Art Carney's Oscar-winning role as a elderly man who is forced to move out of his NYC apartment and takes a cross-country trip to California to start a new life with his elderly cat in tow, was filled with light comic touches and very moving dramatic moments. Compared to his iconic character Ed Norton, Carney's performance as Harry Coombes was relatively low-key.
Some critics played the "age", "veteran" or sympathy card when, in the spring of 1975, Carney beat out Jack Nicholson (Chinatown), Al Pacino (The Godfather Part II), Dustin Hoffman (Lenny) and Albert Finney (Murder on the Orient Express) for Best Actor. In retrospect, I don't think that was a fair assessment to Carney. In my opinion, Carney's later performances in "The Late Show" and "Going in Style" were just as good, maybe even better than his award-winning role as Harry Coombes. Carney's win was unexpected but his performance in "Harry and Tonto" was not a fluke.
Some critics played the "age", "veteran" or sympathy card when, in the spring of 1975, Carney beat out Jack Nicholson (Chinatown), Al Pacino (The Godfather Part II), Dustin Hoffman (Lenny) and Albert Finney (Murder on the Orient Express) for Best Actor. In retrospect, I don't think that was a fair assessment to Carney. In my opinion, Carney's later performances in "The Late Show" and "Going in Style" were just as good, maybe even better than his award-winning role as Harry Coombes. Carney's win was unexpected but his performance in "Harry and Tonto" was not a fluke.