The Man With the Golden Arm

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r96 s Bit of a slow-moving picture, one that might've ended sooner, though I do class 'The Man with the Golden Arm' as something rather quite good. Frank Sinatra and Kim Novak keep events moving along with strong showings, Sinatra especially. Eleanor Parker is, though, the person onscreen that I appreciated most whilst watching, there's just something about her performance that puts her ahead of her co-stars; I'd even say she overacts in parts, yet it absolutely still worked for me. The story does go round the houses a little, but even with that being the case it didn't actually affect my personal enjoyment all that much - it just totally could've been trimmed and we probably wouldn't have missed anything. Elsewhere, the score is excellent - especially the theme for when Frankie desires his habbits. I'd have to be in the right mood to revisit this. Nonetheless, it do be a very good film from 1955 - ahead of its time, that's for sure. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 05/29/24 Full Review Joshua V Another one of my favorites, first time I saw this was with my grandmother as a teenager on a Saturday night. PBS used to run a Classic Film Night. Frank Sinatra's over acting is chefs kiss. Highly recommend! Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 03/23/23 Full Review Leaburn This film was average 🤏 Rated 2.5/5 Stars •  Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 01/08/23 Full Review SICKS6SIX This must be Frank Sinatras best film ever, easily, He plays the junkie scenes like he knows all about it, he did know junkies and must have seen them go through withdrawals (cold turkey) the script is good with sub-plots from many fine actors, I've just watched the colourized version and if was dated 1965 I would not be surprised, for the time it was made 1955 it was ahead of its time in the way it portrayed his addiction, if you have not seen this film and are going to watch it be ready for a surprise, no singing or dancing from Frank, its gritty and dirty, New York of the 1950s was a dirty stinking hole, and it's well shown in this film, no glitzy nightclubs, just blues bars and card schools in run down tenement buildings, Tough cops and tough hoods, it has twist at the end that you don't see coming, there are no happy endings for anyone, It's as near to real life as Hollywood could film it at the time, There is a scene when Frank has drugs but no way of taking them, like having a cigarette but no light for it, desperation and despair, I don't know if anyone won any Academy Awards for this film, but they should have. Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 07/15/22 Full Review Ed M Great acting. Sinatra. Darren McGavin! Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 03/30/22 Full Review William L Oh, a CARD dealer. I thought we were talking about something else there for a while. One of the earliest films to tackle hard drug addiction (and not your more socially conventional Lost Weekend-type alcoholism), with so many years' worth of film tackling the subject more sincerely from hard drama to comedy, Preminger's film feels closer to Reefer Madness than Requiem for a Dream. What masquerades as noir is mostly melodrama, with Sintara's supposedly reformed addict full of good intentions predictably slipping back into old habits due to outside influences, bad hombres, and a few poor decisions that spiral out of control. There's a whole bit where Sinatra's wife fakes being paralyzed from the waist down in an effort to guilt him into keeping their marriage afloat that seems more like a daytime soap opera revelation than a component of a supposedly serious drama. The sets are solid and really hit on the target atmosphere, while Sinatra displays a range that you wouldn't expect of the crooner, but the good intentions don't really help the film in hiding its age; still not a bad film, and important in the depiction of addiction and substance abuse in film, particularly in the depiction of a cyclical justice system that punishes rather than reforms. (3/5) Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 03/18/21 Full Review Read all reviews

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