davidcarniglia An entertaining drama with great chemistry amongst the main characters--Sinatra, Martin, and Maclaine. Sinatra's character is by far the most interesting; stuck for the most part in a twilight zone between academic respectability and the carefree underworld. The movie shows how he deals with his dilemma, represented by two women; Hyer would be the respectable 'catch', but Maclaine's blowsy character actually wants him. He spends most of the movie fending off Maclaine while fruitlessly pursuing Martha Hyer. Nonetheless, he dips futher into Martin's gambling, boozing, devil-may-care lifestyle. Hyer, though obviously drawn to Sinatra, can't break out of her self-imposed reticence. Sinatra's persistence with his writing parallels his steady courting of Hyer. At least he's ultimately successful with his writing.His decision to marry Maclaine seems sudden. But this is his epiphany: he realizes that, poorly matched as they are outwardly, Maclaine's devotion will actually satisfy his insecurities. Hyer only seems to confuse and anger him. Admittedly, we're dealing with the misogynistic 40s (50s by the time of the movie), in which Sinatra expects Hyer to melt just because he professes love for her. On the other hand, Maclaine tries the same tactic with Sinatra, which ultimately works. The last scene, with its noir overtones of evil invading a wholesome carnival, with its tragic results, first excites, then ends poignantly with Maclaine's murder.In addition, mixing the climactic elements--the wedding with the niece's departure, adding Martin's rescue attempt from the gangster, all literally highlighted by the carnival atmosphere, casts a mythic sheen. Also interesting is Martin's character. One has the impression that he essentially played himself: a likeable hedonist. He manages friendship without emotion--unable to accept Sinatra's marriage, as it implies joining society, instead of operating on its margins as his 'code' necessitates.It's also possible to see Sinatra's giving in to Maclaine as an abnegation. After all, he remains blase towards her, easing up just a bit, as they wander innocently through the carnival. Maybe he didn't make the right choice. The movie casts just this sliver of doubt, leaving us wondering if there is a right choice.The psyschological complexity of the theme, the scaffolding of the plot, and the performances from three fine actors, gives Some Came Running a must-see (and see again) quality.

tieman64 "We become Second Hand Men. That's what I like to call it. Second Hand to everything. Second Hand to our jobs, to our country's military strategy, to the money we make or hope to make and then can't spend, to taxes, to our children, Second Hand, even, to the cause of world peace. Three hundred years ago, at our age, we'd be about ready to die. If we weren't dead already. But now we can go on living for a long time yet, if we want to, in a Second Hand sort of way." - James Jones After the success of "From Here To Eternity", a James Jones adaptation which starred Frank Sinatra and which won several Academy Awards, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer set about adapting Jones' "Some Came Running". The director for the task? Vincente Minnelli, hot property in the era, but now, sadly, a director somewhat forgotten.MGM's "From Here To Eternity" missed the point of Jones' wonderful novel. Minnelli, though, identifies with his material. The film works as a prequel to his "The Sandpiper", continues the director's fondness for artists and tortured outcasts and features another Minnelli "hero" who's self destructive, a cynic, maintains a certain self-imposed isolation, and who rejects a staid, conformist, conservative and deeply hypocritical world.Our "hero's" name? US army officer Dave Hirsch, a malcontent middle ager who finds himself thrust into the heart of small town America. The place offends him, but Hirsch manages to cope by latching onto a series of outcasts, gamblers and drunks. A romantic relationship with a school teacher points toward possible rehabilitation – she promises to lift Hirsch out of his slump - but their relationship quickly goes sour; she's attracted in him only insofar as he epitomizes your typical, romanticised, suffering artist.The film becomes increasingly bitter. Hirsch, we realise, has no drive, no motivation, and prefers to dive into alcohol and the dark recesses of local bars. At rock bottom, he then makes a bizarre gesture; he marries a lost, dull witted, simple girl. Everyone's shocked, but the act makes sense to Hirsch. He can't function in the world, it has turned its back on him, and so he embraces the dregs. But is this only a gesture of defeat? Does Hirsch, perhaps, also see something genuinely wonderful about his new bride? The rest of the film watches as Hirsch attempts to integrate three perhaps incompatible worlds: the sophisticate world of big money, the sleazy dives he frequents, and the isolated, sensitive life of a writer.Aesthetically, "Some Came Running" is typical of Minnelli; big, melodramatic and lush. Perhaps because he's accustomed to filming musical numbers, the film trades mostly in middle, wide and long shots, with close ups being rare. Director Jacques Rivette would say that the film neglects its actors and that Minnelli "left his three great actors working in a void, with no one watching them or listening to them from behind the camera", but that's not quite true. You sense that Minnelli identifies with Hirsch. James Jones certainly did. The character was very loosely based on Jones' own fears and inclinations as a young writer."Some Came Running" occupies an odd space in cinema history. Like the works of Nicholas Ray, Douglas Sirk etc, it broadened the possibilities of the melodrama. It would influence "Five Easy Pieces", "Contempt" and would be praised heavily by the likes of Richard Linklater, Godard, Scorsese and the Cashier du Cinema crew. The film also reverses Minnelli's "Meet Me In St Louis", which waxed nostalgic about small town virtues, by being preoccupied with small town vices. In this way the film was also part of a wave of "lets look behind the suburban facade" 1950s melodramas, which expanded upon post-war noir cynicism and delved behind the moral and sexual hypocrisies of angelic, suburban communities. Such films almost seemed to have laid the groundwork for the tumultuous 1960s."Some Came Running" is overlong, features opulent Technicolour imagery, an Elmer Bernstein score, and co-stars Dean Martin and Shirley MacLaine. Sinatra gets the bulk of the film's very good one-liners.8/10 – One of Minnelli's best. See "In A Lonely Place".

