The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

The first must-see film of the year.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

An interesting look at heroin addiction, lacking the power and gravitas of the boozy nightmare that was THE LOST WEEKEND, but nonetheless a well-made and well-directed film from Otto Preminger. THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN ARM sees Frank Sinatra playing an ex-con who works as a dealer in illegal card games but dreams of becoming a famous musician. Unfortunately, he's also a former heroin addict who must attempt to resist the temptation of another fix.This kind of story tends to write itself and indeed there aren't many surprises in the narrative. Sinatra is adequate as the lead, but I found his character rather underwritten and difficult to warm to. He has a lot of negative qualities but few genuinely likable elements to his personality. Still, with a plot-driven film such as this, such lightness of characterisation is easy to overlook when the rest of the plot ingredients are so interesting.The supporting characters are enlivened by some actors giving very good performances. Particularly fine are Kim Novak (in a dry run for VERTIGO) as the object of Sinatra's obsession and Darren McGavin (THE NIGHT STALKER) in an early part as a completely amoral drug dealer. My favourite character is the morally murky Eleanor Parker playing Sinatra's wife who has a few hidden secrets of her own; she gets all of the best scenes and is involved in the dark heart of the movie. The set-piece in which Sinatra attempts to kick the habit is dramatic, but Hackman had it beat in THE FRENCH CONNECTION 2. Still, THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN ARM is a very well made film, one that's there's no reason to dislike.

I haven't seen this film since 1971, but then it made e such an impression, that it stuck for life, and I felt no need to see it again, as the memory of it was sharp enough. Just for curiosity, I decided to renew its acquaintance after 44 years just to see what would happen, - and the impact was repeated and as good as new. This is probably the best junkie film ever made, in its naturalistic and actually horrific realism, with Frank Sinatra (100 years just the other day) in his best performance in the lead as the junkie with a crippled wife in a wheel- chair (Eleanor Parker, splendid acting on her part too,) and Kim Novak as the saving angel - it stands clear from the beginning that only she can save him, and she does, in also one of her best performances, actually better than in "Vertigo". The triumph however is the direction combined with the music by Elmer Bernstein. It's asphalt jungle music all the way, hard and merciless in its ruthlessly importuning rough disharmonics and nightmare style (with a few exceptions for a change), and Sinatra is even convincing as a failed drummer. Otto Preminger stands for the direction, one of many original films of his, and they are many, but this black-and-white social documentary naturalistic gutter nightmare is perhaps the one most sticking out - you recognize much of this half slum humdrum environment as he returns to it in "Porgy and Bess" three years later. In brief, it's a triumph of a film, completely naked in shocking social realism with as perfectly convincing and natural performances as in any Italian neo-realistic masterpiece. It was a perfectly enjoyable nightmare to see it again after 44 years to observe it had lost nothing of its timeless actuality - this could happen to you.

............................................................from Pasto,Colombia...Via: L.A. CA., CALI, COLOMBIA and ORLANDO, FL If you're under 70, there's probably no way you can remember how controversial and cutting edge MAN WITH The GOLDEN ARM was when it was released in 1955. Fortunately, my parents were very liberal in permitting me to see films and even took me to see it just after turning Eight. WOW! What a tremendous impact it had on me. It was the first "Grown-up" film that made me realize there was more to cinema than just Sci-Fi/Horror, Westerns and Kids' movies! Mainstream cinema had never touched the subjects of drug addiction and heroin withdrawal, which were considered taboo topics, even at the dinner table, let alone as the focus of a movie to be shown in public! The MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) refused to give its seal of approval to GOLDEN ARM, forcing Producer/Director Otto Preminger and Distributor United Artists to release it without the MPAA's seal. This, of course, contributed greatly to both the films commercial and critical success! It also opened the door to new ways of making, distributing and classifying films.Before my recent third viewing, I had only seen it once at age 8, mentioned above, and again, in my late teens (Perhaps the 10th Anniversary Re-Release?). Despite some of the production elements and dialog that do date the film considerably, the last half of GOLDEN ARM had me in a headlock. The acting, Bernstein music, photography and editing all contribute to the mood of the movie, precisely as Otto Preminger intended! The scene where Machine(Sinatra) undergoes withdrawal pains is still unbelievably hard-hitting today.In general, Sinatra's performance is quite surprising. His Oscar nomination was very well deserved. When you consider this performance in conjunction with Sinatra's role in MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE and From Here to Eternity, you begin to appreciate just how underrated OLD BLUE EYES was as an actor! 9*STARS*.....ENJOY/DISFRUTELA!Any comments, questions or observations, in English or Español, are most welcome! KissEnglishPasto@Yahoo.com

Date: August.26, 2012 -First Time Watch- Frankie Machine (Sinatra) returns home after six months in rehab, determined to not fall back into all ways. But his wife, Zosh (a complete psychopath if you ask me) and his card buddies continue to try to bring him back down and get hooked again. This is one of the first movies to address drug addiction and the writers did a real job presenting it. The movie itself is like a six or seven but what boosted it up to a nine for me was Sinatra's performance. He was outstanding! He played a drug addict so good and the scene when he's in Molly's apartment quitting cold turkey is just so raw. It was like what you expected a person to be going through with drawls. I'm really surprised Sinatra didn't win the Oscar for this, he was nominated but it went to Ernest Borgnine for 'Marty'. I haven't seen 'Marty' yet but I find it hard that Borgnine was able to beat Sinatra's performance in this. I read that Sinatra firmly believed that this movie was more deserving of the Oscar then his role of Maggio in 'From Here to Eternity' and honestly I can see why he said it. The movie was very solid and very worth wild watching.9/10