Pal Joey (1957)

I like Black Panther, but I didn't like this movie.

Absolutely Fantastic

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

Pal Joey (1957): Dir: George Sidney / Cast: Frank Sinatra, Rita Hayworth, Kim Novak, Barbara Nichols, Bobby Sherwood: Witty musical about the person that we can be as oppose to what our reputations display. Frank Sinatra plays a womanizing nightclub singer who is torn between two woman. As the film opens he escorted by police to the train station. From there he attempts to reenter the nightclub business, eventually succeeding. Rita Hayworth plays a high class wealthy widow whom he wants to convince to finance his club. She is withdrawn yet plays his game as seductress leaving him near exhausted in his pursuit. Kim Novak plays a chorus girl whom he meets through a neutral friend. Despite he efforts to charm her, she reacts cold and distant. When he rents an apartment next to her's she is hardly impressed that they have to share a bath. To even the odds she tricks him into purchasing a dog. While beginning and structure are detailed, the ending doesn't quite gel. Director George Sidney is backed by energetic production numbers and festive performances by the three leads. Sinatra plays off the sly nature of Joey whose voice and song are persuasive weapons. Hayworth is the withdrawn mysterious demeanor to Novak's insecure inner being who would prefer to avoid the seductive act. Other roles are as cardboard as a stage prop. Theme regards a genuine nature exposed when the curtain closes the act. Score: 7 ½ / 10

Run out of town after being caught with the mayor's underage daughter, womanizing singer Frank Sinatra (as Joey Evans) lands in sinful San Francisco. On the strip club show circuit, Mr. Sinatra lands a job with access to leggy, top-heavy women. First to receive Sinatra's attention is comely chorus girl Kim Novak (as Linda English). Then, arousing ex-stripper Rita Hayworth (as Vera Prentice Simpson) helps sponsor Sinatra's "Chez Joey" nightclub. Their singing voices are played, quite nicely, by Jo Ann Greer (for Ms. Hayworth) and Trudi Erwin (for Ms Novak). The question becomes, which of the two women will win Sinatra's heart, if he has one...Hindsight makes the seams in this stitched-together musical more evident...Originally a stage play about a dishonorable, dancing heel played by Gene Kelly, it was tailor made for Frank Sinatra. As far as the singer is concerned, the role is a perfect fit. You will find much of his persona - though certainly not all of the real Sinatra - in the attitude and mannerisms herein. The part helped provide the man with a character to "play" for the public. The selection of Rogers and Hart tunes is terrific, with Sinatra shining especially well on "The Lady Is a Tramp". Surprisingly, he doesn't sing a couple of standards we hear, although Sinatra's versions are the ones that linger on, long after the "Pal Joey" comes to its unmemorable ending.***** Pal Joey (10/25/57) George Sidney ~ Frank Sinatra, Rita Hayworth, Kim Novak, Barbara Nichols

O.K., so alterations had to be made to some of them, and with his death over a decade before, much of the wit is gone from them. But what remains is a clever update that will upset theatre purists (like myself) but ultimately satisfy those searching for a fun musical time (like myself). Frank Sinatra's Joey is as far from his former co-star Gene Kelly's Joey (and Harold Lang's in the 1952 smash hit revival), but he is still a cad, using women to get ahead, if not as voraciously as the Broadway version. He's basically been tossed out of every city he's been to, most recently for breaking "legal age" laws. Now in San Francisco, he sets his sights on two beauties: a shy chorus girl (Kim Novak) and a wealthy socialite (Rita Hayworth) whose past Sinatra knows a thing or two about. This gives Hayworth the chance to take on the altered lyrics of "Zip!", initially sung by a reporter as a parody of Gypsy Rose Lee, but here made to be the former theme song of Hayworth's stage career.Of course, the older socialite makes demands of Sinatra, funding a nightclub for him to host, but will Frankie boy remain true to purse strings or his heart? If he could write a book, it wouldn't probably be about the lady who's a tramp, most definitely more open to the one with the funny valentine. Interpolated Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart songs from other shows ("Babes in Arms", "On Your Toes") replace many cut from the show that was fresh to many filmgoers in 1957 because of the recent hit Broadway revival which toured for years afterwards.As film entertainment, this is totally acceptable, but for representing a Broadway musical that was initially ahead of its time, forget about it. Sinatra is a bit of a ham here, trying to steal scenes every chance he gets, and the role of the blackmailing Gladys (here played by sex-pot Barbara Nichols) has been watered down to practically nothing. She had more to do in the same year's "The Pajama Game". Hayworth, dubbed by Jo Anne Greer, is still a beauty even if now a 40-something "has-been", yet at the end of her Columbia years, is still a sight to behold, especially as she sings "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered" in her bedroom and shower. When she joins Novak with long tresses for the fantasy number, "What Do I Care For a Dame?", it appears that the hands of time have rolled back the clock. As for Novak, she would go on to better performances, but it is apparent that here, having risen to stardom several years before, she's still a novice compared to the company she keeps. Her shy, butter wouldn't melt in her mouth routine is never fully believable, and when she does a striptease to "I Could Write a Book", it is obvious that this is where it's at for this former model who was Harry Cohn's last shot for stardom . Elizabeth Patterson is witty in a small role as Novak's landlady. The direction by George Sidney is as crisp as anything he did over at MGM, but the truth of the matter is that this isn't anywhere near the classic it could have been had it stuck closer to the original intentions of John O'Hara from his scandalous book which later scandalized Broadway and made Gene Kelly a star.

I really wanted to like this colourful adaptation of one of Rogers and Hart's last and most successful shows and attracted by big names like Sinatra, Hayworth and Novak, thought I couldn't lose. Sheesh, was I wrong.Concerning ne'erdowell Joey (Sinatra's) self-obsessed attempts to get himself up the greasy pole to his own club in San Francisco and no doubt attendant fame and fortune, the film fails ultimately for a number of reasons. First Frank's character just isn't desperate enough, purportedly down on his luck, he always looks perfectly turned out, even before he becomes wealthy widow Hayworth's kept man. And the idea to give this hard-bitten Casanova a cute puppy dog is just wrong on so many levels. His character never seems to stop talking and often re-hashes the same stock phrases, which gets wearing after a while. As for Hayworth and Novak, both look fantastic, filmed in great clothes in great light, as befits two of the sexiest women to ever come out of Tinseltown, but the former lacks that dare I say it, Norma Desmond controlling, self-deluding and even slightly deranged conviction which would have made her character more rounded while Novak gets to play a whimpering simpering child, completely at odds with her overly sensual demeanour.Some of the scenes are ridiculously contrived too, like Novak's strip-tease, her later passing out on Sinatra when they're on Hayworth's yacht and Joey's dream sequence when both his loves sashay around him like bees to honey. Worst of all is Hayworth's "Sugar Mommy" backing out of the competition for Joey by personally fetching Novak for their hold-hands, run-at-the-camera, big love shot at the conclusion.On the plus side, as indicated, the stars all look great, Sinatra too, being in the middle of his classic Capitol series of recordings, even getting to quote one of his catch-phrases "Ring-a-ding-ding" at one point. The San Francisco locations are also easy on the eye and the musical numbers excellent, including "The Lady Is a Tramp", "My Funny Valentine" and "Bewitched Bothered and Bewildered" amongst them. Unfortunately, the movie dialogue too rarely matches the sharpness of Lorenz Hart's lyrics. Damon Runyan, this ain't.A missed opportunity them and I'm not sure I can tell quite why. Some shows may just work well on stage, I'm guessing this is one of them.