Pal Joey | Rita Hayworth, Frank Sinatra | Three Great Stars, Superb Music

Pal Joey | Rita Hayworth, Frank Sinatra | Wowweewowwow!

vhs video:

Pal Joey

	Pal Joey Rita Hayworth, Frank Sinatra Sony Pictures, 1996 average customer review:based on 35 reviews view larger image
	for more information click here

highly recommended

First born in the pages of The New Yorker, then translated into a hit Rodgers and Hart Broadway musical, the title character of Pal Joey had undergone quite a transformation by the time he hit the movies in 1957. He was a singer, rather than a dancer, but more importantly he'd had his rough edges sweetly softened; the callous heel dreamed up by novelist John O'Hara was more of a naughty scamp in the film version. However, Pal Joey remains delightfully watchable for two very good reasons: a terrific song score and a surplus of glittering star power. Frank Sinatra, at the zenith of his cocky, world-on-a-string popularity, glides through the film with breezy nonchalance, romancing showgirl Kim Novak (Columbia Pictures' new sex symbol) and wealthy widow Rita Hayworth (Columbia Pictures' former sex symbol). The film also benefits from location shooting in San Francisco, caught in the moonlight-and-supper-club glow of the late '50s. Sinatra does beautifully with the Rodgers and Hart classics "I Didn't Know What Time It Was" and "I Could Write a Book," and his performance of "The Lady Is a Tramp" (evocatively shot by director George Sidney) is flat-out genius. Sinatra's ease with hep-cat lingo nearly outdoes Bing Crosby at his best, and included in the DVD is a trailer in which Sinatra instructs the audience in "Joey's Jargon," a collection of hip slang words such as "gasser" and "mouse." If not one of Sinatra's very best movies, Pal Joey is nevertheless a classy vehicle that fits like a glove. --Robert Horton

for more information click here

Three Great Stars, Superb Music

"Pal Joey," (1957), a dramatic musical romance, is a product of Harry Cohn's Columbia Studio, a fact easily gleaned by a quick glance at the movie itself; while it's in Technicolor, the colors themselves are not nearly so saturated as is the signature palette of rival Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios. The movie, as was common at the time, was based upon the 1940 Broadway hit of the same name that made a star of Gene Kelly. That play was based upon a series of fictional letters from "Your Pal Joey," written by noted American writer John O'Hara, and published in "The New Yorker." O'Hara wrote the play's book; Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart provided the all-grown up music; George Abbott produced and directed. The still knocking them dead Elaine Stritch created that nifty song "Zip," on Broadway, where it was given to "The Reporter," rather than the Vera Simpson character.

What was rather unusual about "Pal Joey" was that it took 15 years to get to the screen, owing to the fact that the play was more cynical, and risqué, than was permissible in Hollywood at the time. And a lot can change in 15 years. Anyway, the witty screen adaptation, somewhat sanitized, given a Hollywood happy ending, but still sailing pretty close to the wind, was by Dorothy Kingsley, nimble direction was by the under-appreciated George Sidney.

But the hard-edged director Billy Wilder was said to be Cohn's first directorial choice; they say studio mogul and director went to lunch to discuss it - and at the end of lunch, Wilder was not only not given the job, but was given the bill. Gene Kelly and Rita Hayworth had impressed Cohn by their work together in the 1944 hit,"Covergirl," and the studio chief promised them another picture together, expected to be "Pal Joey." But those 15 years went by, and Kelly was under contract to MGM. So Cohn thought of Jack Lemmon. Cohn initially thought of Marlene Dietrich for the Simpson role, characterized as an older woman, but Dietrich wouldn't take it. However, she suggested Frank Sinatra for the title role, Joey Evans. Meanwhile, Rita Hayworth, who was Columbia's reigning sex symbol at the time, and had expected to play Linda English, the ingénue, aged rapidly, unfortunately. She was just 39 at filming, actually three years younger than Sinatra, but had to take the Vera Simpson, older woman part. The younger woman's part was given to Kim Novak, the studio's rising sex symbol. Barbara Nichols played Gladys Bump, chorus girl comic relief.

