Something about this movie just annoys.I want to like it- but it just tries much too hard to be sentimental,and comes off as phony. I like Art Carney.He did a good job with what he had to work with here. As a few others have pointed out,many of the situations in the movie are illogical,out-of-place,or not believable. With better writing and direction this could have been much better.Don't say you weren't warned.

"Harry and Tonto," reminded me of John Steinbeck's 1962 book, "Travels with Charley." In that travelogue, Steinbeck wrote about a road trip he took around the United States with his French poodle, Charley. Steinbeck drove his camper on the Interstates and back roads as he circled the country in 1960. He stopped at roadside diners, gas stations, truck stops and shops along the way. He talked to truck drivers, waitresses, hitchhikers, store clerks, and people on the streets. No doubt, the writers for "Harry and Tonto," Paul Mazursky and Josh Greenfeld, got some ideas from Steinbeck's book. The situation is quite different here, though. While it's billed as a "cross country odyssey," it's more of a trip interrupted here and there. Art Carney is Harry, and some of his encounters don't seem natural or spontaneous to me. Rather, they seem contrived. The film moves very slowly at times, and has a mix of Harry's philosophy and talks with other people. The movie also reminded me of the later very good comedy drama, "Planes, Trains & Automobiles." In that hit comedy, Steve Martin and John Candy meet while traveling from New York to Chicago for Christmas. Weather, accidents and numerous other situations lead them to take different modes of travel. In this film, Harry's son, Burt, drops him off at the airport to catch a plane to Chicago to visit his daughter. But Harry has to leave the airport because he wouldn't let go of Tonto's cage to pass through the security scanner (that's right, airport security was there as early as 1974). He takes a bus and gets left on the roadside after he has the bus stop so that Tonto could relieve himself. Next he hitchhikes and meets some different people. Then he buys a used car and picks up hitchhikers himself. This goes on past Chicago as he continues to California where he meets his youngest son and puts down new roots. Tonto dies toward the end of the journey. As I said, it's slow going much of the time, and some of his encounters with different people seem contrived. It was only mildly interesting for a time but seemed way too long. A movie can't be very good when, about half way through, one begins to wonder when it will end. Art Carney won the 1974 best actor Oscar for his role in this movie. He was okay here, but I don't think his performance was particularly good or challenging. That may have been a year when sentimentality ruled at the Oscars, because Carney beat out some superb acting jobs by Albert Finney ("Murder on the Orient Express"), Al Pacino (The Godfather Part II"), and Jack Nicholson ("Chinatown"), in what may be the best performance of his career.

1974's "Harry and Tonto" is probably one of the better and more memorable and touching films made it's a new journey of discovery and new beginning away from a gone past it proves at no matter any age their is enough left for one last big travel to meet new people, visit family and most of all to begin a new start. The film rightfully won Art Carney a Best Actor Oscar as his performance of an old man is touching and uplifting.The story is simple Harry(Art Carney)is a mid 70's retired teacher who finds that his New York city apartment that he's living in all of a sudden is gonna be facing demolition so he and his beloved cat Tonto set out to live with his son. Soon that's a headache so plans change Harry then wants to journey to Chicago to live with his daughter(Ellen Burstyn)along the way he meets odd and complex people like hitchhikers and a run away. As the road is an adventure that narrows with curves and speed bumps and potholes of people from all different walks of like. As the journey goes more west Harry meets an Indian and a high class hooker in Las Vegas one last bang on the journey! Finally Harry ends in Los Angeles with his son(Larry Hagman). Wow that's one adventure that not even an old man would forget! Overall this is a film of journey and finding one last moment of happiness it proves that life is always full of places and people no matter how different the place or person memories are to be made and friends are discovered. "Harry and Tonto" is one film that clearly travels farther than the rest!

The basis of the film is described well elsewhere in the reviews here, so I will try and cover a different aspect. This is the sort of film I would not have bothered watching until recently. As I age, I find I am less interested in watching FX extravaganza's and more interested in human stories. Provided we are successful in reaching Harry's age, any of us could find ourselves in circumstances similar to Harry's.Retirement, widowed/widower, children scattered across the country, and friends gradually all dying off are the prizes waiting at the twilight of a long life. What happens when in your mind you feel the same as you did at forty but now your body is slower, your license is revoked and you have to give up, for whatever reason, your home?SPOILER ALERT Like Harry, most of us try to hold on to the past; to live in moments now gone. With the death of Tonto, Harry removes the last of his old ties. At peace with his family and himself, Harry's journey has expanded his appreciation of life. In the glow of the setting sun, we see a renewed Harry, ready to use the last of his own fading light to embrace the opportunities that life can still provide.