SOME CAME RUNNING (1958) ¢ ¢ 1/2
D: Vincente Minnelli
Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Shirley MacLaine,
Arthur Kennedy, Martha Hyer, Nancy Gates,
Leora Dana, Betty Lou Keim, Larry Gates
Hot times in an Indiana town that's small enough to have a bar called Smitty's, but big enough to have mansions, a couple of banks, a college, a country club, a daily newspaper and a brassiere factory. Frank's a returning G.I., an abrasive sometime novelist who's moody when he's drunk, mean when he's sober, and volatile either way. He can be generous and caring, too, but not for very long. Dean plays a smooth-talking gambler who never takes off his hat and betrays his sensitive nature by referring to women as pigs. (Martin claimed it was his favorite role.) Shirley's a floozy from Chicago, a girl with a limited vocabulary but a big heart, and by default the film's most sympathetic character. It's high-end trash, based on a mammoth novel by James Jones, but Elmer Bernstein's score is a good one, and Minnelli's use of lighting and color gives it an artful, artificial edge. The ending's unexpectedly touching, thanks to MacLaine, who got an Oscar nomination for her performance.
