This movie is so sweet, yet manages never to be saccharine. It’s a very simple story of a 34-year-old butcher who lives at home with his mom and is daily faced with the question of when he is going to get married. Similar to the concept of “The 40 Year Old Virgin,” Marty has tried to find love but has been so unsuccessful he is on the verge of giving up completely. Then he meets a Chemistry teacher at a local dance hall whose date has dumped her midway through because she’s such a “dog.” Ernest Borgnine is so loveable as Marty it is no wonder that he won the Oscar for Best Actor. A great film.

I was especially sentimental towards Borgnine’s character, since I was myself a “late bloomer” in the romance department (I met my wife to be at 32 and married at 33) but it felt like the ending was just too “steep”. It was slowly building toward Marty’s emancipation from the forces that would keep him down and…BAM!...it was all over. Just anticlimactic…