Setting of the movie was moved from Chicago to San Francisco, so much more picturesque, and Novak somehow looked so good there. The movie picked up several great songs from the play: "If They Asked Me, I Could Write a Book," and "Bewitched, Bothered and "Bewildered," the play's biggest hits. Also, for sure, "My Funny Valentine," and "Zip," a homage to Gypsy Rose Lee. Several of the play's songs were considered still too risqué, and were replaced by other works of Rodgers and Hart, "There's a Small Hotel," "I Didn't Know What Time It was," and "The Lady Is a Tramp." Some knowledgeable reviewers complain about the songs missing from the play; but these replacements each became at least as popular as the tunes written for that play. Musical arrangements were by Sinatra's frequent collaborator, Nelson Riddle. The part had to be somewhat rewritten for Sinatra, of course, emphasis changed from dancing to singing. But he sang his own songs; he was at his peak, and the songs, as the part, might really have been tailored to him. Neither Hayworth nor Novak could sing: they were dubbed.

The plot's pretty well-known: Joey's a womanizing nightclub singer. When he ventures beyond no-fault chorines to mayor's daughters, he finds himself hurriedly leaving towns. He finds himself in San Francisco, where he digs up an old friend who'll give him a job. Also ambitious chorus girl Linda English, who initially wants nothing to do with him. And Vera Simpson, retired stripper, married well, now rich older society dame. Without a word, by sheer dint of good acting, a back-story romance between Evans and Simpson is implied. Anyway, Evans becomes Simpson's protégée, as the movie called it; she agrees to finance his own, ritzy nightclub. But the lovers' triangle, Evans, Simpson, English, between the stars, creates great instability.

Hayworth, wrinkles and all, is still gorgeous; the young Novak, who would not be as much of a favorite with succeeding generations, is very beautiful. In their last scene together, so brief as to be almost subliminal, Hayworth is just haunting. Sinatra won a Golden Globe for his work; the movie was nominated for four Oscars, and picked up four further awards. It was undoubtedly sanitized, but it's still unusually grown-up for its time. It has many memorable, evergreen musical numbers, and three outstanding actors. They really don't come much better.

for more information click here

Wowweewowwow!

Despite its Broadway success, Pal Joey took his time reaching thescreen. Gene Kelly came to fame in the title role in the original Broadway production of Pal Joey and was the logical first choice for the screen version but when MGM would not lend him out the project sat on the backburner so long that his intended co-star Rita Hayworth swapped female roles to play the older woman who bankrolls Joey's club - on her terms - by the time the film finally reached the screen in 1957.

One of the few Columbia musicals that creates some of its own magic rather than trying to copy the RKO and MGM formula, Sinatra is so perfect as John O'Hara's heel that it is now impossible to imagine Kelly in the role. Not all of the Rodgers and Hart's songs are well served - some, such as I Didn't Know What Time It Was, are all but thrown away - but the score is a strong one (The Lady Is A Tramp, Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered, If They Asked Me I Could Write A Book ) and the film is one of the few successful Broadway-to-screen transfers of its day. Great dog too.

The only real extra is the original five-minute trailer, but it's a gem. Filmed on the film's set, with Sinatra introducing us to Joey's vocabulary with the aid of a blackboard and ruler, it's terrific fun and a genuine collector's item!

for more information click here

the ultimate Sinatra musical

As other reviewers have noted, Frank Sinatra was at the top of his form when he starred in PAL JOEY, the film version of the celebrated Rodgers and Hart musical (originally staged on Broadway in 1940 starring Gene Kelly).

Based around the cynical short stories of John O'Hara, PAL JOEY is the story of womanising nightclub entertainer Joey Evans (Sinatra) and his various affairs, most notably with Mrs Simpson (Rita Hayworth), a widowed millionairess trying to escape her past as a stripper; and Linda English (Kim Novak), a naive showgirl whose heart is stolen by the caddish Joey.

