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Some Came Running

Play trailer 3:51 Poster for Some Came Running Released Dec 18, 1958 2h 17m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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78% Tomatometer 18 Reviews 76% Popcornmeter 500+ Ratings
Hard-drinking novelist Dave Hirsh (Frank Sinatra) returns home after being gone for years. His brother (Arthur Kennedy) wants Dave to settle down, and introduces him to English teacher Gwen French (Martha Hyer). Moody Dave resents his brother, and spends his days hanging out with Bama Dillert (Dean Martin), a professional gambler who parties late into the night. Torn between the admiring Gwen and Ginny Morehead (Shirley MacLaine), an easy woman who loves him, Dave grows increasingly angry.
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Some Came Running

Critics Reviews

View All (18) Critics Reviews
Kevin Maher Times (UK) The genius of MacLaine’s performance is that she takes a character that is written, with deep misogyny, as comically ignorant and promiscuous and flips it around to make Ginny fearless and eccentric... Rated: 4/5 May 3, 2024 Full Review Richard Brody The New Yorker Minnelli... revels in the alluring decorative artifices of small-town life, which nonetheless seethe with passions that shatter the surface of decorum. Jun 5, 2023 Full Review Empire Magazine Rated: 2/5 May 16, 2008 Full Review Moira Walsh The Catholic World I do not know whether or not James Jones’ censorable, over-length novel had an intelligible point of view. The partially disinfected screen version in any case occupies two hours and fifteen minutes displaying a total lack of one. Aug 24, 2023 Full Review Matt Brunson Film Frenzy A searing indictment of small-town hypocrisy. Shirley MacLaine's performance will break your heart. Rated: 4/4 Nov 21, 2021 Full Review Yasser Medina Cinefilia As a melodrama, its premise about impossible love, family conflicts and war wounds is a bit inane, populated with a collage of flat characters that, apparently, are built on a cardboard surface. [Full review in Spanish] Rated: 5/10 May 12, 2021 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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jimmy b Despite an impressive cast with Oscar winners, this is a very boring film. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 07/06/24 Full Review Mike F Sinatra and Martin are terrific together as drinking buddies in this drama from the 50's. It is a little long but keeps your interest through to the end as the plot takes a twist that makes Sinatra rethink his values and relationships. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 11/19/23 Full Review Audience Member Can be funny every here and there, but very monotonous, hollow, and slow-paced. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/29/23 Full Review William L "You're right, teacher. You're 100% right. I've been a bad boy. I've been naughty. As a matter of fact I don't even belong in your class." Now imagine that line said in complete seriousness by Frank Sinatra with a dramatic overture. Some Came Running is pure melodrama, a clash of moral flaws, social graces, and personal affections (like Sinatra's superficially rough-cut but upright Dave vs. Kennedy's prim yet unfaithful Frank; the genuine vs. the facade) whose plot is drawn-out and unsurprising, and is really only saved by a series of relatively solid performances, including an unusually dramatic turn from Sinatra, and in particular MacLaine as the rather dim but devoted Ginny. Just as a taste of how surface-level much of this film is, the film builds up to a decision surrounding Dave's choice of a romantic partner - the gifted Gwen, whose affections are tempered by Dave's faults, and Ginny, who is less than Dave's match for intellect but loves him dearly. It's not complicated, but it takes us well over two hours to get Dave to recognize the benefits of unconditional affection in response to the many fractured relationships of his past, even if it's not in the form that he would prefer. If it weren't for the particularly convincing MacLaine, the film would almost fall apart, but she gives power and nuance to a character that could have easily been cliched and unsympathetic. Far from the best film from the typically musically-inclined Minnelli. (3/5) Rated 3 out of 5 stars 06/09/21 Full Review steve d Ok film because of its performances. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 03/30/23 Full Review Audience Member Vincente Minnelli's melodrama masterwork still holds up over 60 years after its release. Frank Sinatra plays Dave Hirsch a boozing, lonely, veteran whose inner demons have stifled his writing after successfully writing two books. Hirsch attracts the company and love of slow-witted Ginny Moorhead, (Shirley McClaine in a super performance) but instead falls for a school teacher who rekindles his writing. This is the center of a story with a few plot lines that captures the hypocrisies of small town America post World War II. Based on a 1200 page novel the film feels unfinished in certain respects, but it's still a marvel and recommend Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 02/13/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Some Came Running

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Movie Info

Synopsis Hard-drinking novelist Dave Hirsh (Frank Sinatra) returns home after being gone for years. His brother (Arthur Kennedy) wants Dave to settle down, and introduces him to English teacher Gwen French (Martha Hyer). Moody Dave resents his brother, and spends his days hanging out with Bama Dillert (Dean Martin), a professional gambler who parties late into the night. Torn between the admiring Gwen and Ginny Morehead (Shirley MacLaine), an easy woman who loves him, Dave grows increasingly angry.
Director
Vincente Minnelli
Producer
Sol C. Siegel
Screenwriter
John Patrick, Athur Sheekman
Distributor
MGM/UA Home Entertainment Inc., Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Distributing Corp.
Production Co
Metro Goldwyn Mayer
Genre
Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Dec 18, 1958, Original
Release Date (Streaming)
Jan 1, 2009
Runtime
2h 17m
Sound Mix
Mono
Aspect Ratio
35mm, Scope (2.35:1)
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