X
- 1955
- Approved
- United Artists
- 1 h 59 m
- 1955
- Approved
- United Artists
- 1 h 59 m
Summary A strung-out junkie deals with a demoralizing drug addiction while his crippled wife and card sharks pull him down.
Directed By: Otto Preminger
Written By: Walter Newman, Lewis Meltzer, Nelson Algren, Ben Hecht
- 1955
- Approved
- United Artists
- 1 h 59 m
- 1955
- Approved
- United Artists
- 1 h 59 m
The Man with the Golden Arm
63
7.3
Where to Watch
Summary A strung-out junkie deals with a demoralizing drug addiction while his crippled wife and card sharks pull him down.
Directed By: Otto Preminger
Written By: Walter Newman, Lewis Meltzer, Nelson Algren, Ben Hecht
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 10 Critic Reviews
63
50% Positive
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
50% Mixed
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 10 Critic Reviews
63
50% Positive
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
50% Mixed
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Clinical in its probing of the agonies, this is a gripping, fascinating film, expertly produced and directed and performed with marked conviction by Frank Sinatra as the drug slave.
Though director Otto Preminger’s decision to use an RKO set instead of Chicago locations initially jars, he makes it work, amping up the claustrophobic tension in beautifully choreographed long takes.
Otto Preminger defied the Code with this pioneering look at drug addiction, featuring a stylish rendering of the post-war hipster milieu, a crisp jazz soundtrack, and a remarkable Sinatra.
Sinatra is excellent as the ex-con junkie trying to make it as a jazz drummer but pulled into a world of pushing, and Kim Novak convinces as his enigmatic mistress; but the casting of Eleanor Parker as his supposedly wheelchair-ridden wife is miscalculated, and Preminger's evocation of the social milieu of the drug user/pusher shows little sign of first-hand observation.
The film is a pretty good picture show, as we used to say, but anyone who has read Nelson Algren’s wonderfully poetic novel is likely to make invidious comparisons and be otherwise distracted, particularly when the film strives to narrow itself to a problem of drug addiction.
The tension is intriguing and expressive (perhaps this is what Beineix had in mind for The Moon in the Gutter), though the unstable mixture is clearly limited as a sustainable style.
It is a pretty plain and unimaginative looksee at a lower-depths character with a perilous weakness for narcotics that he miraculously overcomes in the end.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 9 User Ratings
7.3
67% Positive
6 Ratings
6 Ratings
33% Mixed
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 9 User Ratings
7.3
67% Positive
6 Ratings
6 Ratings
33% Mixed
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
There are no user reviews yet. Be the first to add a review.
Production Company
Otto Preminger Films
Release Date Dec 15, 1955
Duration 1 h 59 m
Rating Approved
Tagline An "unthinkable" theme
Awards
Academy Awards, USA
• 3 Nominations
BAFTA Awards
• 2 Nominations
New York Film Critics Circle Awards
• 2 Nominations
