Man With Golden Arm | Frank Sinatra, Eleanor Parker

Man With Golden Arm | Frank Sinatra, Eleanor Parker | Down Those Mean Streets

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Man With Golden Arm

	Man With Golden Arm Frank Sinatra, Eleanor Parker Warner Home Video, 1995 average customer review:based on 33 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

When Frankie Machine (Frank Sinatra) comes back to the old neighborhood after a spell in the big house, he wants to stay straight and become a drummer. But his old life--as a poker dealer and heroin addict--comes rushing back to meet him. The subject matter of Nelson Algren's novel was still shocking in 1955, and The Man with the Golden Arm was released without the seal of approval from Hollywood's Production Code. The director, Otto Preminger, used the controversy to whip up interest in the film, and his championing of non-Code pictures such as The Moon Is Blue and The Man with the Golden Arm helped end the influence of the restrictive policy. For Frank Sinatra, the role was a high point; his performance is searching, honest, and (in long scenes of going cold turkey to kick the habit) frighteningly naked. He's touchingly matched with Kim Novak, in one of her best performances; adding a bit of method-acting madness is Eleanor Parker as Frankie's hysterical wife. Sinatra was nominated for the Best Actor Oscar, but lost to Ernest Borgnine--the same guy who beat him senseless in From Here to Eternity. The propulsive jazz score is by Elmer Bernstein. Even the credits sequence staked out new territory: the mod images created by Saul Bass were among his first in a long-standing collaboration with Preminger, and were highly influential on other designers. --Robert Horton

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Drugs are bad!

"The Man with the Golden Arm" is probably Frank Sinatra's finest film. He plays Frankie Machine, a former heroin addict who was recently released from jail and is determined to stay clean. Frankie desperately wants to launch his musical career as a drummer, but his possessive, wheelchair-bound wife, Zosh (Eleanor Parker), smothers him and prevents him from making something of himself. Eventually Frankie encounters an old acquaintance, Schwiefka (Robert Strauss), who gets Frankie hooked on drugs again. After hitting rock bottom, Frankie finally turns to his old girlfriend, Molly (Kim Novak), for help getting clean.

This is a great movie with a lot of fantastic performances. Sinatra is amazing in his role, especially during the scenes where Frankie is going through withdrawal. Novak delivers a solid performance as the strong and compassionate Molly, and Parker is brilliant as Frankie's deranged wife. I should also mention the compelling jazz score by Elmer Bernstein, which enhances every moment of the story. There are a lot of interesting twists and turns in this film, and the ending is pretty shocking. Overall, "The Man with the Golden Arm" is an excellent film, and I think everyone will enjoy it.

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Down Those Mean Streets

Part of this review was used to review Nelson Algren's book of the same name and on which the film was based.

Growing up in a post World War II built housing project this reviewer knew first hand the so-called `romance' of drugs, the gun, the ne'er do well hustler and the mechanisms one needed to develop to survive at that place where the urban working poor meet and mix with the lumpen proletariat- the con men, dopesters, grifters drifters and gamblers who feed on the downtrodden. This is definitely not the mix that Damon Runyon celebrated in his Guys and Dolls-type stories. Far from it.

Nelson Algren has gotten, through hanging around Chicago police stations and sheer ability to observe, that sense of foreboding, despair and just plain oblivion of America's mean streets down pat in a number of works, including this one. Here the plot revolves around Frankie Machine an urban hustler with a jones (and more than just the dope jones, his whole life is twisted by the vagaries of his fate). Along the way we meet an array of stoolies, cranks, crackpots and nasty brutish people who are more than willing to put obstacles in the way of our anti-hero. And we have, at this point, not even mentioned his `home' life with his `ever-loving' disabled wife (or so he thinks). She might make anyone reach for the needle.

We, of late, have become rather inured to dope stories either of the death and destruction type or of the rehabilitation kind but at the time that this story was put together in the late 1940's this was something of an eye-opener for those who were not familiar with the seamy side of urban life. The dead end jobs, the constant run-ins with the `authorities' in the person of the police, many times corrupt as well. The dread of going to work, the dread of not going to work, the fear of being victimized and the glee of victimizing. The whole jumbled mix on people with few prospects and fewer dreams. Algren has put it down in writing for all that care to read. These are not pretty stories. And he has centered his story on the trials and tribulations of a dope addict trying to get clean, to boot. That fight is a near thing. Damn, as much as I knew about the kind of things that Algren was describing this is still one gripping story. And, the truth be told, you know as well as I do that unfortunately this story could still be written today. Read Algren if you want to walk on the wild side.

In the movie version of this film that unfortunately cannot capture the pathos of the mean urban streets Frank Sinatra plays the lead role of the Frankie Machine in a very understated way. He gives an extremely strong performance, especially in those scenes when he is going `cold turkey' to break his habit. Probably overrated as a singer Sinatra nevertheless was underrated as an actor, especially in his early career (think From Here to Eternity, Some Came Running and Suddenly). Kudos Frank. Kim Novak as his love interest and Eleanor Parker as his wife also stand out.

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Heavy drama but good

I was too young to see this film first run and was happy to catch up to it. The story is grim, but it is fascinating. sinatra shows his acting skills again, interesting to see darrin mcgavin aainst type as a drug pusher. more drama than noir i would say. this film is excellent

OTTO PREMINGER, OPUS 21

**** 1955. THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN ARM was based on Nelson Algren's The Man with the Golden Arm: 50th anniversary critical edition and produced and directed by Otto Preminger. Three Academy awards nominations. A former heroin addict comes back home to become a drummer in a jazz orchestra but, after a few disenchantments, he starts to take heroin again. The choice of a contentious theme, a hero with weaknesses, a woman who reminds us of the dangerous heroin of Angel Face are unmistakably trademarks of Otto Preminger. Saul Bass's titles and Elmer Bernstein's musical score will simply increase your pleasure. Highly recommended.

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The Horrors of Addiction

This B&W film begins in an urban area in the 1950s ("Hot Dogs 10 cents") that seems like a Hollywood setting. Frankie gets off the bus and steps into a beer joint. "The monkey is gone", he has been in Lexington and kicked the habit. Frankie has big plans for his future. His wife welcomes him back. $50 a month goes a long way. Frankie must break with his past as a card dealer to keep straight. His wife Zosche wants more time with him. Frankie turns down his old job as a card dealer, but the police arrest him for wearing a $37 suit. The card game owner will bail him out if he returns to work (some double dealing here?). Frankie likes Molly but won't leave his wife. He has a chance to audition as a drummer for big band (but this form of entertainment was becoming obsolete). Frankie tells Molly about his past problem with drugs; he had to cheat at cards for money.

Louie arranged a big game with new players, but Frankie didn't show up for the game. Frankie is afraid to work as a card dealer in case he gets arrested again. Louie says "$250 pays a lot of doctor bills". Frankie joins Louie and they walk away. Molly knows what happened and makes a decision. Frankie deals cards at an illegal game. Thousands are wagered, the losers are angry at the dealer. Are they running a clean game? The players are addicted to their game while they are winning. Then something happens to end the game. What about that audition?

There is a dramatic confrontation that ends badly. The police question Zosche about it, but she says she was sleeping and heard nothing. Can Frankie quit "cold turkey"? Will they show the torments of withdrawal symptoms? "The newspapers can't twist your statements if you don't talk to them." Then there is a miraculous recovery for someone, and a dramatic ending to this story that ties up the loose ends. The story of addictions overlays a romantic triangle and a murder mystery. It certainly tested the limits of the Hollywood Production Code.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

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