Event Details
Date & Time:
Thu February 19, 2026
7 PM
Audience:
Open to the public
Details:
THEY SHOOT HORSES, DON’T THEY (Sydney Pollack, 1969, 129 min, LPP 16mm)
Please note that this THEY SHOOT HORSES film print has been modified from the original theatrical version. While originally projected in Cinemascope, a recent inspection reveals that the 16mm version we sourced has been reframed to a 4:3 aspect ratio. As all known and available 35mm Cinemascope prints of this title have faded, we have decided to proceed with this screening rather than seek an alternative source.
RSVP
As bleak and disillusioned a film as Hollywood could muster in the late 1960s, THEY SHOOT HORSES, DON’T THEY? mobilizes the real-life tradition of Depression-era dance marathons to produce a gut-wrenching critique of American capitalism’s desire for competition and spectacle. Jane Fonda plays an unemployed background actress Gloria Beatty who enters a dance-until-you-drop competition in the hopes of winning the life-changing amount of $1,500. Ushered by tragi-comic emcee (Gig Young), a ragtag group of contestants, including a retired sailor, a pregnant young woman, and an aspiring movie star, are brought past the limits of mind and body in this cruel sport. Despite being widely acclaimed and nominated for 9 Academy Awards at its release, THEY SHOOT HORSES has been nearly unwatchable for decades due to a bankrupt distributor, followed by limited home viewing options. For those lucky enough to experience it, director Sidney Pollack’s intoxicating allegory of exploitation continues to resonate for moviegoers today.
A LPP (low-fade positive) filmstock 16mm print presented courtesy of Visual Studies Workshop.
Series:
Contact The Block Museum of Art for more information: (847) 491-4000 or email us at block-museum@northwestern.edu
