The Man With The Golden Arm

Ole Blues Eyes was well on his way to establish himself towards acceptance of being taking seriously as a leading dramatic actor, his controversial depiction of aspiring drummer and drug addict Frankie Machine is both harrowing and potent.

Just released from a State Penitentiary, former addict Frankie (Frank Sinatra) returns to his old and impoverished neighbourhood of Chicago’s north side, and is re-united with his clinging and hypochondriac wife Zosh (Eleanor Parker). Apparently wheelchair-bound as a result of a car accident in which Frankie was the driver, Zosh grabs every opportunity to remind poor Frankie of the incident that crippled her for life. However, it is soon revealed that this is not in fact the case and that the young woman in perfectly capable of walking but merely uses the wheelchair as a device to keep her man.
Away from his domestic trappings, Frankie meets up with old pal Sparrow (Arnold Stang) who simply adores him and has himself a neat little side-line for a guy with a few mental issues. Frankie just happened to be the top dealer in town and assuming his old skills have not deserted him, Schwiefka (Robert Strauss), who runs an illegal gambling den, wants Frankie back working for him. The odds don’t look good for our Frankie though, and with slimy drug dealer Louie Fomorowski (Darren McGavin) forever on standby, hoping to get Frankie to return to his old habit, our protagonist finds himself in a bit of a quandary.

On the lookout for potential auditions, Frankie bumps into former love Molly (Kim Novak) but things aren’t helped when best pal Sparrow pinches a suit so that Frankie can get to an audition as a drummer. The pair end up in the slammer, and with no money to get out, Frankie has no alternative then to take up Schwiefka’s ‘kind’ offer of bail. This of course comes at a price: he’s got Frankie back where wants him – at his poker table!

With increasing pressure all round, Frankie finds himself with little alternative but to turn to Louie for help and a nice fix. Things are bound to get very nasty and indeed they do, resulting in the deaths of two of the leading characters…

The ceaselessly dramatic storyline is brilliantly emphasised by the prolific Elmer Bernstein’s score. Even if you don’t know the film you will probably know the score!
As for the performances, little known comedian Arnold Stang in the role of ‘Sparrow’ almost steals the show! That said, the chemistry between Sinatra and Novak works incredibly well and the former delivers an all too convincing portrayal of a decent guy prepared to do anything to get his fix. In fact, Sinatra prepared for his part by spending time in a drug rehabilitation centre. Darren McGavin (who nearly played ‘James Bond’ but ended up playing ‘Kolchak’ instead) gives a memorable performance as the seedy drug pusher.

As for the direction, it is everything you can expect from Otto Preminger, while the moody b/w camera work by Sam Leavitt, although restricted to a studio set, is nothing less than effective.

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