The film stars Borgnine as Marty Piletti, a heavy-set Italian-American butcher who lives in the Bronx with his mother. Unmarried at 34, the good-natured but socially awkward man faces constant badgering from family and friends to get married. Not averse to marriage but disheartened by his lack of prospects, Marty has reluctantly resigned himself to bachelorhood.

After being harassed by his mother into going to the Stardust Ballroom one Saturday night, Marty connects with Clara—a plain school teacher who has been nastily abandoned by her blind date. Spending the evening together, Clara and Marty realize their emotional connection. The two part with Marty's promise to call the next day.

Fearing the romance could spell her abandonment, Marty's mother belittles Clara. Likewise, Marty's friends are unimpressed because of her plainness, and try to convince Marty to forget about her. Harangued into submission, Marty doesn't call Clara.

Back in the same lonely rut, Marty realizes that he is giving up a chance at love with a wonderful woman. Over the objections of his friends, he impulsively dashes to a phone booth to give Clara a call. When his friend Angie asks what he's doing, Marty bursts out saying:

Upon release, the film received overwhelmingly positive reviews from critics. Ronald Holloway of Variety wrote, "If Marty is an example of the type of material that can be gleaned, then studio story editors better spend more time at home looking at television." Time described the film as "wonderful". Louella Parsons enjoyed the film, although she felt that it would not likely be nominated for Oscars. At a budget of $343,000, the film generated revenues of $3,000,000 in the USA alone, making it a box office success.

Currently on Rotten Tomatoes, the film has received a full fresh rating of 100%, based on 28 reviews.

Esther Minciotti, Augusta Ciolli and Joe Mantell reprised their roles from the live television production. Jerry Orbach made his debut in an uncredited role as a ballroom guest. For the film adaptation, the role of Clara was expanded, and subplots about Marty's career and his mother and her sister were added.

In 1994, Marty was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.

One line of dialogue, "I don't know. What do you want to do tonight, Marty?", was often satirized and became a catch phrase during the 1950s.

Marty is referenced in the movie Quiz Show as the answer to the question "Which movie won the Academy Award for Best Picture for 1955?". Herb Stempel is strong-armed into answering it incorrectly though it was one of his favorite films.

Comedian and Curb Your Enthusiasm star, Jeff Garlin is a huge fan of Marty and his 2006 film, I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With contains numerous references to it, including a subplot involving a studio remake of the film starring singer Aaron Carter as the title character and actress Gina Gershon as Marty's mother.

When shown on Turner Classic Movies, Robert Osborne commented on the filming that, when Borgnine was filming Marty in the Bronx, some Italian boys, who were onlooking, began to give him a hard time for "killing" Frank Sinatra in the film, From Here to Eternity, also accusing him of not really being Italian. Borgnine explained to the boys that he really didn't kill Frank Sinatra, and also spoke some Italian to the boys, thus impressing them.

Academy Awards

Cannes Film Festival

Winner Palme d'Or