Some Came Running

[moira finnie]

Kingster!

Brilliant analysis of Some Came Running and The Bad and the Beautiful, which I've grown fond of too. For me, however, the first movie is enjoyable for two or three reasons:

1.) Arthur Kennedy as Sinatra's plodding brother the jeweler, who never left home and can't even make a pass at his secretary without lousing it up with his own clumsiness, sad lust and guilt. I realize we are supposed to hate him because he disillusions his teenage daughter and lets his wife walk all over him. The New England born Kennedy was great at playing guys, (who were often from small towns) with a strong streak of weasel in him (A Summer Place, Elmer Gantry, Lawrence of Arabia).

He is the uncool guy we know we all are underneath. And he never asks us to like him, which so many actors do whether they know it or not--including Sinatra, whose performance here left me cold until the final scene. It's great to read your appreciation of Leora Dana. Even when she plays a cold woman, she is so good she makes me think about what made her cold--even if that isn't in the script. I can forgive her for being pushy because she is played by the wonderful Leora Dana, who breathed life into her tiny role here and in 3:10 to Yuma and Kings Go Forth). I read James Jones' Some Came Running and From Here to Eternity in my late teens and seem to remember that the female characters in both books were quite vivid and much more sympathetic as well. I did not think that Martha Hyer was the correct casting for Gwen French, but she was Hollywood's idea of a teacher and a lady. I'm not sure if Dina Merrill could have done this role justice. One person I'd like to consider for the part was Alexis Smith--who was already relegated to older women parts (in real life the person who inspired Jones to create the Hyer character was a little older than the Sinatra character). In the movie her reluctance to acknowledge her own sexuality was over-emphasized. That was part of the teacher character, but she also wanted her independence. She didn't want to be emotionally dependent on so demanding a person as Dave Hirsh (who needed to grow up a little too).

2.) The set design and the use of color: First of all, didn't you want to live in Martha Hyer's house with that kitchen/great room with all the books?? I have read that MGM got all sorts of mail from people wanting to know where that house was--but it was all a movie creation, and, this being a film created by Vincente Minnelli, you know he must have had a hand in it. I also thought that the settings of the scenes became more stylized as the story progressed and it is especially noticeable in the Hirsh house, the nightclub and the final scene at night when violence bursts forth. The color throughout the film expresses and enhances the moods in each scene, darkening as the movie goes on toward the climax at the carnival, where red becomes dominant. I think it was deliberate that, as you mentioned, "The important scene where Sinatra first visits his brother's home is unimaginatively staged." I had the feeling that this house and the people in it were meant to convey an aridity and superficiality that indicated their lack of emotional reality and that is why the colors, lighting and even the sound of their voices was so hollow.

Btw, did you ever see the interview with Elmer Bernstein in which he mentions that his score was inspired by the character played by Shirley MacLaine? He was enchanted with her performance and her vulnerable, sweet whore had a poignancy that touched him, prompting him to write a theme specifically for her when she appears. I'm sorry I can't remember where I saw this, but it was most interesting.

[JackFavell]

I loved your review of Some Came Running. I have never been able to enjoy this movie, and I think you hit on exactly why (the way women are portrayed and my dislike of all the characters). I like the ending, though, and the poignant way MacLaine throws herself so completely into the role, but that's it.

On the other hand, I should hate The Bad and the Beautiful, it's so MGM Hollywood - overblown, turgid and flashy. It has an over the top performance by Kirk Douglas. But I love it, partly because it has such a sense of humor about itself. I even like Kirk here. It's a riot to me, and I find myself enjoying the Hollywood elite's troubles so much that it makes me smile before I even realize it. I think the humor is most obvious in the Dick Powell/Gloria Grahame/Gilbert Roland section, which of course, is my favorite. Without that part of the film, I doubt if I would watch it every time it is on, as I always do.

Though Lana screaming her head off in the moving car is sooooo much fun......

[moira finnie]

Since at least three of us seem to be interested in Vincente Minnelli, do you think that he lost interest in the actors as his career went on?

[ChiO]

Perhaps a more fundamental question is whether Minnelli ever had actors as a primary interest.

Or, to divide his career crudely into two chronological parts -- first the Musicals, then the dramas -- one could make a case that his interest in the characters grew as his career progressed. As Andrew Sarris has noted, astutely, I think, Minnelli's movies are, at their core, somber. For most viewers (and I'm not excluding myself) that somberness can be hidden or overlooked in a Musical. Beauty and style trumps characterization. As the music fades, characterization comes to the fore.

