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A product of the Eisenhower fifties, Some Came Running, adapted from a James Jones novel, stars Frank Sinatra as a footloose writer returning to his Midwestern home town right after World War II. Directed by Vincente Minnelli, in a grand, florid manner, it is essentially a smart soap opera, with some very deep emotions, shot in garish color, that can at its best bear comparison with the films of Douglas Sirk, and is in some ways better, more imaginative. The story matters less than the characters, which aside from Sinatra's artist-in-uniform, include an alcoholic Southern gambler, played by Dean Martin, who's also his best friend; a pathetic floozie from Chicago who followed Sinatra home (Shirley MacLaine); Sinatra's brother, a frustrated if successful businessman (Arthur Kennedy); and a prim, somewhat stuffy school-teacher (Martha Hyer), who admires Sinatra as a writer but cares little for him as a man. Sinatra is torn between bad girl MacLaine and good girl Hyer; and though the former is easy to be with, if not much of a conversationalist, the latter is an ice princess, and proud of it. Understandably, Sinatra reverts to gambling, drinking and carousing with friend Dean Martin, but is clearly not happy with it. He would like to find a place in society, but how? Where?

This one could have been a classic, and the cast is for the most part excellent. MacLaine's Method-ish performance is the only jarring note, but it's a loud one. A number of things keep the film "down", or at any rate in second gear. First of all Minnelli was as man and director such an aesthete that he spends much of his time painting with his camera. Aided in no small measure by the excellent photography of William Daniels, his compositions and color create an often surreal effect, almost hallucinogenic, ultimately anti-realistic, though fascinating to watch, and this in the end detracts from the story. On the other hand Minnelli was good with people, and his more intimate scenes between people who really know each other,--Sinatra and Martin, Sinatra and MacLaine--show a genuine understanding of human behavior. Back and forth the movie goes. That its setting is Indiana make both the movie and the characters seem out of place in this most conservative of midwestern states. There is none of the wholeness here that one gets from, for instance, Kazan's On the Waterfront, where everything comes together beautifully and nothing is out of place. Here everyone seems to belong either elsewhere or nowhere, to be thinking or dreaming of other things, to not really care much for their surroundings. There is also a strong undercurrent of Tennessee Williams and William Inge-inspired textbook Freud, with the characters either sexually obsessed, sexually frustrated or sexually avoidant. I doubt the word sex is ever actually used in the movie, but it's everywhere. The Elmer Bernstein score, jazzy and doubtless influenced by Alex North's music for Streetcar Named Desire, tends to telegraph, often hilariously, how one ought to feel about what's going on, especially the raunchy, down-dirty greasy horns he deploys whenever the story moves to the wrong side of the tracks or to a card game, as if to say, "Okay Middle America, this is NOT the way to be".

For all its flaws, the movie has many grace notes, some of them even musical, as Bernstein occasionally redeems himself, especially in his lovely main theme. The compartmentalized, evasive lives most of the characters in the film live are, shorn of the melodrama, not unlike real life. Even when the plot becomes predictable the underlying emotions of the main characters remain authentic, and the result is in many ways a compartmentalized movie that at times seems to take its style from the dreams and fantasies of its various characters, becoming in effect their view of life rather than their actual lives. This feeling of fantasy versus reality becomes the movie's major issue when an old boyfriend of MacLaine's shows up, starts drinking, and begins to stalk her. The danger in the air is palpable, and as many of these later scenes take place literally in a carnival atmosphere, the film becomes simultaneously urgent and otherworldly, like someone coming off a mescaline trip who suddenly realizes that he's standing on the ledge of a twenty storey building. This was very daring of Minnelli, and I'm sure intentional, and the ending is truly heartbreaking, and yet aesthetic also, with the director refusing to give up his florid manner even in the last scene. I sense that the tragedy in the film had a very private meaning for Minnelli, and that he intended for it to have the same effect on the audience; to trigger personal issues in each viewer that he could take away from the movie which were independent of the movie. In this he succeeded magnificently.

In any other year Shirley MacLaine would have walked off with the Best Actress Oscar, but NO ONE was going to take it from Susan Hayward in 1958.

In fact the film is filled with nominations, Arthur Kennedy for Best Supporting Actor, Martha Hyer for Best Supporting Actress and these were great performances. Dean Martin does a great follow-up to The Young Lions in playing Bama Dillert here. This was no stretch for Dino however. This is exactly the kind of background he came from, so the part fit him like a comfortable old shoe.

