harry and tonto

Director: paul mazursky

Actor: art carney,ellen burstyn,rené enríquez,herbert berghof

Data Published: Mon Aug 12 1974

Genres: Adventure,Comedy,Drama,Romance

Key Words: cat movie,road trip,character names as title,tonto the cat character,forename in title

IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071598/

WIKI: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_and_Tonto

Description: Harry and Tonto is a movie starring Art Carney, Ellen Burstyn, and René Enríquez. When his apartment building is torn down, a retired lifelong New Yorker goes on a cross-country odyssey with his beloved cat Tonto.

Plot: Harry Coombes (Art Carney) is an elderly widower and retired teacher who is forced from his Upper West Side apartment in New York City because his building is going to be knocked down in order for a parking lot to be built. 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, Harry has an issue with Airport Security checking his cat carrier. He instead boards a long-distance bus. He gets off so Tonto can urinate (Harry tries to get Tonto to use the bus toilet, to no avail), then buys a 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air [2] from a used car salesman. During his episodic journey, he befriends a Bible-quoting hitchhiker (Michael Butler) and underage runaway Ginger (Melanie Mayron), with whom he visits an old sweetheart (Geraldine Fitzgerald) in a retirement home, who only half-remembers him. He visits his daughter (Ellen Burstyn), a bookstore owner in Chicago, with whom he shares a prickly but mutually admiring relationship. Ginger and Harry's shy grandson (who was supposed to bring him back to New York) end up going off to the commune together in Harry's car, with his blessing, so he and Tonto are on their own again. 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. After Tonto's death, Harry is living alone by the Pacific Ocean, making new friends, enjoying the climate. As the film ends, he sees a young cat who looks exactly like Tonto, and follows him to the beach, where a child is building a sand castle. They share a smile as the sun sets.