Lack of good storyline.

For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

This is a movie about an older man (maybe early to mid 70s) that looses his tenement apartment (that is never explained how). You could tell he is a jerk and a terrible no-loving father. His cat is his best friend, over his family, which is psycho in of itself. The first son is trying desperately to love and have a loving relationship with his father and his father is again selfish and thinking of himself and not the effort his Son is putting into their relationship. Life is sacrifices and your family comes before yourself, you don't come before the family. He does other things. He can't get on the plane because he won't let them look at the carrier the cat is in, retarded and the writer adds this because it is confrontational and allows the character to "make a road trip." But, most people his age are law abiding citizens and respect the work the police and agent (person looking in the bag) are doing because they are from that same school. He drives with a underage girl and spends a night in a hotel with her, even though he does say he is uncomfortable. That's the writer and the like covering their butts. He meets other people and does other things across the country. He is in Vegas and other places and he drives instead of flying and taking the bus, which he got off because his stupid cat had to go to the bathroom. I thought that was the purpose of a cat, you didn't have to walk him. He was offered, or at least his daughter said she can set him up with a teaching job, but declined. SELFISH AGAIN. If this guy can go and drive across country and have this "road trip" and do the things he does and spend a night in jail, well, he can get a job, almost any job back in New York instead of waiting until he got to California and then be alone out there in California and live on the beach. A older man living on the beach instead of with his loving son, ridiculous. Where I live there are people older than he working more than a few afternoons because that's what keeps you young, not what he is doing. Working and being with family and some old and new friends, that's what keeps you young and happy not what he does. What he does is fleeting and non-committal. The worse part of the whole thing is that this man was a teacher and taught children. His views and ideals of family togetherness is warped and that's one of the reasons why the movie is only three stars for me. It gets three stars because of Art Carney and I love the Mooners. Oh, I know in real life Carney didn't like or have pets, but his constant petting of that cat is SO annoying. So, to conclude there isn't anything real about this movie pertaining to the main character. Sure, I know, some people will come up with a person here or there that they heard of, but 99.999% of the people his age would never do what he did when being ousted from his home. He could have lived in the burbs with a son that loved him dearly and see his friends anytime in the city and even just stayed their till he got back on his feet and we know he has at least a thousand dollars in the bank to help get an apartment, plus Mitchell-Lama's were going up all over the city and I still don't know how or why the movie doesn't tell the particulars of the apartment Harry lives in and why we aren't told why he isn't relocated or bought out or why those two things aren't a option. The cop does say the city will give replacement housing, but he does not know or have the authority to say that. Oh, lastly, all the trouble Harry caused with tonto (the cat) at the airport and on the bus and so forth, well the cat dies and Harry seemingly moves on really easily. Movie where they just want to get quirky characters out there for the public to see and hope for the best down the road. They all know that the majority of people, and by that I mean like 99% of people aren't like these characters and even if I was generous, more than 95% of the people aren't like these characters. But, they make movies about only one to five percent of the people thinking that is the way of the people and it is not. So, in conclusion, if you want to see a movie about a lackluster father, an immature older man who didn't age gracefully and has no style or class or wisdom, but an older man that will put family and humans on hold and, if need be I would wager, would let fall by the waistside, then this movie is for you. Thanks for reading. God Bless. James.