[Gary J.]

Minnelli was a product of the studio system. He was brought west from the NY stage (where he was quite successful as a production designer) by Arthur Freed and was allowed free reign to just wander film sets for the first year to soak up and learn the business. He was coddled and indulged by a magnanimous boss and he re-payed their faith in him with 15 years of stellar work. But as the studio system fell apart Minnelli lost his creative lifeline and his work in the late 50's and beyond show him more and more adrift.

Back to SOME CAME RUNNING. it looks like I'm in the minority here but I love this film. First off, I need to toss out the script's antiquated attitudes towards women from my mind because if that's the case....well, there would be very few movies from the 40's, 50's and 60's that I would be able to watch and enjoy. Face it, it was a sexist society back then and the films of the day projected that. That said, this movie is great for the two stand-out performances by both Martin and MacLaine. Everyone who has seen this movie has been moved by MacLaine's performance so I don't need to elaborate on that. Martin is equally good. He was not yet 'Deano', the variety show king. He was still shaking off the stigma of being left in the dust by his ex-partner Lewis and so during this time he was really working at giving a performance in films like THE YOUNG LIONS, RIO BRAVO and this one. His gambler Bama is true to himself - cynical, unsentimental, but extremely loyal to those he admires. The climax works so well because as Sinatra's character is unknowingly being tracked by the jealous gunman, Bama - who has already told us that he is no hero - does the decent thing with trying to find and warn the couple, even though he has had a following out with his pal. If MacLaine's death is the emotional punch in the stomach to this movie, Martin's gesture with his doffing of his hat at her funeral is the emotional catharsis.

And don't get me started on Martha Hyer. She almost ruined SONS OF KATIE ELDER .

[moira finnie]

One of Minnelli's most interesting films, Madame Bovary (1949) is on TCM tonight at 10:15 PM EDT.

[ChiO]

Gary J. wrote:
Back to SOME CAME RUNNING. it looks like I'm in the minority here but I love this film.

Maybe. But my two favorite Minnelli movies are MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS and SOME CAME RUNNING (but my favorite Minnelli moment is the ballet sequence in AN AMERICAN IN PARIS. But that's all about the Minnelli-Alton collaboration, isn't it?).

[Mr. Arkadin]

Gary J. wrote:
Back to SOME CAME RUNNING. it looks like I'm in the minority here but I love this film.

Maybe. But my two favorite Minnelli movies are MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS and SOME CAME RUNNING (but my favorite Minnelli moment is the ballet sequence in AN AMERICAN IN PARIS. But that's all about the Minnelli-Alton collaboration, isn't it?).

I also love Some Came Running, however it should be mentioned that the film is quite different from Jones' book, where Dave is killed (by chance) instead of Jenny, who is a very unsympathetic character. The central theme of hypocrisy remains, although Dave's inspiration for returning to the pen is singularly focused on Gwen instead of widely explored through various situations.

Despite these changes, the film holds up remarkably well and I feel Sinatra gives one of his most subtle performances. The movie truly hangs on his role, where he balances on an emotional tightrope, just as Dave does. As for the best scene of the film, I'll have to disagree and say the funeral, where Bama finally removes his hat (Some Came Running and Bama's hat are also quoted and woven into the plot of Godard's Contempt [1963]). As for the plodding criticism, perhaps Kirk Douglas said it best in the same director's Lust for Life: "You look too fast!"

Other Minnelli favorites:

Cabin in the Sky (1943)
Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)
The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)
The Story of Three Loves (1953)
Lust for Life (1956)
Designing Woman (1957)
Two Weeks in Another Town (1962)

[Mr. Arkadin]

The slower pace of SCR also gives us more chance to watch the straw men (and women) get set up and shot down as they deliver their banal "on the nose" dialogue.

I don't find any of these characters to be "straw men", but flawed human beings who must find escape from their personal demons. As for the dialogue, I will admit it is grounded in late fifties elements (as is much of the production), but much of the great acting flows from the fact that this was an expose of the time period (the postwar disillusion with the American Dream), performed under the Production Code, where the "banal" words are given a completely different perspective by the wordless expressions that accompany them. You might check out the book for a better grasp of the story.