evanston_dad Director/producer bad boy Otto Preminger enjoyed giving the Hollywood Production Code the finger throughout the 1950s, and he did it again with this pretty harrowing movie about a heroin addict trying desperately to thwart his addiction.This was strong stuff for 1955. Good Lord, two years earlier Preminger's "The Moon Is Blue" had been denied a seal of approval from the Production Code for including the word "virgin," so I can only imagine what audiences at the time made of this. It's of course pretty tame by today's standards, but this movie had some major cajones to tackle the subject of heroin addiction, including a scene showing what it's like to detox, so frankly.Speaking of Frank, Sinatra proves himself to be a damn fine actor in this, and scored himself his second Academy Award nomination for his performance. Knowing the Academy, it's his showy scenes, like the detox one mentioned above, that wowed them, but it's his quieter ones, where you can see the struggle within him happening in his eyes only, that are more impressive. Darren McGavin, a long way from "A Christmas Story," is both terrifying and mesmerizing as a dealer who keeps Sinatra wanting a score. I could have done without a far-fetched side plot involving Eleanor Parker as Sinatra's enabler girlfriend (or wife? I was never sure) that feels like something from a different movie. On the other hand, this film's art direction and score (by Elmer Bernstein) are sensational, and both were also singled out by the Academy. The set in particular is impressive, a meticulous recreation of a seedy city block, which serves as a constant visual reminder of the cage Sinatra's character lives in and which he has to break out of if he ever has a chance of going clean. Grade: A

Leofwine_draca An interesting look at heroin addiction, lacking the power and gravitas of the boozy nightmare that was THE LOST WEEKEND, but nonetheless a well-made and well-directed film from Otto Preminger. THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN ARM sees Frank Sinatra playing an ex-con who works as a dealer in illegal card games but dreams of becoming a famous musician. Unfortunately, he's also a former heroin addict who must attempt to resist the temptation of another fix.This kind of story tends to write itself and indeed there aren't many surprises in the narrative. Sinatra is adequate as the lead, but I found his character rather underwritten and difficult to warm to. He has a lot of negative qualities but few genuinely likable elements to his personality. Still, with a plot-driven film such as this, such lightness of characterisation is easy to overlook when the rest of the plot ingredients are so interesting.The supporting characters are enlivened by some actors giving very good performances. Particularly fine are Kim Novak (in a dry run for VERTIGO) as the object of Sinatra's obsession and Darren McGavin (THE NIGHT STALKER) in an early part as a completely amoral drug dealer. My favourite character is the morally murky Eleanor Parker playing Sinatra's wife who has a few hidden secrets of her own; she gets all of the best scenes and is involved in the dark heart of the movie. The set-piece in which Sinatra attempts to kick the habit is dramatic, but Hackman had it beat in THE FRENCH CONNECTION 2. Still, THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN ARM is a very well made film, one that's there's no reason to dislike.

clanciai I haven't seen this film since 1971, but then it made e such an impression, that it stuck for life, and I felt no need to see it again, as the memory of it was sharp enough. Just for curiosity, I decided to renew its acquaintance after 44 years just to see what would happen, - and the impact was repeated and as good as new. This is probably the best junkie film ever made, in its naturalistic and actually horrific realism, with Frank Sinatra (100 years just the other day) in his best performance in the lead as the junkie with a crippled wife in a wheel- chair (Eleanor Parker, splendid acting on her part too,) and Kim Novak as the saving angel - it stands clear from the beginning that only she can save him, and she does, in also one of her best performances, actually better than in "Vertigo". The triumph however is the direction combined with the music by Elmer Bernstein. It's asphalt jungle music all the way, hard and merciless in its ruthlessly importuning rough disharmonics and nightmare style (with a few exceptions for a change), and Sinatra is even convincing as a failed drummer. Otto Preminger stands for the direction, one of many original films of his, and they are many, but this black-and-white social documentary naturalistic gutter nightmare is perhaps the one most sticking out - you recognize much of this half slum humdrum environment as he returns to it in "Porgy and Bess" three years later. In brief, it's a triumph of a film, completely naked in shocking social realism with as perfectly convincing and natural performances as in any Italian neo-realistic masterpiece. It was a perfectly enjoyable nightmare to see it again after 44 years to observe it had lost nothing of its timeless actuality - this could happen to you.

blanche-2 Frank Sinatra is "The Man with the Golden Arm" in this 1955 Otto Preminger film that also stars Eleanor Parker, Darrin McGavin, Kim Novak, and Arnold Stang. Sinatra plays Frankie Machine, a heroin addict who is treated during a six month prison stay and comes home determined to start a new life as a musician.Trying to follow the advice of his doctor, he refuses his old job, that of a card dealer. However, it doesn't take long for the old pulls on him to take root. His wife Zosch, is in a wheelchair due to an accident caused by Frankie, and she's extremely clingy and needy. His girlfriend Molly (Novak) is with someone else and isn't sure she wants to be involved with him again. Louie (McGavin) is constantly on him to buy a fix, and Schwiefka (Robert Strauss), his old boss, is desperate for him to work as a dealer. Frankie fairly quickly starts using again.The setting of this film couldn't possibly be more depressing - a seedy, dirty, old neighborhood peopled with weirdos, drug dealers, and criminal types. In the midst of this, Frankie's wife plays on his guilt for the accident, and then he has to face up to the fact that he went back to his addiction.Frank Sinatra is great as the downtrodden, pathetic Frankie who wants to get a job playing the drums and takes a detour. The supporting cast is marvelous with the exception of the miscast Eleanor Parker. Parker is simply not low-class enough for the role of Zosch -- her acting is very good as always, but she's too well-spoken. This would have been an excellent role for Coleen Gray who could have captured the necessary quality beautifully.Without giving away the ending, I had a problem with it - how the truth of the situation was learned is not explained.Films about drug use in later years were much more graphic and hard-hitting. Drugs in the '50s were not as mainstream as they became, and actually, they're hardly mentioned in the movie. I'm sure this was a difficult subject to handle in 1955, and given that, Preminger did an excellent job.