I always liked Art Carney, having grown up on "The Honeymooners." He had a hysterical, nervous energy, like he might lose his job at any second, so he better stay on top of it. This was fantastic and made him constantly enjoyable. In this "movie" (I don't consider it a movie, I consider it an unmitigated disaster), Art plays an "old man," an "old man" as apparently defined by the 1970s. That said, I understand that many of the choices made in this film were dictated by the era. So, for a time machine experience, this film does have some value. For a story to keep one's interest, it does not. None of this, I should say, is Art Carney's fault. He stays in character and does his job well. But there were numerous things that bothered me. Somehow this man believes that everyone is going to be welcoming and accepting and understanding and tolerant of his cat, Tonto. And yet, why would they? When Art tries to take his cat to the airport, he will not be separated from it for five seconds so they can put the pet container through the security check. He got belligerent, but why? The airport crew were just trying to do their jobs. When he was on a bus, he told the bus driver to pull over so the cat could relieve itself. This was insane. We are supposed to accept that this nut man brought his cat on board, and that everyone in the bus was supposed to wait until Tonto took a dump so the journey could continue? Art's character was distinctly in a world of his own, completely oblivious to the needs, concerns and lives of others (I don't mean in a hateful, violent way; I mean in a contrived, fake "old man" who is clueless way). It was very difficult to sympathize with him. Because he gets kicked out of his home because the city wants to demolish the building, he decides, after a period of time, to go on the road trip he never went on when his wife was alive. This involves visiting his dysfunctional children, none of whom he has a good relationship with, although all of whom probably would like to be closer to him; he travels a good chunk of the film with a nutty hippie-esque female teen, who he actually shares a hotel room (and she casually removes her top as if it's nothing; what teen, unless they were a hooker, would disrobe in front of a strange, elderly man?); a hooker picks him up and says she's horny, and they drive up some hill and apparently do it, even though he "only has a hundred dollars" (in the 1970s? A hundred dollars would be closer to three- to-four hundred dollars now); after being goaded by the nut teenager, he suddenly decides to track down some woman he thought he was in love with. This first takes him to a slum house where, of course, a black family lives, and where, of course, the woman isn't home at the second he arrives, giving us loads of opportunities for stupid jokes with the man of the house and his kid. The movie goes on like this ad infinitum… disjointed, wandering, weird… including Art somehow allowing a nut case salesman to come into his hotel room and give him a shoulder massage (Art's stripped to the waist) and sell him a blender!All through this, Art's best bud is a cat. Now, I cannot say that the cat was hurt, but there were distinct moments when it was painfully obvious that it was uncomfortable. You do not carry an animal out into oncoming traffic (as if he was suddenly blind!), and then scream at a driver who barely misses you, because you were stupid enough to walk into the street (as if there would never be traffic there!!). The poor animal was squirming in his hands, desperate to get away. Yes, I know: this movie was made in the 1970s, where people's consciousness about animals was apparently as lower than the grade I can give this film on IMDb. Nonetheless, I found it inexcusable how this poor cat was dragged through the movie like it was a rag doll. It could have been treated more respectfully. Several other things I found extremely troublesome: Art tells a taxi driver that "Chicago is a great city for cats." When she asks him why, he says, "I don't know; it just is." -- Screen writing at its best. Art, who has now apparently decided to settle in Santa Monica and hang out at the beach playing games with similarly old, retired or disenfranchised men, is told by a person we have just met five seconds ago that "Tonto isn't looking good." The next thing we know, Art is at a pet hospital where Tonto is apparently dying. Art sings him a little song, and off he goes. I'm sorry: wouldn't Art KNOW if his pet was sick? Why was a stranger pointing it out to him? This was insane. Also, as another reviewer pointed out, there was NO reason for Tonto to die. None. Finally, at the end, when Art chases after another similar looking cat on the beach, and then sees some girl making sand castles, he stoops down and stares at her, presumably in a friendly old grandpa way… and she sticks her tongue out at him. I'm sorry, it was a bizarre, freaky, disturbing way to end the film. I did not find it to be an enjoyable viewing experience and I felt most of the actors' talents were wasted… the few that actually had talent.

When this movie premiered in 1974 I was only five years old. I loved this movie for many reasons. First, the movie encapsulates scenery and the feel of 1974. When Harry walks into the airport in New York I noticed the red carpet. Well, back in 1974 my parents took me to our native India and on the way we went through the New York airport on our way back where I met my Mom's brother for the first time. He was living in New York then and I always remembered the red carpet. Art Carney delivers a wonderful performance as Harry. Carney exudes likability and warmth. No wonder he makes friends so easily and yet at the same time he weathers tragedies like the passing of his wife, friends and ultimately Tonto with grace. This film presents many wonderful character actors. Ellen Burnstyn looks so pretty. Larry Hagman made me empathize with "Eddie's" desperation paying his bills. Burt, the oldest and his wife, along with the bus driver, just encapsulate the New York of 1974. Tonto proves to be a wonderful companion for Harry. Melanie Mayron and Josh Mostel add flavor and have a lot of screen time. Harry connects with the youngsters and in life how many times do we see a senior citizen and a young man or woman relate to one another? The answer, quite often, we see this dynamic. All in all this movie stands the test of time and remains a wonderful little treasure.

The basis of the film is described well elsewhere in the reviews here, so I will try and cover a different aspect. This is the sort of film I would not have bothered watching until recently. As I age, I find I am less interested in watching FX extravaganza's and more interested in human stories. Provided we are successful in reaching Harry's age, any of us could find ourselves in circumstances similar to Harry's.Retirement, widowed/widower, children scattered across the country, and friends gradually all dying off are the prizes waiting at the twilight of a long life. What happens when in your mind you feel the same as you did at forty but now your body is slower, your license is revoked and you have to give up, for whatever reason, your home?SPOILER ALERT Like Harry, most of us try to hold on to the past; to live in moments now gone. With the death of Tonto, Harry removes the last of his old ties. At peace with his family and himself, Harry's journey has expanded his appreciation of life. In the glow of the setting sun, we see a renewed Harry, ready to use the last of his own fading light to embrace the opportunities that life can still provide.