The Man With The Golden Arm

When it was released in 1955, The Man With The Golden Arm, directed by Otto Preminger, was controversial. It was condemned by many for its depiction of drug addiction, but as those who defended it said, it did not glamorize addiction, quite the opposite. Even today it works as a cautionary tale--when you are trying to kick a habit, don't go back to your old routines.

Frank Sinatra stars as Frankie Machine, who has just returned to his Chicago neighborhood after a stint in jail. While incarcerated a doctor helped him kick his habit (the drug is never stated, but appears to be heroin). His wife (Eleanor Parker) is overjoyed to see him. She is wheelchair bound, hurt in an accident while Sinatra was driving drunk. He doesn't really love her anymore, but he feels guilty.

Who Sinatra really loves is his neighbor, Kim Novak, but he tells her he can not leave his wife. But Sinatra has high hopes of getting a job as a drummer in a band.

Before being in jail Sinatra was a dealer in an illegal poker game. He is pressured into returning to that lifestyle, especially by Darren McGavin as an oily drug dealer (it's a wonderful performance--he's dapper, sporting a hat and always dressed up, but he has the heart of a snake). Soon Sinatra is enticed to get a fix, ruins his chances at an audition for a band, and is back dealing cards.

The Man With The Golden Arm, though it might seem tame today, still holds up. The scenes of Sinatra kicking the drug cold turkey are excruciatingly powerful. The menagerie of oddballs in the neighborhood, like Arnold Stang, are vivid and well-written. My only nitpick is that Parker plays her part way over the top. She is so clingy and manipulative that it's hard to imagine anyone staying with her, guilt or not.

Sinatra was nominated for an Oscar (the part was first offered to Marlon Brando) and in the long history of films about drugs, it is near the top, even if it can't be as open as today's films can be. The script, by Walter Newman and Lewis Meltzer (with uncredited help by Ben Hecht), based on a novel by Nelson Algren, is expertly crafted. I loved a scene where McGavin tells Sinatra that he was once addicted to candy, and quit by engorging himself on sweets until he got sick. It not only helps humanize the villain, but it's an interesting parallel to the subject at hand.

I should also commend the jazz score by Elmer Bernstein, which is one of the best jazz scores ever composed.