The Man With the Golden Arm

Otto Preminger's become unfairly maligned. Well-known as a tyrannical director, his obnoxious later flicks like In Harm's Way, Hurry Sundown and Skidoo also ran his critical reputation to ground. Yet Preminger did more to push the Production Code envelope than anyone prior to Arthur Penn. With Exodus (1960), he helped break the blacklist by hiring Dalton Trumbo. The Moon (1953), Anatomy of a Murder (1959) and Advise and Consent (1962) evince franker sexual content than most films of their era. Perhaps not a brilliant auteur, Preminger nonetheless deserves a fair shake as a Hollywood innovator.

Most impressive of all is The Man With the Golden Arm (1955). Unable to gain studio approval for this searing look at drug addiction, Preminger produced it independently, landing Frank Sinatra as leading man. True, it waters down Nelson Algren's grim source novel into a redemptive melodrama. But it's still a superb character study, featuring Sinatra's best performance.

Frankie Machine (Frank Sinatra) returns after a six-moth stint in jail. Frankie's a recovered heroin addict, and hopes to work as a drummer to support his crippled wife Zosch (Eleanor Parker). But Frankie soon falls under the sway of crooks Louie (Darren McGavin) and Schweifka (Robert Strauss), who alternately seduce and entrap Frankie into his old lifestyle. Soon Frankie's back on drugs and running a crooked card game, jeopardizing everything he's worked for. Only Molly (Kim Novak), Frankie's sometime flame, seems able to help.

If not the '50s answer to Requiem for a Dream, Golden Arm nonetheless proves extremely harrowing. Frankie's addiction isn't something that simple willpower can shake. After six months in rehab, pressure of job hunting drives him back to the needle. His relationship with Louie has a disturbing, almost sexual connotation, as the latter seductively invites Frankie back to his place. Schweifka meanwhile entraps Frankie on a bogus shoplifting charge, dragooning him into a high-stakes card game. The local cops have no sympathy for a junkie. Everything feels stacked against him.

Frankie finds little solace in his home life. He retains massive guilt over Zosch's condition, though that turns out to be a put-on. His ambivalent relationship with Molly goes nowhere: Molly's disgusted by his drug use and dating a pathetic loser (John Conte). But she ultimately wises up to Frankie's problem and helps achieve a breakthrough. Some story elements are inflected with melodrama (especially Zosch's subplot), and the late introduction of a murder seems unnecessary. But the last 30 minutes are incredibly powerful, as Frankie confronts his addiction head-on.

Preminger scores with deft direction, making fine use of Sam Leavitt's deep focus photography. In particular, Preminger handles Frankie's breakdowns and fixes with still-disarming frankness. Like Anatomy of a Murder, he achieves a heightened sense of seediness with Elmer Bernstein's jazzy score and nifty Saul Bass animation. Unlike other Preminger films, Golden never feels too long: Walter Newman and Lewis Meltzer's script is tightly constructed, even the weaker elements fitting snugly into the narrative.

Frank Sinatra gets his finest cinematic hour. Sinatra sublimates his hipster persona almost completely: he's a quivering, desperate Everyman struggling to make ends meat. Sinatra shows perfect conviction with arguing with Zosch, fighting Louie for a needle, or especially in the grim final reels. You can tell when Old Blue Eyes really cared about his work: From Here to Eternity, Suddenly and A Manchurian Candidate are a world apart from his lazy star vehicles. But his turn in Golden Arm eclipses them all.

Kim Novak (Vertigo) does fine work, mixing sex appeal with an earnest desire to help Frankie. Eleanor Parker though seems overwrought; her scenes are generally the film's weakest. Darren McGavin (A Christmas Story) gives a strong villainous turn with Robert Strauss playing to comic effect. Arnold Stang, the proto-Eddie Deezen, proves surprisingly affecting as Frankie's crack-brained friend.

The Man With the Golden Arm remains a powerful experience. Buoyed by excellent acting, its deft handling of difficult subject matter still resonates today.