The Man with the Golden Arm (1955)
82 %
Reviews Counted: 17 Fresh: 14 Rotten:3 Average Rating: 6.9/10
Runtime: 2 hrs 1 min
Synopsis: This powerful drama, which broached the subject of drug addiction in a stark and realistic manner, may be mild by today's standards, but was a groundbreaking and edgy film in its day. The legendary Frank Sinatra plays addict, Frankie Machine, with Eleanor Parker playing his disabled wife.... [More]
Genre: Dramas
Starring: Frank Sinatra, Eleanor Parker, Kim Novak, Darren McGavin, Robert Strauss
Director: Otto Preminger
Story: Nelson Algren
Producer: Otto Preminger
Screenwriter: Walter Newman
Composer: Elmer Bernstein
Story: Nelson Algren
Producer: Otto Preminger
Screenwriter: Walter Newman
Composer: Elmer Bernstein
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Reviews
1 - 17 (sorted by date)
Director Otto Preminger emphasizes the lurid whenever he can ... so that the movie plays like a blurry, bleary night-on-its-way-to-morning.
Comment
06/19/08
Sinatra, by contrast, is superb, especially in a harrowing withdrawal scene. It's his movie...all the way.
10/23/07
A gripping, fascinating film, expertly produced and directed and performed with marked conviction by Frank Sinatra as the drug slave.
10/23/07
Top Critic
Frank Sinatra, as the drug-addicted poker dealer, plays a reasonably naturalistic character, but he's surrounded by a collection of bizarre archetypes.
10/23/07
Top Critic
More Damon Runyan than Irvine Welsh, but as entertaining as it is important.
10/23/07
Some of the scenes of cold turkey are still very effective, and Sinatra's performance is flawless.
10/23/07
There are some great scenes, though, notably Sinatra's audition for a make-or-break drumming job, and the later scene where he suffers cold turkey in Novak's apartment.
06/24/06
A brave and well-constructed piece of old-time movie-making, and the thing more than holds up today.
11/13/05
In short, for all the delicacy of the subject and for all the pathological shivers in a couple of scenes, there is nothing very surprising or exciting about The Man With the Golden Arm.
05/20/03
Top Critic
Proves that drug stories aren't exclusively the territory of hip, nihilistic '90s film-school wunderkinder.
09/17/01
Frank Sinatra turns in a credible performance as a reformed heroin addict straight out of the joint -- and finds his options aren't so sweet upon his return to the world.
05/12/01
1 - 17 (sorted by date)
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