They Shoot Horses, Don't They?

They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (in Latin America, Baile de ilusiones; in Spain, Dance, dance, damned) is an American film directed by Sydney Pollack and based on the novel by Horace McCoy Don't they kill horses? .

Plot

During the time of the Great Depression, in the US, shows were put on that consisted of making couples dance continuously, day and night, with minimal breaks. The couple that resisted dancing the longest won, receiving a cash prize. Gloria (Jane Fonda) and Robert (Michael Sarrazin) meet at one of those contests, and they quickly decide to form a couple because they are desperate because they don't even have the resources to eat. While dancing they at least get food and if they win they can survive on the prize money.

Awards

The film won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor (Gig Young), and had eight other nominations: Best Director, Best Lead Actress (Jane Fonda), Best Supporting Actress (Susannah York), for the best artistic direction, for the best adapted script, for the best music, for the best editing and for the best costumes. To this day it continues to have the dubious honor of being the film with the most Oscar nominations (9) without having been nominated in the Best Picture category.

Accommodations

In 2015, the Spanish theater company Malditos Compañía premiered a play, dance and competition called Danzad, malditos directed by Alberto Velasco, freely inspired by the novel McCoy's and Pollack's film where the actor-participants actually competed to win the prize in each performance. The show won the Max Awards for best new show of 2015 and Anexo:Unión de Actores Award for best theater supporting actor 2016 (Rubén Frías). This premiere took place in July 2015 in the space then known as Sala Max Aub of the Matadero Madrid warehouses within the framework of the Frinje festival.