They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? was released in the US on 10 December 1969.
Norman Lloyd had purchased the rights to Horace McCoy’s 1935 novel in the early 1950s, with the idea of collaborating with Charlie Chaplin. While Chaplin was in London in September 1952 for the premiere of Limelight, he was accused of being a Communist sympathizer, and at the urging of J. Edgar Hoover, Chaplin’s re-entry to the US was denied (the release of Chaplin’s FBI files in the 1980s revealed that Hoover had no basis for the re-entry ban). When McCoy died 3 years later, the rights to the film went to his heirs, who chose not to renew Lloyd’s option.
Sydney Pollack approached Jane Fonda about the script for the film adaptation ("It was the first time a director asked me for input on how I saw the character and the story,” she said), and approached Warren Beatty for the male lead, before casting Michael Sarrazin.
The film was a commercial and critical success, and was nominated for 9 Academy Awards, including Best Director, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress (Susannah York), Best Adapted Screenplay (James Poe, Robert E. Thompson), Best Score, Best Costume Design (Donfeld), Best Art Direction (Harry Horner, Frank McKelvy), and Best Editing (Fredric Steinkamp).
Gig Young (Best Supporting Actor) received the film’s only Oscar.