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.
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.