesDontThey the Horace McCoy novel of the same name]], directed by Sydney Pollack, '''''They Shoot Horses, Don't They?''''' focuses on the participants in a grueling dance marathon in 1932, at the height of TheGreatDepression.

A 1969 film based on [[Literature/TheyShootHorsesDontThey the Horace McCoy novel of the same name]], directed by Sydney Pollack, '''''They Shoot Horses, Don't They?''''' focuses on the participants in a grueling dance marathon in 1932, at the height of TheGreatDepression.

* TheFilmOfTheBook

-->"But what do we say about the Depression? [''*raspberry*''] That's what we say about the Depression!"

* TitleDrop: As the police are arresting Robert for Gloria's murder, they ask him why he did it. When his first answer, "She asked me," does not satisfy them, he remembers having seen his grandfather put a wounded horse out of its misery (seen in a stylized flashback during the opening titles) and answers with the film's title.

* TitleDrop: As the police are arresting Robert for Gloria's murder, they ask him why he did it. When his first answer, "She asked me," does not satisfy them, he remembers seeing his grandfather put a wounded horse out of its misery (seen in a stylised flashback during the opening titles) and answers with the film's title.

Would-be film director Robert Syverton (Michael Sarrazin) wanders into the La Monica Ballroom on the Santa Monica Pier as contestants are being signed in for a dance marathon with a cash prize of $1,500. When the partner of cynical aspiring actress Gloria Beatty (Creator/JaneFonda) is disqualified for having a cough that could be a sign of tuberculosis, Rocky (Gig Young), the fast-talking MC of the marathon, recruits Robert as Gloria's new partner. Other contestants include middle-aged sailor Harry Kline (Red Buttons), aspiring actress Alice (Susannah York) and her partner Joel (Robert Fields), and farm worker James (Creator/BruceDern) and his heavily pregnant wife Ruby (Bonnie Bedilia).

Would-be director Robert Syverton (Michael Sarrazin) wanders into the La Monica Ballroom in Santa Monica as contestants are being signed in for a dance marathon with a cash prize of $1,500. When the partner of cynical aspiring actress Gloria Beatty (Creator/JaneFonda) is disqualified for having a cough that could be a sign of tuberculosis, Rocky (Gig Young), the fast-talking MC of the marathon, recruits Robert as Gloria's new partner. Other contestants include middle-aged sailor Harry Kline (Red Buttons), aspiring actress Alice (Susannah York) and her partner Joel (Robert Fields), and farm worker James (Creator/BruceDern) and his heavily pregnant wife Ruby (Bonnie Bedilia).

* FlashForward: Where the novel is told mostly in flashback, the film instead uses flash forwards to show what happens to Robert after he and Gloria drop out of the dance marathon (he is hanged for Gloria's murder).

* DownerEnding: Robert and Gloria drop out of the marathon after learning that they will receive almost no money even if they do win. Finally pushed over the brink of despair, Gloria tries to shoot herself, but cannot pull the trigger and asks Robert to do so for her. He does, and is arrested for her murder. It is implied, though not stated, that he is hanged for the crime. Meanwhile, the remaining marathon contestants are almost dead on their feet but continue grimly on, chasing the cash prize that -- unbeknownst to them -- might as well not exist for all they'll see of it.

* DownerEnding: Robert and Gloria drop out of the marathon after learning that they will receive almost no money even if they do win. Finally pushed over the brink of despair, Gloria tries to shoot herself, but cannot pull the trigger and asks Robert to do so for her. He does, and is arrested for her murder. It is implied, though not stated, that he is hanged for the crime. Meanwhile, the remaining marathon contestants are almost dead on their feet, none of them aware that the cash prize they are chasing might as well not exist for all they'll see of it.