They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969)

They Shoot Horses, Don't They? is a 1969 American drama film directed by Sydney Pollack. The screenplay by James Poe and Robert E. Thompson is based on the 1935 novel of the same name by Horace McCoy. It focuses on a disparate group of characters desperate to win a Depression-era dance marathon and the opportunistic emcee who urges them on to victory.

Robert Syverton (Michael Sarrazin), who once dreamed of being a great film director, recalls the events leading to an unstated crime. In his youth, he saw a horse break its leg, after which it was shot and put out of its misery. Years later, he wanders into a dance marathon about to begin in the shabby La Monica Ballroom, perched over the Pacific Ocean on the Santa Monica Pier, near Los Angeles. He is recruited by emcee Rocky (Gig Young, who won the Oscar for Best supporting Actor) as a substitute partner for a cynical malcontent named Gloria (Jane Fonda) when her original partner is disqualified due to an ominous cough.

Among the other contestants competing for a cash prize of $1500 are Harry Kline (Red Buttons), a middle-aged sailor; Alice (Susannah York), a would-be Jean Harlow with delusions of grandeur, and her partner Joel (Robert Fields), an aspiring actor; and impoverished farm worker James (Bruce Dern) and his pregnant wife Ruby (Bonnie Bedelia). Early in the marathon the weaker pairs are eliminated quickly, while Rocky observes the vulnerabilities of the stronger contestants and exploits them for the audience's amusement. Already frayed nerves are exacerbated by the theft of one of Alice's dresses and Gloria's displeasure at the attention Alice receives from Robert. In retaliation, she takes Joel as her partner, but when he receives a job offer and departs, she aligns herself with Harry.

Weeks into the marathon, Rocky—in order to spark the paying spectators' enthusiasm—stages a series of derbies in which the exhausted remaining contestants, clad in track suits, must race around the dance floor, with the last three couples eliminated. Harry suffers a fatal heart attack during one of these, and an undeterred Gloria lifts him on her back and crosses the finish line. It is clear that Harry dies as Gloria drags him, and she unloads him on Alice, which causes her to suffer a nervous breakdown. Robert and Gloria, now without partners, once again pair up.

Rocky suggests the couple marry during the marathon, a publicity stunt guaranteed to earn them some cash in the form of gifts from supporters such as Mrs. Laydon (Madge Kennedy). When Gloria refuses, he reveals the contest is not what it appears to be on the surface. Numerous expenses will be deducted from the prize money, leaving the winner with close to nothing. Shocked by the revelation, the couple drops out of the competition.

Distraught and despondent, Gloria confesses how empty inside she is. She tells Robert that she wants to kill herself, but when she takes out a gun and points it at herself, she cannot pull the trigger. Desperate, she asks Robert: "Help me." He obliges. Questioned by the police as to the motive for his action, Robert responds: "They shoot horses, don't they?".

The full story is about assisted suicide, as Gloria begs Robert to pull the trigger for her. The title and the final sentence point to this "coup de grâce", the "blow of mercy". For helping Gloria to commit suicide; the film shows directly, (and indirectly) that Robert will be found guilty of murder and executed by hanging. The marathon continues on with its few remaining couples, including James and Ruby. The eventual winners are never revealed.

In the early 1950s, Norman Lloyd and Charlie Chaplin were looking for a project on which they could collaborate, with Lloyd as director and Chaplin as producer. Lloyd purchased the rights to Horace McCoy's novel for $3,000 and planned to cast Chaplin's son Sidney and newcomer Marilyn Monroe in the lead roles. Once arrangements were completed, Chaplin took his family on what was intended to be a brief trip to the United Kingdom for the London premiere of Limelight. Because Chaplin faced a Mann Act charge related to a previous underaged lover and was accused of being a Communist supporter during the McCarthy era, J. Edgar Hoover negotiated with the Immigration and Naturalization Service to revoke his re-entry permit, and the film was aborted. When McCoy died sixteen years later and the rights to the book reverted to his heirs, they refused to renew the deal with Lloyd since nothing had come of his original plans.

When Sydney Pollack signed to direct the film, he approached Jane Fonda with the role of Gloria. The actress declined because she felt the script wasn't very good, but her then-husband Roger Vadim, who saw similarities between the book and works of the French existentialists, urged her to reconsider.

Meeting with Pollack to discuss the script, she was surprised when he asked for her input. She read the novel with a critical eye, made notes on the character, and later observed in her autobiography, "It was a germinal moment [for me] . . . This was the first time in my life as an actor that I was working on a film about larger societal issues, and instead of my professional work feeling peripheral to life, it felt relevant." Experiencing problems in her marriage at the time, she drew on her personal anguish to help her with her characterization.

Warren Beatty originally was considered for the role of Robert Syverton, and Pollack's first choice for Rocky was character actor Lionel Stander.

In later years, Turner Classic Movies observed, "By popularizing the title of McCoy’s novel, [the movie] gave American argot a catch-phrase that’s as recognizable today as when the movie first caught on." The title has been imitated in various media having little relation to the plot or themes of the original film. Episodes of Happy Days, Webster, Due South, Family Matters, Sex and the City, Designing Women, Gilmore Girls, Class of '96, Sledge Hammer! , Ally McBeal, and Gossip Girl have used variations of the phrase for their titles. Humorist Patrick F. McManus titled one of his story collections They Shoot Canoes, Don't They?. A song named after the movie is included on Canadian indie rock band Apostle of Hustle's first album, Folkloric Feel, also noted is an indie rock band from Ft. Myers, Florida named "They Shoot Poets (Don't They?), and the story served as the inspiration for a hit 1976 single of the same name by the band Racing Cars. A Vancouver band named themselves after the film.

At present, the film holds the record for being nominated for the most Academy Awards (nine) without receiving a nod for Best Picture.

The film is notable for using the technique of flashforwards (glimpses of the future), which are not commonly used in motion pictures.