Calvário da Glória

Dated, though still packing a dramatic punch, "Career" best serves as a showcase for some terrific acting. Anthony Franciosa's gives the best performance of his career; he appears to really be pouring himself into this role. Carolyn Jones is exceptional as his lonely agent; who self-destructively hides her affections for him. Their two performances alone make this worth viewing, but it's still a worthwhile film.

This film is not perfect, but it is certainly very entertaining. The film is terribly underrated, and has images that invoke films like "Marty", "A Star is Born", " A Face in the Crowd", and even "Barefoot in the Park". One could even draw a slight parallel to "Midnight Cowboy". (Martin the NYC hustler and Franciosa the small town hayseed). . Shirley MacLaine, however, steals the film with her spectacular, energetic and exotic style of acting. It was not her debut, but it was early in her career. She would go on to make "The Apartment" shortly thereafter.

The plot was nothing new; hayseed comes to NYC to become a star. That has been done 100 times, but this film captures many of the different angles of the life choices one has to make to get to the top (or at least be a major player in the game). You can't have it both ways in entertainment; you can have a happy family life, or you can have a.....career. An engrossing film from start to finish.

I saw this film when I was in High School, 1959, the year it came out, and remember being really impressed with the quality of the acting, and although it was something of a melodrama, it was well cast and the actors brought real meaning to their roles. A young man struggling to become an actor, and Dean Martin as a kind of slick character who befriends him. I've always been a fan of Carolyn Jones, and of course Shirley McClain in those days was excellent too. I haven't seen it in over fifty years, but I grew up with films, great films, during what I consider to be the high water mark of film making in the 40's and 50's, and I remember this film fondly. Recommended.

Career is one no-holds barred look at the theatrical profession and what it takes to get to the top. Anthony Franciosa had that determination, but it cost him big time in his personal life.

No pun intended, but this may have been Tony Franciosa's career role. He's Sam Lawson, World War II veteran with thespian ambitions. Franciosa literally starts at the bottom with a character named Maury Novak played by Dean Martin.

Career has it all, the performances in fly by night stock companies for indifferent audiences, the fighting for bit roles and the bigger fight to get even noticed for your big break.

It costs Franciosa two marriages and near blacklisting through his association with Martin. Career in fact is one of the first films to even mention the blacklist, albeit they do it in a very gingerly way. Had it been made 10 years later, I doubt that the script would have had a line in it for Carolyn Jones to say that the House Un American Activities Committee had some honorable intentions.

Speaking of Jones, she's great in a role as an agent who has a deep affection for her client Franciosa. You kind of hope that they will get together at some point in the future. Shirley MacLaine has a great part as the good time daughter of a big theatrical producer played by Robert Middleton. At some point MacLaine gets married to both Franciosa and Martin during the film.

Dino did a hit record of the title song for the film although it is only heard instrumentally during the film. His performance as Maury Novak, a sleazy friend indeed to Franciosa, further established him as a dramatic actor and more proof he didn't need Jerry Lewis to succeed.

Career is a dated film, it's very rooted in the Fifties when the story takes place. Yet it is a good dramatic story and a bit of a social commentary on the times.

An actor is determined to make it to Broadway, even if he loses his family because of his obsession. Based on a play, the film offers an interesting glimpse into show business, but turns into something of a soap opera. The Korean War and McCarthyism, hot-button topics at the time, are somewhat clumsily shoehorned into the story and the final act comes across as contrived. Franciosa has his first big starring role as the struggling actor and he acquits himself well. Martin has typical role as a boozing director who lets success get to his head. MacLaine's free-spirited character is poorly developed. Jones is quite good as Franciosa's agent.