SnoReptilePlenty
Memorable, crazy movie
CrawlerChunky
In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.
BallWubba
Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.
Caryl
It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.
Hitchcoc
This is one of those movies that when it is over, one wishes it had not ended. It involves Harry, played by Art Carney (of course, Ed Norton on The Honeymooners), who has had to take his cat and leave his apartment building, which is being torn down to make way for a parking garage. He leave all the old men he usually hangs out with and heads west. He visits a son who sends him packing, a daughter, and has a host of experiences, including meeting a hitchhiking hooker and being in thrown in jail with an elderly Indian man (Chief Dan George from "Little Big Man."). As he travels the road, literally and figuratively, he comes to realize that those around him have their troubles and that he is a pretty happy man, despite being uprooted. This is touching, poignant, and loving. Art Carney won the Oscar for best actor.
Danny Blankenship
1974's "Harry and Tonto" is probably one of the better and more memorable and touching films made it's a new journey of discovery and new beginning away from a gone past it proves at no matter any age their is enough left for one last big travel to meet new people, visit family and most of all to begin a new start. The film rightfully won Art Carney a Best Actor Oscar as his performance of an old man is touching and uplifting.The story is simple Harry(Art Carney)is a mid 70's retired teacher who finds that his New York city apartment that he's living in all of a sudden is gonna be facing demolition so he and his beloved cat Tonto set out to live with his son. Soon that's a headache so plans change Harry then wants to journey to Chicago to live with his daughter(Ellen Burstyn)along the way he meets odd and complex people like hitchhikers and a run away. As the road is an adventure that narrows with curves and speed bumps and potholes of people from all different walks of like. As the journey goes more west Harry meets an Indian and a high class hooker in Las Vegas one last bang on the journey! Finally Harry ends in Los Angeles with his son(Larry Hagman). Wow that's one adventure that not even an old man would forget! Overall this is a film of journey and finding one last moment of happiness it proves that life is always full of places and people no matter how different the place or person memories are to be made and friends are discovered. "Harry and Tonto" is one film that clearly travels farther than the rest!
evanston_dad
Pretty schmaltzy road trip movie that stars Art Carney in an Oscar-winning performance as an old man who's evicted from his apartment and goes off on a late-in-life voyage of self discovery.Carney is winning and likable, but the film treads too softly and safely for it to be truly engaging. Indeed, I came across this on TCM and spent the first 40 or so minutes wondering if I even wanted to watch the whole thing, only deciding to once so much time had passed that it seemed silly not to.If you're interested in it for some of the other actors billed in the cast (like Ellen Burstyn), be warned that no one but Carney gets more than some very short cameos (Burstyn herself has maybe five minutes of screen time).See this movie if you want to see the performance that inexplicably beat Jack Nicholson ("Chinatown"), Dustin Hoffman ("Lenny") and Al Pacino ("The Godfather Part II") to the Oscar. Otherwise, you're not missing all that much.Grade: B-
Syl
Art Carney's performance of Harry Coombes earned him a well-deserved Academy Award for Lead Actor and a Golden Globe Award as well. In this wonderful film, he plays a 72 year old retired New Yorker with his beloved cat, Tonto, even on a lease as well. Except for the end, I loved the film and it was done on location with an all star cast such as Larry Hagman and Ellen Burstyn playing his adult children in Los Angeles and Chicago. He begins the film by losing his beloved New York City apartment to be turned into a parking lot on the Upper West Side in Manhattan. He moves reluctantly to the suburbs with his son, Burt, and his family. I have to say that Dolly Jonah did a terrific performance as his daughter-in-law Elaine and I'm surprised that she didn't work more in films and television. He decides to travel to Chicago but won't fly because he refuses to let the airline employees mishandle his beloved Tonto who is also the star of the film. It's a great film with memorable moments and Art Carney's finest performance in film.