Some Came Running

Some Came Running
United States - 1958
Director - Vincent Minelli
MGM/UA Home Video, 1988, VHS
Run Time - 2 hours, 17 min.

When I was 18 I took an intro to film class one of my first semesters in college. At the time all I watched was horror films, my favorite being the subject of my final paper for that class, Dawn of the Dead.
What I wasn't expecting was this movie, Some Came Running which came about three quarters of the way through the semester. It blew my mind and I remember being almost embarrassed to mention it to my friends because it was so removed from my realm of comprehension.
I'm still a little inarticulate when it comes to this film.

Much of my fascination I'm sure comes from Dave's (Frank Sinatra) struggle with himself, and his emotional struggle between his ideals of love and the reality, a struggle which in many ways I felt, and still feel I share. Much of this is played out in the intense relationship between Dave and Ginny (Shirley MacLaine) and the way in which they eventually (mostly him) come to reconcile their shortcomings and heal each others damage.

I'll be honest, this movie is intense and it still affects me.

This image courtesy Wayne Melton Movie Reviews

Some Came Running is based on a novel by James Jones (which I recently bought and started reading), the writer who also penned the book From Here to Eternity which became the film of the same name that was Sinatra's screen debut and (justifiably) won him an Academy Award. MacLaine is a beautiful and phenomenally talented actress; another of my favorites is The Apartment starring her and Jack Lemmon. Author Jones also served in the Pacific Theatre in World War Two and his experiences at Guadalcanal were the inspiration for the excellent film The Thin Red Line. Hey, the guy's a good writer.

Until a couple of years ago Some Came Running was unavailable on DVD so I hunted down this tape. I was going to do a lengthy writeup for that reason as well as it's status among my guiltiest pleasures, but when I checked online today there it was. Fortunately for you, and me I guess, it was released on DVD late 2008 and you can watch it yourself, which you should, along with the other films based on Jones work.

Can - Can

Can-Can
1960 – United States
Director – Walter Lang
CBS/FOX Video, 1988, VHS
Run Time - 2 hours, 11 min.

OK, this is a fuckin musical, I fuckin hate music. But it does star Frank Sinatra, my favorite male vocalist and no less than Shirley MacLaine, possibly the most attractive woman ever to grace the screen.
Dance numbers are what I expects but okay, I’m willing to tolerate cute period costumed women for the fact that it’s got Sinatras voice, and MacLaine who is as usual, devastating, here as Sinatras lover and the owner of a semi-taboo Parisian dance club.

For performing the tawdry Can-Can at her club, MacLaine is hauled to court, and her lawyer Sinatra defends her against a conservative and ridiculously dressed French judge who falls for her charm.
At the club Shirley does a dance number in which she is, disturbingly, beat up (a dummy) for which the crowd cheers heartily. The conservative judge turns up at the show and Shirley plays passive aggressive brush off.
When she brushes him off, Shirley is arrested and a Sinatra must defend his lady-love in court. Success warms her heart even more to the crooner, but his waffling fear of commitment drives her into the eager arms of the hell-bent-for-marriage judge.
Nevertheless, despite his asinine fear of marriage to the most attractive woman in the world, he crumbles with helpless despair and sings a sad song. Ahhh.


At the engagement party, Frank cooks up a rather heartless scheme to drunkenly embarrass MacLaine out of her “above-her-class” wedding, and somehow succeeds. She breaks off the wedding in flight, and now my guess is that she’s going to want revenge on Sinatra and will drive forward with steely composure until she once again melts under the warmth of his brusquely charming leathery grin.

Anyway, at this point there’s an Adam and Eve ballet number which features Maclaine in sparkly tights which is, WOW.
The judge, thinking he has discovered the secret of Sinatras attractive insolence returns to woo MacLaine, but even his best efforts prove no match for supreme Sinatrification and predictability.

It took two sittings, but sometimes you’ve gotta really suffer before you smile.