Rating: 
Summary: Once Daring, Now Giggle-Inducing
Review: "I used to be hooked, Kid. Hooked on candy, so I know how you feel." I'm paraphrasing slightly, but this is "The Peddler" character's attempt to translate the experience of the heroin addict. Huh? It seems as if Preminger was so eager to get his controversial examination of this then "hot" subject matter on film that the process, the content took on a supporting role. Where does this movie get its reputation? Where did Sinatra (and I'm otherwise a BIG fan) get a Best Actor nomination? Where do I go to wipe my memory of this embarassingly puerile pap?
Rating: 
Summary: An interesting mix of outstanding and plodding sequences
Review: ...the most prominent aspects of the movie - Sinatra's unquestionably great performance, Preminger's use of compelling camera angles, the prominently placed Berstein Jazz score, and Novak's performance. All of which are true and I agree that most of these combine to create a positive impression of this movie.The best sequences in the movie involve Sinatra in the realm of men (and I mean Men as opposed to human) - when dealing the several day long card game while still trying to keep focused on the important audition Monday morning, the interchanges with the appealingly slimy heroin dealer (greasily played by Darrin McGavin in one of his best roles) while succumbing to the pull of the junkie, the failed musical audition, and the outstanding bit when he resolves to kick the habit cold-turkey. All of these were worth watching several times - thank God for chapter selections on DVD. However, the movie is not perfect, and there are several things that can be readily cited as significant faults. The possessive and yet still possessed wife (Eleanor Parker) was a one-note performance: hysteria. Preminger needed to significantly pull back that character from the precipice that she fell off (long before she literally falls off). The first scene with her and Frankie upon his return home is the only one that was interesting and believable, all others were maudlin and overdone. She clearly had the acting chops to turn in a fascinating performance, as indicated by this first scene. Her character should have been one of the most pivotal in the movie, as she is the reason why Frankie returns and she inadvertently provides the key to his freedom when she gives herself up after killing the heroin dealer. As it is, scenes with her in it are mostly unwatchable. The sycophantic toady friend of Frankie (Arnold Stang) was, I suppose, intended to be funny, but he is such an undeveloped stereotype as to be merely annoying. He greatly hindered my enjoyment of the movie. Also the pacing at times really dragged at several points, most notably even during the great sequence with Sinatra kicking the habit. The rather long running time (119 minutes) could have been easily shortened by at least 20 minutes with some simple editing and tightening. Similarly, although the musical score was interesting and compelling - it tied in with Frankie's newly resolved ambition and nicely placed the movie among the heroin junkie jazz lifestyle of the time - it could have been much better utilized. One refrain in particular that recurs so often as to be annoying and at such a loud volume as to be distracting. It is a perfect example of how great music can be diminished by misapplication. That all being said, these detractions do not so significantly reduce the movie that I would not heartily recommend it to my friends. Dated and imperfect it may be, but it is still compelling and immensely watchable - and not just for Sinatra nuts like myself.
Rating: 
Summary: Otto Preminger's Urban Poem
Review: Before the advent of the French "New Wave," director Otto Preminger directed the highly stylized, realistic urban classic "The Man With the Golden Arm." Frank Sinatra was never consistently great as an actor, but his portrayal of heroin addict Frankie Machine is not only the best of his career, but one of the best for anybody's career, for that matter. Set in 1955, this was a pretty risky movie for its time, and was to drug addiction what Billy Wilder's 1945 "The Long Weekend" was to alcoholism: A no-holds-barred, unwhitewashed slice of reality. Frankie's problem is that he wants to return to normalcy after being released from prison, and then a halfway house. Like the novelist says, "you write what you know," and likewise Frankie lives what he knows, and returns to his seedy Chicago neighborhood. From the moment of his uneventful return, normalcy -- his old life as a card dealer, his neurotic wife (Eleanor Parker) who feels too sorry for herself to help Frankie start clean with a new life, and a small-time heroin dealer, icily played by Darren McGavin -- tries to reel Frankie back into a dead-end routine and sink its hooks to keep him enslaved to his compulsions. Frankie tries to embark on a new career as a jazz drummer, which provides the movie with the motifs for its streetwise "crime jazz" soundtrack, written by Elmer Bernstein. But, the cycle of addiction sets in lightning-quick because Frankie's wife wants him to bring home the money dealing cards again, which puts him smack dab in the company of the lowlifes he most desparately needs to avoid. Back at dealing, the local heroin dealer could not give a whit about Frankie staying clean; He's desparate to get Frankie to take that one fix and hook another