Line #20 Film/HarryAndTonto


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/harry_and_tonto.jpeg]]
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3	''Harry and Tonto'' is a 1974 American {{Dramedy}} RoadMovie directed and co-written by Creator/PaulMazursky.
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5	Septuagenarian widower and retired teacher Harry Coombes (Creator/ArtCarney) finds himself evicted from his New York City apartment so the building can be demolished. Joined by his cat Tonto, he moves in with his son Burt (Phil Bruns) but quickly gets fed up with Burt's dysfunctional family and decides to fly to Chicago to see his daughter Shirley (Creator/EllenBurstyn). But after a series of mishaps, he ends up buying a used car and driving to Chicago instead. Along the way he's joined by teenage runaway hitchhiker Ginger (Melanie Mayron). He ultimately decides to travel to Los Angeles to visit his other son Eddie (Creator/LarryHagman), but the American road presents Harry with plenty of colorful characters and situations along the way, as Tonto stays faithfully by his side.
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7	Most famous now for Carney's upset win of the Best Actor UsefulNotes/AcademyAward, for which he managed to beat out Creator/JackNicholson (''Film/{{Chinatown}}''), Creator/AlPacino (''Film/TheGodfatherPartII''), Creator/DustinHoffman (''Film/{{Lenny}}''), and Creator/AlbertFinney (''[[Film/MurderOnTheOrientExpress1974 Murder on the Orient Express]]'').
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10	!!This film contains examples of:
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12	* AutoErotica: Implied with Harry and the prostitute who gives him a ride.
13	* BigApplesauce: The first quarter of the film is a prime example.
14	* TheBardOnBoard: It's a loose reworking of ''Theatre/KingLear'', which Harry even lampshades in the film. Since he was apparently an English teacher, Harry also quotes Shakespeare quite a bit.
15	* BittersweetEnding: Harry [[spoiler:settles in California and finds new friends and a new daily routine, but Tonto dies of old age]].
16	* CoolOldGuy: Harry, who's still kind of crotchety but not too judgmental, since he knows how disappointing life can be.
17	* CrazyCatLady: Harry befriends one at the end of the film.
18	* CreatorCameo: Paul Mazursky as the hustler who silently hits on Harry in Hollywood.
19	* ElectiveMute: Norman, Harry's grandson (and Burt's son) is studying Eastern mysticism and has taken a vow of silence, communicating only by writing. But [[spoiler:when we see him again later in the film, he's renounced it]].
20	* LoyalAnimalCompanion: Tonto.
21	* MagicalNativeAmerican: Maybe not literally magical, but Harry meets an aging medicine man named Sam Two Feathers while he's in jail in Las Vegas.
22	* MistakenForTerrorist: When Harry intends to board a plane bound for Chicago, Airport Security starts grilling him about Tonto's cat carrier. Harry soon gets exasperated and angrily blurts out "Do you think I've got a bomb in there?" Though not arrested, he and Tonto do end up boarding a cross-country bus in the next scene.
23	* NameAndName: Though "Tonto" is a little puzzling if you're not familiar with the film.
24	* PopCulturalOsmosisFailure: Harry has to explain Tonto's name to Sam Two Feathers, who's never heard of ''Radio/TheLoneRanger''.
25	* RoadMovie: Harry and Tonto go from New York to Los Angeles via bus, driving and hitchhiking over the course of a single autumn.
26	* TheRunaway: Ginger, a troubled teen who's left home to live in a commune in Colorado.
27	* RunningGag: People talking to Harry about seeing ''[[Series/Ironside1967 Ironside]]'' on TV.
28	* SliceOfLife: Bordering on RandomEventsPlot. It's basically a few weeks in the life of a quirky old widower (and his cat).
29	* WholePlotReference: The film plays like a more naturalistic Americanized version of ''Film/WildStrawberries'', infused with plot elements of ''Theatre/KingLear''.

Context Film / HarryAndTonto