The main reason why PAL JOEY works so well is the delicious score, which includes "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered", "I Could Write a Book", "Zip", and "That Terrific Rainbow". Orchestrated by Sinatra's frequent musical collaborator Nelson Riddle, the film version of PAL JOEY also interpolates several more Rodgers & Hart standards into the score ("My Funny Valentine", "There's a Small Hotel", "The Lady is a Tramp").

Rita Hayworth (in what turned out to be the final movie under her Columbia contract) exudes lots of steamy, repressed sensuality with her performance as the widowed society dame taken in by Joey's charms; and in a rare musical role, Kim Novak dazzles. Frank Sinatra, with trademark raincoat and jaunty hat, is his charming best as lady-killer Joey. Look out for talented Barbara Nichols among the showgirls.

The DVD for PAL JOEY sadly doesn't have much in the way of bonus materials, just a trailer and some talent profiles for it's main stars and director George Sidney. Still, for musical fans this is quite the treat. (Single-sided, single-layer disc).

for more information click here

Hollywood Whitewash

"Pal Joey" (1957) makes a sanitized translation to the big screen, with a trio of classic stars - Rita Hayworth, Frank Sinatra and Kim Novak - elevating an uneven, overlong musical. The film is worth seeing for Sinatra's signature tune "The Lady Is a Tramp" and director George Sidney's visual stylishness, yet lacks the hard-edged quality of the stage version. Thanks to the prudish Hays Office, "Pal Joey" emerges as another casualty of Hollywood censorship.

Classic Rodgers-Hart Songs Provide Framework for a Swinging Sinatra in a Predictably Drawn Triangle

If Frank Sinatra had a signature role in his long movie career, this must be it because he plays one of his coolest cats in this fairly adult 1957 musical drama based on a book by John O'Hara. However, it's better remembered for the fourteen songs by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, many of which became Sinatra standards. Written by Dorothy Kingsley, the rather slight story has the crooner play womanizing nightclub singer Joey Evans who keeps losing jobs because cad that he is, he likes to fool around with married women. Joey lands in San Francisco and finagles his way into a job as singer and emcee at a dive called the Barbary Coast. There he meets innocent Linda English from Albuquerque, a chorine who refuses to strip and just wants to be a torch singer. In typical Sinatra swinging fashion, Joey flirts with her but plays hard-to-get. One night, both are recruited for a charity show held at a posh Nob Hill mansion. The hostess is Vera Simpson, a former striptease performer who has since become a wealthy society matron. Sparks fly between Joey and Vera but only after mutual acts of humiliation. He breezily moves in with her on her yacht, and she decides to fund his pipe dream, owning a sophisticated nightspot she dubs "Chez Joey". Never one to leave his cards on the table, Joey hires Linda to sing, and you can guess the rest as the inevitable romantic triangle takes the expected turns.

Directed by George Sidney (Anchors Aweigh, Viva Las Vegas), it plays out rather lugubriously with nary a surprise, but the songs are mostly gems. Sinatra knows how to play heels, though Joey never gets hard-boiled enough to develop a true edge. On the upside, he sings "There's a Small Hotel", "I Could Write a Book" and best of all, "The Lady Is a Tramp" to a guardedly smitten Rita Hayworth well cast as Vera. Even though at 38, she was actually younger than Sinatra, she cuts a coolish (and shapely) figure as a jealous patroness despite the unflattering camera angles. It's just a shame that the story doesn't respect her character much, especially at the very end. However, when she literally lets her hair down, it's a relief to see her old seductive self in post-coital bliss as she lip-syncs "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered" (sung seductively by Jo Ann Greer). As Linda, Kim Novak - a year away from Vertigo - fares less well as she looks tentative and oddly blank-faced during her big number, "My Funny Valentine" (sung sonorously by Trudy Erwin). But we all know it's really Sinatra we want to see perform, and from that respect, a lot of the movie plays out like one of his 1960's TV specials. The only extras on the 1999 DVD are a couple of trailers and talent files for the principals. An intermittent entertainment, it's definitely a product of a bygone era.

for more information click here

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

products you might be interested in