Harry and Tonto
| Harry and Tonto | |
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| Directed by | Paul Mazursky |
| Produced by | Paul Mazursky |
| Written by | Paul Mazursky Josh Greenfeld |
| Starring |
Art Carney Herbert Berghof Philip Bruns Ellen Burstyn Geraldine Fitzgerald Larry Hagman Chief Dan George Melanie Mayron Joshua Mostel Arthur Hunnicutt Barbara Rhoades Cliff DeYoung Avon Long Tonto (cat) |
| Music by | Bill Conti |
| Cinematography | Michael C. Butler |
| Edited by | Richard Halsey |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
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Release date
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Running time
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115 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $980,000 |
| Box office | $4.6 million (rentals) |
Harry and Tonto is a 1974 road movie written by Paul Mazursky and Josh Greenfeld and directed by Mazursky. It features Art Carney as Harry in an Academy Award-winning performance. Tonto is his pet cat.
Harry Coombes (Art Carney) is an elderly widower and retired teacher who is forced from his Upper West Side apartment in New York City when his building is condemned. He initially stays with his eldest son Burt's family in the suburbs but eventually chooses to travel cross country with his pet cat Tonto in tow.
Initially planning to fly to Chicago, until Harry has an issue with Airport Security checking his cat carrier, he instead boards a long-distance bus. He gets off so Tonto can take a leak (Harry tries to get Tonto to use the bus toilet, to no avail), then buys a used car after Tonto wanders away. During his episodic journey, he befriends a Bible-quoting hitchhiker (Michael Butler) and underage runaway Ginger (Melanie Mayron), visits his daughter (Ellen Burstyn), a bookstore owner in Chicago, and drops in on an early sweetheart (Geraldine Fitzgerald) in a retirement home, where she suffers from dementia.
Continuing west, Harry accepts a ride with a health-food salesman (Arthur Hunnicutt), makes the acquaintance of an attractive hooker (Barbara Rhoades) on his way to Las Vegas, then spends a night in jail with a friendly Native American (Chief Dan George). He eventually makes it to Los Angeles, where he stays with his youngest son (Larry Hagman), a financially strapped real-estate salesman, before finding a place of his own with Tonto, who, much like Harry, is dealing the best he can with the hardships of old age.
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