regular customer. Fortunately, Frankie finds salvation in the arms of Kim Novak, who was involved with Sinatra romantically at the time. Their relationship is a complex one, and Novak's empathy really comes through. Her hard-headed compassion in keeping Frankie away from a fix while he's sweating it out cold-turkey is riveting, because she's putting her own safety at risk. Even before modern theraputic terms like "in denial" were in vogue, we see Sinatra's character -- in the throes of his own addiction -- running down Novak's alcoholic boyfriend as a weakling who can't control his vices. It's beautifully handled, because the point is not to expose Frankie as a hypocrite, but to reveal his blindness to his own weaknesses. Frankie is a tragic hero of Shakesperian dimensions, but whose stage is set in a modern-day tenement. Visually, this film is very striking, and is edited so that the montage is in rapid-fire sequence during crucial scenes. It's intercut in the same fashion as Saul Bass' pioneering title cutouts; Bass would go on to become Hollywood's most recognizable title designer, his sequences dominated by iconic graphics in movies such as Preminger's "Anatomy of a Murder," "Advise and Consent" and Hitchcock's "Vertigo" and "Psycho." Of all Preminger's movies, this is the most cinematic. He would go on to use more laid-back camera setups and editing in movies like the one named above, and would break out into less intimate and more worldly settings with epics such as "The Cardinal" and "In Harm's Way." "The Man With the Golden Arm" catches Preminger at the top of his form as it does his cast. McGavin would never again be so intense, and only in "The Manchurian Candidate" for Sinatra and "Vertigo" for Novak would such powerful, commited and well-written performances again come their way.
Rating:
Summary: Otto Preminger's Urban Poem
Review: Before the advent of the French "New Wave," director Otto Preminger directed the highly stylized, realistic urban classic "The Man With the Golden Arm." Frank Sinatra was never consistently great as an actor, but his portrayal of heroin addict Frankie Machine is not only the best of his career, but one of the best for anybody's career, for that matter. Set in 1955, this was a pretty risky movie for its time, and was to drug addiction what Billy Wilder's 1945 "The Long Weekend" was to alcoholism: A no-holds-barred, unwhitewashed slice of reality. Frankie's problem is that he wants to return to normalcy after being released from prison, and then a halfway house. Like the novelist says, "you write what you know," and likewise Frankie lives what he knows, and returns to his seedy Chicago neighborhood. From the moment of his uneventful return, normalcy -- his old life as a card dealer, his neurotic wife (Eleanor Parker) who feels too sorry for herself to help Frankie start clean with a new life, and a small-time heroin dealer, icily played by Darren McGavin -- tries to reel Frankie back into a dead-end routine and sink its hooks to keep him enslaved to his compulsions. Frankie tries to embark on a new career as a jazz drummer, which provides the movie with the motifs for its streetwise "crime jazz" soundtrack, written by Elmer Bernstein. But, the cycle of addiction sets in lightning-quick because Frankie's wife wants him to bring home the money dealing cards again, which puts him smack dab in the company of the lowlifes he most desparately needs to avoid. Back at dealing, the local heroin dealer could not give a whit about Frankie staying clean; He's desparate to get Frankie to take that one fix and hook another regular customer. Fortunately, Frankie finds salvation in the arms of Kim Novak, who was involved with Sinatra romantically at the time. Their relationship is a complex one, and Novak's empathy really comes through. Her hard-headed compassion in keeping Frankie away from a fix while he's sweating it out cold-turkey is riveting, because she's putting her own safety at risk. Even before modern theraputic terms like "in denial" were in vogue, we see Sinatra's character -- in the throes of his own addiction -- running down Novak's alcoholic boyfriend as a weakling who can't control his vices. It's beautifully handled, because the point is not to expose Frankie as a hypocrite, but to reveal his blindness to his own weaknesses. Frankie is a tragic hero of Shakesperian dimensions, but whose stage is set in a modern-day tenement. Visually, this film is very striking, and is edited so that the montage is in rapid-fire sequence during crucial scenes. It's intercut in the same fashion as Saul Bass' pioneering title cutouts; Bass would go on to become Hollywood's most recognizable title designer, his sequences dominated by iconic graphics in movies such as Preminger's "Anatomy of a Murder," "Advise and Consent" and Hitchcock's "Vertigo" and "Psycho." Of all Preminger's movies, this is the most cinematic. He would go on to use more laid-back camera setups and editing in movies like the one named above, and would break out into less intimate and more worldly settings with epics such as "The Cardinal" and "In Harm's Way." "The Man With the Golden Arm" catches Preminger at the top of his form as it does his cast. McGavin would never again be so intense, and only in "The Manchurian Candidate" for Sinatra and "Vertigo" for Novak would such powerful, commited and well-written performances again come their way.
