Product Details

• Actors: Ellen Bursyn, Art Carney
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, HiFi Sound, NTSC
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: 20th Century Fox
• VHS Release Date: January 1, 1998
• Run Time: 116 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (41 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6301511034
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #250,241 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

In 1974, the Oscar nominees for Best Actor included Jack Nicholson (Chinatown), Al Pacino (Godfather Part II), and Dustin Hoffman (Lenny). And the winner? Art Carney for this Paul Mazursky comedy about a retired schoolteacher evicted from his apartment to make way for urban redevelopment. So he takes his cat, Tonto, and heads cross-country to live with one of his children. But the trip is an eventful one, involving encounters with an assortment of friends and strangers. Carney is a game and canny old pro and he helps this film rise above its occasionally sentimental excesses; the result is consistently entertaining. But honestly--the Oscar over Nicholson, Pacino, and Hoffman? You be the judge. --Marshall Fine

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This gem of a film should be on DVD!!, March 21, 2005

By 

Danny M. Hobbs "deebledd" (Tigard, OR United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Harry & Tonto [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Evicted (literally carried) from his New York apartment, Harry Coombes (Carney) and Tonto, his cat, undergo a series of encounters that move them slowly, inevitably west. Harry stays briefly with each of his three children, and reinforced by casting choices, we feel that we're moving backward in time, eldest to youngest. Harry, too, seems to move backward in time. Through a series of other encounters - an Indian healer, a young girl running away from home, and others - Harry sheds his past, piece by piece, and moves toward an open future in which anything might happen.

There are memorable character portraits by Ellen Burstyn, Larry Hagman, Arthur Hunnicutt, Chief Dan George, and others. And of course Harry, whose acceptance of loss and refusal to indulge in sentimentality or self-pity show us it is possible to age with dignity and suppleness. This is a gem of a movie, from a time when Hollywood was not afraid to tell real stories about real people.

Would someone, PLEASE, release this on DVD!? Forget the special features, forget the cast & crew bios, the filmographies, the frills and trills. Just remaster this and put a good, clean copy on DVD. It's too good a movie to lose to tape rot!

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Harry and Tonto DVD - Get It For Posterity, February 12, 2006

By 

S. Schockow (Rochester, NY) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Harry and Tonto (DVD)

A truly magnificent film that is forgotten, even though it displays independence, sentimentality, masterful acting and pure entertainment. If for no other reason, you need to get the DVD version to hear Paul Mazursky's commentary version of the film. It is fascinating to learn the details that went into making this classic! The one criticism is that Mazursky makes a couple of references to "Art Carney being only 59 when the
movie was made." Since the movie was shot in the fall of 1973, Art was actually only 54 at that time, and he plays Harry at
age 72 perfectly. With all apologies to Jack Nicholson, Al
Pacino, Dustin Hoffman and Albert Finney, their work in 1974 cannot compare to Art Carney's Oscar-winning performance. You owe it to yourself to purchase this film!

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very touching and sometimes difficult film to watch..., January 5, 2006

By 

R. Kyle (USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Harry and Tonto (DVD)

Art Carney renders an amazing performance as Harry Coombs, a 70 year old schoolteacher who is forced along with his 11-year-old cat Tonto from his lifetime home when developers want to plough under his apartment building to make way for a parking garage. When he realizes that living with his son in the suburbs isn't working, Harry and Tonto opt to take to the road and see the world that a career and family kept Harry from doing so long ago. The one aspect of this film that shone through is that Harry never forgot his friends. He never abandoned Tonto, though if he had he'd have had more options on living space. This is definitely a touching 'coming of age' film.