Based on the novel of the same name by Horace McCoy, this 1969 movie is set in a ballroom during a marathon dance competition in the early 1930s. These brutal, endless shows were sort of the "reality TV shows" of that era: competitive dancers moved around the floor till they dropped, in pursuit of a cash prize. Gloria (Fonda) is a cynical, no-b.s. gal hoping to score big, Robert (Sarrazin) a young and wide-eyed innocent by comparison. Susannah York plays Alice, a glamour girl who loses all composure and goes nuts and dirty as a result of the pressure. This study in social pathology, of hollow victories in a game that is perpetually rigged, reflected the bitter side of the late 1960s as well as the time in which it is set. Nominated for 9 Academy Awards, only Gig Young walked away with a Best Supporting Actor Oscar as the ever-jovial emcee.
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The review of this Movie prepared by David Loftus
