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# Aero takes viewers back to Depression
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/aero-takes-viewers-back-to-depression/
- Published: 2005-07-18T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T07:27:40.000Z
- Author: Ryan Hyatt
- Tags: Entertainment, Montana, #archive-import

A group committed to preserving Santa Monica’s past last week screened a cinematic classic filmed in the city, prompting an evening of reflection on how far we’ve come as a society.

The Santa Monica Conser vancy on Wednesday screened “They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?” at the recently refurbished Aero Theatre on Montana Avenue. The movie, based in Santa Monica, was shown as part of the conservancy’s continued efforts to promote the city’s past.

The screening was followed by a question-and-answer session with film director Sydney Pollack, which was moderated by Joe Morgenstern, a local resident and film critic for The Wall Street Journal and KCRW radio.

Pollack directed the movie in 1969, based on a 1935 novel by “hard-boiled” writer Horace McCoy.

The period piece, starring Michael Sarrazin, Jane Fonda and Gig Young, takes place in a replicated ballroom on the Santa Monica Pier. The film spotlighted the city’s role in the marathon dance craze — a morbid contest pitting couples against one another for days, weeks, sometimes even a month with little food or sleep, in which the last pair standing won cash and prizes. The phenomenon peaked during the Great Depression.

In the film, Fonda plays a cast-iron woman matched up with Sarrazin, who plays a sincere simpleton. As a boy, Sarrazin’s character witnesses a horse being shot to death after it breaks its leg and can no longer stand.

Fonda begins to break down during the contest after a series of betrayals, eventually leading Sarrazin to the edge of the pier and asking him to shoot her in the head.

The Aero Theatre, packed with an audience hovering around 200 viewers, was silent when the gun went off and Fonda dropped to the floor.

Pollack made the film at the height of the Vietnam era, a period he said when the country’s social factions were boldly pulling themselves apart. The timeframe corresponded to a period when Pollack was also fascinated with existentialism.

“It’s tough to defend what’s depressing,” he told the audience after the show. “Still, there was something exhilarating in it.”

Pollack said that Hollywood insiders long-sought to produce a movie based on McCoy’s novel, starting with Charlie Chaplin. He said he was lucky to be the one to get the job. However, when asked by the audience if he would direct such a particular film again, Pollack said the piece was as much a reflection of an era, as it was a period in his career.

“One marathon is enough,” he said.

Originally built in 1939, the Aero was opened by Donald Douglas as a recreation facility for the employees of his aircraft company during the Second World War. While his plant operated 24 hours a day, the Aero did likewise, allowing workers to see movies any time during their off-hours.

Today, it is one of the few remaining single-screen, neighborhood theaters in the Los Angeles area. The American Cinematheque, a nonprofit, viewer-supported cultural organization, operates the Aero Theatre.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 18, 2005.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/071805.pdf?ref=smdp.com)