THEY SHOOT HORSES DON'T THEY: dance like your life depends on it

Whatever other indignities this recession has visited on decent hardworking folk just trying to get ahead in life at least it hasn't imposed on them the grotesque spectacle of the dance marathon.
Dance marathons were an American phenomenon of the 1920s and 30s with couples competing for a cash prize by dancing continuously for days, weeks or even months in the hope of becoming the last pair standing.
With the onset of the Great Depression they became the last hope for many dreaming of an escape from the hopeless poverty they had sunk into. Director Sydney Pollack captures the mood of the era magnificently in THEY SHOOT HORSES DON'T THEY (1969), set in a beachside Santa Monica dance hall in 1931 during what develops into a particularly gruelling dance marathon.
The film is a beautifully drawn character study of desperate people under extreme pressure, forcing themselves on beyond the limits of their endurance in the hope of grabbing the $1500 prize. Jane Fonda is Gloria, embittered and old beyond her years, the skin stretched tight over a face frozen into a permanent expression of resignation. Her dance partner is Robert (Michael Sarrazin), a naive and other-worldly young man who doesn't really know why he's there. Among the other motley competitors is James (Bruce Dern) and his heavily pregnant wife Ruby (Bonnie Bedelia), veteran sailor Red Buttons, and Susannah York as Alice, an actress with the emphasis on the ac, clinging to her fantasy of being discovered by a big Hollywood producer.
Presiding over this three ring circus is the MC, Rocky, played by Gig Young. He deservedly won an Oscar for his multi-layered portrayal of a huckster who's not quite as sleazy or cynical as he thinks he is. It's a performance to be savoured although it wasn't until after the final credits had rolled that I recognised just how good Young is in the part.
The film makes for uncomfortable viewing, putting us in the position of armchair spectators at the public humiliation and mental destruction of people who - but for the grace of god - could be us.
It's not uplifting but it's definitely great cinema.