Some Came Running [Blu-ray]

Overview

After the success of From Here to Eternity, pairing Frank Sinatra with another James Jones novel made perfect sense. Set in the aftermath of World War II, the film stars Sinatra as a recently discharged soldier whose promising writing career has derailed. After a drunken card game, Sinatra finds himself aboard a bus for his Indiana hometown of Parktown, with recent acquaintance Shirley MacLaine in tow. An unrefined good-time girl, MacLaine allows her affections to settle on the hard-drinking Sinatra, who wants little to do with her as he reluctantly sets about re-establishing ties he thought to have abandoned over a decade before. These include a brother (Arthur Kennedy) unable to discard his salesman's persona, his disapproving wife (Leora Dana), and their teenage daughter (Betty Lei Keim). Meanwhile, Sinatra makes a variety of new acquaintances both respectable and otherwise, including a local gambler (Dean Martin) and a creative writing instructor (Martha Hyer) smitten with his writing and possibly with him. Shaking up the complacency of his small hometown more by accident than design, Sinatra forces all those around him to reevaluate their behavior. After a variety of smaller parts, this is the role that cemented MacLaine's name, earning her an Oscar nomination for Best Actress. ~ Keith Phipps

Product Details

Release Date:	11/16/2021
UPC:	0883929783632
Original Release:	1958
Rating:	NR
Source:	Warner Archives
Language:	English
Time:	2:16:00
Sales rank:	21,276

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Frank Sinatra	Dave Hirsh
Dean Martin	Bama Dillert
Shirley MacLaine	Ginnie Moorehead
Martha Hyer	Gwen French
Arthur Kennedy	Frank Hirsh
Nancy Gates	Edith Barclay,Prof Robert Haven French
Leora Dana	Agnes Hirsh
Betty Lou Keim	Dawn Hirsh
Steven Peck	Raymond Lanchak,Raymond Lanchak
Connie Gilchrist	Jane Barclay
Ned Wever	Smitty
Carmen Phillips	Rosalie
John Brennan	Wally Dennis
William Schallert	Al
Roy Engel	Sheriff
Marion Ross	Sister Mary Joseph
Denny Miller	Dewey Cole
Chuck Courtney	Hotel Clerk
Paul Jones	George Huff
Geraldine Wall	Mrs. Stevens
Janelle Richards	Virginia Stevens
George Brengel	Ned Deacon
George Cisar	Hubie Nelson
Donald Kerr	Doc Henderson
Jan Arvan	Club Manager
Don Haggerty	Ted Harperspoon
Frank Mitchell	Waiter
Dave White	Bus Driver
Len Lesser	Dealer
Ric Roman	Joe
George E. Stone	Slim
Anthony Jochim	Judge Baskin
Albert T. Viola	Guitarist
Elmer Bernstein	Composer
Sammy Cahn	Composer
Jimmy Van Heusen	Composer

Technical Credits

Arthur Sheekman

John Patrick

Vincente Minnelli	Director
Arthur Sheekman	Screenwriter
Sol C. Siegel	Producer
Larry Jost	Sound Effects
John Patrick	Screenwriter

Editorial Reviews

Inhibited by its era from playing out the messy relationships of James Jones' novel in all their explicitness, director Vincente Minnelli finds a means of using this to his advantage in Some Came Running, constructing an unsettling melodrama of suggestion and understatement. Minnelli presents a post-war American Anytown that keeps its inhabitants' desires in check through a policy of mutual assured destruction. Even though he rarely acts directly, returning native son Frank Sinatra's arrival upsets the delicate balance of those around him, reminding brother Arthur Kennedy of his lost passion, catalyzing new buddy Dean Martin's destructive tendencies, and encouraging the self-sacrificing habits of girlfriend Shirley MacLaine. A film that only makes sense in widescreen, Minnelli skillfully composes his frames to illustrate the space between his subjects. There's as much drama made of two people traversing the distance between them as some films derive from gunfights. Working against expectations of tidy resolutions and happy endings, its sympathetic but destructive characters demand the loose ends of its conclusion.

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