Le pantin brisé

Sinatra offers a good account of Joe E. Lewis in a film made during his most fruitful as an actor before the laziness of the Rat Pack years crept into his work. Plus it contains one of his most beautifully sung songs "All the Way". The moody black and white camera work also helps set the tone for this rather downbeat bio pic. As the two women in his life Jeanne Crain and Mitzi Gaynor both perform well but the really strong woman's role goes to Beverly Garland, always an underused and undervalued actress, as Eddie Albert's loyal wife. She is strong, gritty, sensible and sympathetic as needs be doing a great deal with what could have been a nothing part.

Tremendous 1957 film showcasing the life of Joe E. Lewis. After a brief singing career ended, due to Chicago gangsters, Lewis finds another voice in comedy. Nevertheless, he was left an embittered person unable to even be happy around those who loved him dearly.

After playing a junkie in 1955's "The Man With the Golden Arm," Sinatra again gives a wonderful performance as the alcoholic Lewis. He belts out "All the Way" the way that song was supposed to be sung.

Jeanne Crain is in fine form as the wealthy woman who loved him dearly but did not marry him due to his behavior and the advent of World War 11.

The real surprise here is the wonderful supporting performance of Mitzi Gaynor as the chorus girl that Lewis wed on the rebound. Gaynor proved that she could really act as well as sing and dance here. Her drunken scene where she told Lewis off was great.

Eddie Albert got plenty of practice being around alcoholics when he appeared with Susan Hayward twice in "Smash-Up The Story of a Woman," as well as "I'll Cry Tomorrow." Albert plays the part of Lewis' understanding pianist with conviction.

The ending may be a downer but is true to life. At least, Lewis was ready to stand on his feet despite being alone.

Comedian Joe E. Lewis is best remembered as a precursor of comedians like Rodney Dangerfield and Foster Brooks as well as a pal of Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra. The common thread was creating one-liners that had something to do with drunks. He is sometimes confused with Joe E. Brown because of his name, though the two had little in common except being in the show business at about the same time. This film starring Frank Sinatra is therefore a kind of personal homage to a friend, one that would hold little interest as a story unless the viewer knew of the connection in advance. In starts sort of nowhere and goes sort of nowhere, relying for its interest on an unusually literate script and some really good direction and camera work. The best scene is one toward the beginning where Sinatra and a radiant Jeanne Crain meet behind a cyclorama in a theater and flirt with each other as the shadowy figures on the other side of the screen are partying. Twenty-first century viewers will find the dialogue, the sets, and the constant smoking and drinking very curious -- sometimes offensive to modern sensibilities. But that is a characteristic common to many films made between the beginning of "talkies" in about 1930 and the introduction of blockbuster mega-films in the late 1950's and early 1960's. The social diameters and definitions of acceptable behavior for women, black people, drunks, so-called burlesque shows, and "cafe society" and the like were either narrower or broader during that time than they are today. This is definitely not a film made from a play or novel requiring attention to literary unities. Still, it hangs together pretty well for anyone patient enough to concentrate on its more dramatic moments. Look for it on Turner Classic Movies.

I don't have a great number of DVD's and tapes, but this picture is one of them. My father was a good friend of the "CEO" and others involved in the management of the Beverly Hills Supper Club, in the northern Kentucky suburban area of metropolitan Cincinnati. This was a 5-star dining and show facility, with about 700-seat dining/show area, and full, Vegas-style gambling room (the same "interests," from Cleveland, also controlled the Desert Inn in Las Vegas). My parents and I went there often when I was a youngster, and I had the opportunity to meet Mr. Lewis, and several other of the headliners who appeared there. He was very courteous and nice to me, and this was at the high point of his career. It was the era when there were major venues throughout the U.S. - where in addition to Joe E. Lewis - the clubs also had shows starring Sophie Tucker, Jack E. Leonard, Ted Lewis, Jimmy Durante, Nelson Eddy, Billy Daniels, Lena Horne, and many, many others. Joe E. Lewis was in the very top echelon.

The movie is quite factual, overall - a couple of exceptions being that Austin Mack was very, very bald, while Eddie Albert possessed one of the greater heads of hair in Hollywood; and Lewis' wife Martha (played by Mitzi Gaynor) was actually a minor showgirl, and did not become the important Hollywood figure the film depicted. Some have indicated that in later years during his career he drank tea during his "post time" episodes on-stage. While he always had possession of his faculties whenever I saw him, I once asked Sam Tucker, the "capo" in-charge at Beverly Hills how much Mr. Lewis drank; he indicated it was still a substantial quantity.

Mr. Lewis said, when this film was released, that "Sinatra had more fun playing (his) life than (he) did living it." Sinatra's performance here is outstanding, as well as those of the two female leads, and Albert and Coogan, along with all the supporting cast. And this is one of those biographical films where I feel the personas of the subject individual and his portrayer were very, very similar in both their "real lives."

"The Joker Is Wild" gives Frank Sinatra probably his best acting assignment playing nightclub-entertainer Joe E. Lewis. After having his throat cut by mobsters in the 20's Chicago, Lewis turned to stand-up comedy after several years of recovery. But his self-destructive ways cause his private life a lot of problems. Frank Sinatra is magnificent in the lead-role given great support by Eddie Albert,Jeanne Crain and especially by Beverly Garland,as Albert's wife. Sinatra had a magnificent hit-song from this movie with "All the Way". One of my favorite recordings of his. It's a shame this movie isn't out on DVD. I hope Paramount will release this gem very soon.The movie should not be missed by any Sinatra fan.