The Best Picture winner adapted from Paddy Chayefsky’s 1953 teleplay about a lonely butcher is Marty.
Delbert Mann directed this 1955 romantic drama from Chayefsky’s screenplay, which expanded his earlier Philco-Goodyear Television Playhouse teleplay. Ernest Borgnine stars as Marty Piletti, a 34-year-old Italian-American butcher living in the Bronx with his widowed mother. Pressured by relatives and friends to marry, Marty has nearly accepted lifelong bachelorhood.
His outlook changes when he meets Clara, a high-school science teacher abandoned by her blind date. Their connection is tentative and ordinary rather than glamorous, which gives the film its quietly observant character. Social pressure nearly separates them before Marty decides that his own happiness matters more than his friends’ opinions.
Marty won Best Picture at the 28th Academy Awards, along with Best Director for Mann, Best Actor for Borgnine, and Best Screenplay for Chayefsky. It also won the Palme d’Or at Cannes. A common mix-up is assuming the title refers to a famous historical figure; Marty is simply the protagonist’s first name.