Marty, at just
over 90 minutes long, is the shortest Best Picture winner in history[1],
but it’s also one of the most enjoyable, surprising movies I’ve watched so far
during The Oscar Project. It was the first of three films written by Paddy
Chayefsky to win the Best Screenplay Oscar (the others being The Hospital and Network). Only Woody Allen has matched that feat.
And the writing was pitch-perfect. If you’ve seen Network, a masterpiece in its own right,
you’ll understand what this man was capable of. He knew how to hit exactly the
right notes at every moment.
Until this point, no winner has had a smaller scale. In the
early years of the award, of course, the Academy tended to favor sprawling,
drawn-out epics. The tide has begun to turn a little bit in recent years, but
even next year’s winner, Around the Worldin 80 Days, has a gigantic scope. In this sense, Marty sticks out like a sore thumb.
