The Man with the Golden Arm

Starring: Frank Sinatra, Eleanor Parker, Kim Novak, Arnold Stang, Darren McGavin, Robert Strauss
Directed by: Otto Preminger
Rating: Not rated
Genre: Drama
1955

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: An expert card dealer (Frank Sinatra) returns home from prison and rehab, clean from his vicious heroin addict. When he returns to his familiar surroundings, however, he finds the habit harder to break than he expected.

Review:

Tim: The Man with the Golden Arm is an important drama from the 1950s. It was the first film to really showcase illicit drug use in a graphic manner. For this reason, it was released without a seal of approval. This obviously created some controversy with the film. And yet, this film inspired changes in the system, because it tackled drug addiction in a poignant and powerful way. This is a stark, memorable look at man struggling with an addiction to heroin and how it impacts his life.

Frank Sinatra is terrific as Frankie Machine. He's charismatic and likable enough for us to identify with him and care about him, but he's clearly a troubled man. The early scenes were heartbreaking for me, because he returns home so happy and hopeful for the future. He wants to make a better life for himself, and fresh from rehab, he believes he can achieve that. He's been dealt a rough hand in life, and slowly, his old life intrudes on his new found optimism. That process is hard to watch, but Sinatra puts it all on display. I thought his performance was remarkable, and I'm glad he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor.

Eleanor Parker was fairly good as his girlfriend with a dark secret of her own. I thought she worked well, but certainly didn't impress me too much. I thought her character was underdeveloped, and I wish the movie explored her reasons for her actions more. She and Sinatra worked well on screen together. I thought Kim Novak was average. She didn't do much to impress me in this film. Her performance was a bit too wooden for me.

The story is well told. We see Sinatra come back from rehab, and slowly get wrapped up in his old life. We see the influences all around him- some positive, some negative. Sinatra's Frankie Machine is a fascinating character. His greatest strength is as a card dealer, and there's great pressure on him to return to that life. He's very good at it, it pays well, and yet, it's illegal. That lifestyle landed him in jail the last time, and it supported his heroin addiction. He knows he needs to stay away, and yet, the attraction is powerful. I loved watching this man's life teeter with every decision he made- throughout the film, you got to see how his actions moved him either towards salvation or damnation.

I loved how heroin addiction played a huge role in this film. Sinatra certainly did his research for this part, and his portrayal of an addict was realistic. You got to see the ups and downs of someone with a substance abuse problem, and the film did a good job of not sugarcoating it. I thought the withdrawal scene was well done, but it seemed a bit quick.

My other complaint is the film's ending. It felt rushed and very Hollywood to me. The end was a little too convenient, a little too fast for my taste. It seemed like the police made an automatic assumption, without having actual evidence to support their belief. I just thought the end of the film was fairly weak.

Still, it doesn't detract too much from this competently made, entertaining film. I loved Sinatra's performance, and the portrayal of heroin addiction was well done and important to the future of Hollywood movies. This influential film is well worth seeing.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating- 7.5



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