Everyone knew Dave was back in town … and woman-trouble must be close behind!
Frank Sinatra isn’t primarily known as an actor, though when properly motivated he could provide a powerful performance. When not so motivated (as in many of his films- especially the later ones) he’d arrive and simply coast through shooting.
Thankfully 1958’s Some Came Running falls more in the “motivated” category. Yes, he still quarreled a bit with his director and mostly insisted on one take with little rehearsal- but here it mostly works. Directed by Vincente Minnelli, the film tells the tale of war veteran Dave (Sinatra) returning, almost by mistake, to his Indiana hometown.
It’s a tale of contrasts as the film’s setting feels laid back, quiet, polite, Midwestern. Yet our characters are alcoholics (Sinatra and Dean Martin, among others), gamblers (mainly Martin but also Sinatra), adulterers (Arthur Kennedy as Sinatra’s on-screen brother Frank), gangsters, and women of questionable pasts (Shirley MacLaine). They are all fish out of water, but that’s part of what makes the picture work even if its 1950’s moral code looks a bit dated sixty years in the rear view window.
Dave Hirsh is one of Sinatra’s deeper characters as he struggles on all fronts. He’s confronted on his arrival with his somewhat estranged and opinion dependent brother Frank and Frank’s openly hostile wife Agnes (Leora Dana). He befriends and pals around with travelling gambler Bama Dillert (Dean Martin in one of his favorite roles). Further complicating matters he falls in love with schoolteacher Gwen (Martha Hyer) and can’t seem to shake the cloying and needy girl from Chicago Ginnie Moorehead (Shirley MacLaine). It sounds like a lot and it is, but the film never feels cluttered. Throughout, Sinatra exudes Dave’s feelings of low self worth as he struggles to find what love is.
Minnelli gets wonderful performances throughout Some Came Running from the entire cast and delicately dances around some of the more risque aspects of the source material. Granted, this dancing dulls the edge of the finished product and does give it a more of a soapy feel than it deserves. This is offset however by great cinematography often highlights by unique lighting. Most noteworthy is the amusement park finale, where Minnelli famously stopped production to move a ferris wheel to better frame a shot, infuriating the testy Sinatra. There’s great chemistry between both Sinatra and MacLaine and Sinatra and Martin – no surprises on either count.
Performances are all quite good, with the possible exception of MacLaine, who seems stiff at times and a bit over the top.
The only thing which perhaps detracts from the picture is its overall depiction of women, as none have much in terms of redeeming qualities. Frank’s wife Agnes is a bitter and angry woman; Gwen is a schoolteacher with a ‘holier than thou’ attitude with a hidden slutty side. And Ginnie only finds value in feeling needed- she’s overly happy just to be permitted to clean up the apartment Dave and Bama share. Bama sums up the pictures view on the subject when he declares that there are only two options with women: either boss them around or be bossed by them. There is no in between and little value in either options.
Some Came Running is a great near-classic hindered only by the censors neutering the subject matter.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVRRwwDRO3w[/embedyt]