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Bookmark this pageThe Man With the Golden Arm (1955)
Director: Otto Preminger
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
The first major Hollywood film on heroin addiction, a subject totally proscribed by the Hays Code. 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. 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. Notable for its jazz score, too. (From the novel by Nelson Algren.Author: RM
Cast & crew
Director: Otto Preminger
Producer: Otto Preminger
Cast: Frank Sinatra, Kim Novak, Eleanor Parker, Arnold Stang, Darren McGavin, Robert Strauss, Doro Merande full cast
Duration: 119 mins
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