In the midst of the Great Depression, manipulative emcee Rocky enlists contestants for a dance marathon offering a class="h-100",500 cash prize. Among them are a failed actress, a middle-aged sailor, a delusional blonde and a pregnant girl.
Ratings
Curator score: 8.8/10
IMDb: 7.8/10
Letterboxd: 4.21/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 82%
Metacritic: 72
TMDB: 7.6/10
Director
Sydney Pollack
Production
Palomar Pictures International, ABC Pictures, Palomar Pictures, ABC, Winkler Films
Cast
Jane Fonda, Michael Sarrazin, Susannah York, Gig Young, Red Buttons, Bonnie Bedelia, Michael Conrad, Bruce Dern, Al Lewis, Robert Fields, Severn Darden, Allyn Ann McLerie, Madge Kennedy, Jacquelyn Hyde, Felice Orlandi, Art Metrano, Gail Billings, Lynn Willis, Maxine Greene, Mary Gregory
Curator Review
Verdict
A brutal, deeply affecting Depression-era drama that turns a dance marathon into a nightmare of spectacle, desperation, and social cruelty. It’s bleak, sharp, and emotionally punishing, but also formally gripping and unforgettable.
Best for
viewers who like bleak social dramas
fans of 1970s-era American realism
people drawn to stories about exploitation and survival
audiences who appreciate devastating endings and moral ambiguity
Skip if
you want an uplifting or feel-good watch
you’re sensitive to relentless despair
you prefer plot-driven films with a lot of relief or humor
you dislike allegorical or symbolic storytelling
Overview
Sydney Pollack turns a Depression-era dance contest into a merciless portrait of people being consumed by poverty and performance. What begins as a competition quickly becomes a study in exhaustion, humiliation, and the way entertainment can weaponize desperation.
Worth noting
The film’s power comes from its pressure-cooker structure and the way it keeps narrowing in on the contestants’ bodies and minds. Jane Fonda gives it a fierce, wounded center, while the ensemble makes the whole thing feel like a society in miniature, each person clinging to the prize for different reasons.
Bottom line
It can feel heavy-handed at times, but the force of the movie is undeniable. This is one of those rare films that leaves you shaken not because it surprises you, but because it keeps telling the truth long after you wish it would stop.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Jay (4★) · 1420 likes
we cannot let mr beast ever see this film
CinemaVoid 🏴☠️ (4.5★) · 1274 likes
Capitalism /ˈka-pə-tə-ˌliz-əm/ -noun
Running around in circles for money and really getting nowhere.
Eli Hayes (5★) · 991 likes
I have nothing to say about this film
other than that it fucking destroyed me.
Laura (4.5★) · 671 likes
the gilmore girls episode, they shoot gilmores, don’t they?, did not prepare me for this
1976 · Crime, Drama · 1h 54m · R · Curator 9.1/10 (3.2M ratings)
A grim urban descent with the same feeling of alienation, decay, and moral exhaustion.
Topics
social drama, psychological pressure, bleak tone, ensemble cast, period piece, American cinema, class struggle, survival thriller, tragic realism, depression-era