Rating:
Summary: A great actor in an average film
Review: Frank Sinatra impersonates a man who is the slave of his neighborhood in a big city that could be any metropolis. He is the slave of the powerful in this neighborhood because of his addiction to heroin, because of his being possessed by a girl who is in a wheel chair, though we know from the very start that she is acting the part of a handicapped girl. Thus enslaved by the local card-games organiser, the local heroin dealer and his responsibility towards the girl, without forgetting the local police, he is unable to realise his dream to become a drummer in some big jazz band...Frank Sinatra is particularly convincing in his part and his going cold turkey is marvellously depicted. A small film, maybe, but powerful and faith-carrying acting. Dr Jacques COULARDEAU
Rating:
Summary: Sinatra The Actor At His Best
Review: Frank Sinatra received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor for this performance, and its easy to see why. Playing a role that could have easily drifted into campish over-acting, Sinatra perfectly captures the desparation and hope that Frankie Machine felt as he was trying to get over an addiction that was obviously destroying him, physically and mentally. Hollywood lore says that Sinatra visited a rehab clinic while preparing for this film in order to see what a herion addict going through withdrawal really looked (and acted) like. If true, it certainly must have given him an insight into a world that its impossible for most people to understand. Judged against Sinatra's other film performances, this certainly has to rank as the best; the only other film roles that come close are Maggio in "From Here to Eternity" and "The Manchurian Candidate". Its this performance, however, and the despiration of a man who wants to take control of his life, but can't, that has to be at the top of the list. In the end, Sinatra didn't win that Best Actor Oscar, losing out to Ernest Borgnine for his role in "Marty". After watching this movie, one wonders what more Frank could've done. As far as I'm concerned, he should'a won it.
Rating:
Summary: Sinatra The Actor At His Best
Review: Frank Sinatra received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor for this performance, and its easy to see why. Playing a role that could have easily drifted into campish over-acting, Sinatra perfectly captures the desparation and hope that Frankie Machine felt as he was trying to get over an addiction that was obviously destroying him, physically and mentally. Hollywood lore says that Sinatra visited a rehab clinic while preparing for this film in order to see what a herion addict going through withdrawal really looked (and acted) like. If true, it certainly must have given him an insight into a world that its impossible for most people to understand. Judged against Sinatra's other film performances, this certainly has to rank as the best; the only other film roles that come close are Maggio in "From Here to Eternity" and "The Manchurian Candidate". Its this performance, however, and the despiration of a man who wants to take control of his life, but can't, that has to be at the top of the list. In the end, Sinatra didn't win that Best Actor Oscar, losing out to Ernest Borgnine for his role in "Marty". After watching this movie, one wonders what more Frank could've done. As far as I'm concerned, he should'a won it.
Rating:
Summary: SINATRA'S BEST ACTING PERFORMANCE
Review: Sinatra's performance is gritty, real, and as riveting as James Dean's acting. Amazing. The scenery and some of the character actors are very dated, but looked at as a 1955 film, it is extremely powerful. Kim Novak and Darren McGavin are also excellent. The jazz score is perfect.
Rating:
Summary: Powerful and awful work!
Review: The slow and progressive decadence of a musician who drowns in the lowest depths of degradation due the vice are shown in this brave film of the early fifties.
Otto Preminger was always a risky director who seemed to enjoy to accept such difficult themes.
Still you could smell in the surroundings the recent death of Charlie Parker in the musical jazz world .
The darkest clouds of the Cold War and the raise of the science fiction films and the growing up process of the film noir genre were not enough to turn around the gaze about the awful presence of this beating reality in the heart of the society .
Frank Sinatra made the most powerful acting of all his career .
Extraordinary script and memorable cast.
Rating:
Summary: The Man With The Golden Arm
Review: This budget release from the little known Passport Collector's Edition label is on par with older catalogue titles from major companies such as MGM and Columbia. The transfer is first class in both video and audio fidelity. This looks and sounds damn good for a 45 year old movie. The extras are also well worth viewing. These include brief interviews with Sinatra himself, composer Elmer Bernstein,and a host of others. Trailers to some other FS movies such as From Here to Eternity and The Manchurian Candidate round out this impressive dvd.This will probably be the definitive version of this film classic for the forseeable future. Well worth its budget price of $8.99.
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