The Man with the Golden Arm

This story has quite a well trodden feel to it. Frank Sinatra's "Frankie" is released from a stint in prison and heads straight back to the drug-infused melting pot from whence he came. Initially intent on staying clean, soon peer pressures and his struggle to survive, with his high-maintenance wife "Zosh" (Eleanor Parker) have him back at square one. It might just be that his salvation can come from his lover, the excellent Kim Novak ("Molly"), and from his drum kit? Sinatra proves he has some versatility as an actor here, and both Parker and Novak - alongside an un-nerving effort from Robert Strauss as his supplier "Schwiefka", makes this a far grittier, harder hitting drama than we might have expected. It shows us the relentlessness and ...

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 ...