The flaw is Sinatra. To his credit, he really tries hard and succeeds in spots. But he's miscast in a part that either Paul Newman or Montgomery Clift might have taken an Oscar home for.

But the acting honors go to MacLaine. The high point of the movie is her scene with Martha Hyer in Martha's classroom at the college. This poor pathetic Ginny Moorehead trying to assess her situation vis a vis Dave Hirsch pulls all the stops out. You have to be made of stone not to be moved by her pleas to Martha Hyer and Hyer's reactions in this scene probably got her, her nomination.

If you can get past a miscast Frank Sinatra, then this film is a gem.

In the post-war, the alcoholic and bitter veteran military and former writer Dave Hirsch (Frank Sinatra) returns from Chicago to his hometown Parkman, Indiana. He is followed by Ginnie Moorehead (Shirley MacLaine), a vulgar and easy woman with whom he spent his last night in Chicago that has fallen in love with him. The resentful Dave meets his older brother Frank Hirsh (Arthur Kennedy), who owns a jewelry store and is a prominent citizen of Parkman that invites him to have dinner with his family. Dave meets his sister-in-law Agnes (Leora Dana) that hates him since one character of his novel had been visibly inspired on her, and his teenage niece Dawn (Betty Lou Keim). Frank introduces the school teacher Gwen French (Martha Hyer) to him and Dave feels attracted by the beautiful woman that is daughter of his former Professor Robert Haven French (Larry Gates) and idolizes his work as writer. However, his unrequited love with Gwen drives Dave back to the local bar where he befriends the professional gambler Bama Dillert (Dean Martin) and meets Ginnie again with the Chicago's mobster Raymond Lanchak (Steven Peck) that was her former lover and has followed her from Chicago. The unconditional love of Ginnie for Dave leads to a tragedy in the calm Parkman.

"Some Came Running" is a melodramatic soap opera about hypocrisy and love in a small American town by Vincente Minnelli. Every character in the story is flawed, bitter, hypocrite, insecure, gossiper, false and the unconditional love of Ginnie with Dave is probably the most beautiful and pure feeling in this romance despite the reputation of Ginnie. This character is magnificently performed by the lovely and sweet Shirley MacLaine and the dialogs are witty and harsh. This story recalls "Peyton Place" that also shows the stereotypical lifestyle of a small town in America in the late 40's. The false morality and intolerance rules the relationships among the dwellers, with gossips, sexual repression and snobbery are very similar. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Deus Sabe o Quanto Amei!" ("God Knows How Much I Have Loved")

This is one of the most heartbreaking, heart-rending films I have ever seen. There are many levels in this story of the returning soldier: his conflict with his brother, with his community, with his beloved and with himself. But for me, the most poignant is the story of Dave Hirsh and Ginny Moorhead. Dave is searching for redemption; he is emotionally needy and spiritually enervated. He thinks he can find love in someone who can fill his creative needs and the void in his heart created by the war.

Here is the tragedy: Dave does not realize that real love can only come from a sense of self worth, from finding someone whom he not only needs but, just as important, who needs him. Ginny is an angel, an angel in the form of a wrong-side-of-the-tracks bimbo; but of all those in Dave's world, Ginny is the purest of heart and the purest in love, and her love is for Dave. When Dave finally realizes that his bliss lies with Ginny, it is too late, for both him and Ginny. And this ending comes in a moment that left me shattered, my mouth agape.

While the ending was not expected, neither was it contrived, and with hindsight, one could see its coming.

"Some Came Running" captures a time and culture only now beginning to fade from the collective memory, as its cohort ages and dies off, America immediately following World War II. And as a period piece, "Some Came Running" is quite successful. But I believe the story depicted here is a universal one, and I think the characters of Dave and Ginny and their sidekick Bama, played wonderfully by Dean Martin, are to be found anywhere. In fact, "Some Came Running," along with "From Here to Eternity," is the closest American cinema has come to being Shakespearian, without consciously trying to be.

I haven't read the James Jones novel on which this film is based so I can't comment on the movie as an adaption. But as a film standing alone Some Came Running was a very enjoyable experience. All the players are very convincing in their roles. Sinatra as usual mixes world weariness and hope better than just about anyone. His wonderful voice here is as good as its reputation. Shirley MacClaine who was Oscar nominated for this role is also memorable as the simple party girl with an unrequited love for Dave Hirsh. Mention must also be made of the actress who played the school teacher. She perfectly nailed some very difficult scenes that required her to subtly change beats. Dean Martin's sidekick character was also very entertaining. Highly recommended! 9/10.