They Shoot Horses, Don't They?

A total of nine Academy Award nominations went to this wildly acclaimed, allegorical drama set amongst the contestants in a marathon dance contest during the Great Depression. Gig Young stars as Rocky, the obnoxious emcee for a dance marathon that offers prize money of $1,500, a small fortune during ...more

Appearing throughout the 1960s in forgettable light comedies and overdone potboilers (some directed by her then-husband, Roger Vadim), Jane Fonda hardly seemed to be an actress with a memorable career ahead of her. That changed in 1969, with They Shoot Horses, Don't They?, in which Fonda gave her first inarguably great performance as Gloria, a woman shorn of hope and compassion, who has learned to get by on bitterness and survival instinct. While Fonda was the film's biggest surprise, she was ...more