The Man with the Golden Arm

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The Man with the Golden Arm ★★★ 1955

A gripping film version of the Nelson Algren junkie melodrama, about an ex-addict who returns to town only to get mixed up with drugs again. Crooked card dealer Frankie Machine (Sinatra in a standout performance) returns after a stint in rehab, hoping to pursue new dreams. But his crippled wife Zosch (Parker) wants him to stick with what he knows while drug dealer Louie (McGavin) makes Frankie offers he finds harder and harder to refuse, even with blonde beauty Molly (Novak) to offer Frankie comfort. Considered controversial in its depiction of addiction when released. 119m/B VHS, DVD . Frank Sinatra, Kim Novak, Eleanor Parker, Arnold Stang, Darren McGavin, Robert Strauss, George Mathews, John Conte, Doro Merande; D: Otto Preminger; W: Lewis Meltzer, Walter Newman; C: Sam Leavitt; M: Elmer Bernstein.

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