Steffi_P Some Came Running is sometimes referenced as the first Rat Pack movie. However, although it is literally the first time a bunch of Rat Pack members ever starred together, this is a far cry from the series of easygoing comedies that would later be made to capitalise on the group's reputation. Some Came Running is instead a brooding and occasionally poignant dramatic thriller.The director is Vincente Minnelli, a man who is better-known for his lavish musicals, and one often lauded (or dismissed) as a dreamer and a lover of beauty. Some Came Running however proves his abilities with serious and convoluted story lines. What is fascinating here is the way Minnelli uses his elaborate visual style to bring clarity to the picture's web of subplots. No-one really used the widescreen format quite like him, and no-one really has since. It's amazing that he can use so few close-ups, and put so much detail into a shot, and yet still make us focus totally on what is important. A good example is the scene where Arthur Kennedy hears about his brother's return over the phone. Kennedy's secretary enters the room and comes into the foreground. The young men in the background of the shot of the man on the other end of the phone even encourage our eyes to that side of the screen. Secretaries are usually functional but forgettable bit parts, but her placement in this scene makes us remember her even though she doesn't speak, and this pays off when she later has an important part to play in the story. Minnelli doesn't force us to pay too much attention to minutiae of dialogue, but every scene seems arranged to convey some important plot detail like an key character introduction or someone's reaction to a situation, and the distinctive look to each shot helps to seal these ideas in our heads.This picture also happens to be blessed with a perfect cast, whose members shine through their sheer credibility. Take Frank Sinatra and Arthur Kennedy. Neither of them gets any big "powerhouse" scenes, but their performances are captivating because one could really believe they are a pair of chalk-and-cheese brothers, and they subtly bring all the past resentments of their characters to the screen. The real standout though is Shirley MacLaine. She really understands her character's lack of sophistication and goes all out to show it off, but without ever becoming so over-the-top you don't believe it. More importantly she does it in such a way as to elicit sympathy from the audience rather than scorn. And really it is this strand to her story which gives the picture its strongest emotional edge.There were quite a few pictures about small-town morality (or lack thereof) floating about Hollywood around this time, Peyton Place being another prominent example, and in many ways they can be seen a more highbrow counterpoint to Film Noir. Some Came Running is probably the best, and certainly seems the most insightful and the most affecting. To my mind this quality comes mainly from the believability and strength with which its characters are drawn, as they take their places in this overwhelmingly human tragedy.

kenjha Soldier comes back to his small home town in Indiana after the war and disrupts some lives. Sinatra is solid as the disgruntled soldier and former writer. MacLaine is wonderful as a dim-witted floozy that swoons after Sinatra, who inexplicably wants to marry Hyer after spending a few hours with her. Sinatra's interest in Hyer, an attractive but cold-hearted and stuck-up schoolteacher, is never believable. Kennedy is fine as Sinatra's brother while Martin barely registers in an unsubstantial role. The finale feels contrived and out of place, an indication that Minnelli was out of his comfort zone with this material. Good score by Bernstein.