The Man with the Golden Arm

Frank Sinatra stars with Kim Novak and Eleanor Parker in this riveting drama about a poker dealer/jazz musician who descends to skid row after becoming addicted to heroin. Will he make it back into the spotlight -- or even survive? Based upon the classic American novel by Nelson Algren, The Man With The Golden Arm was far ahead of its time with its depiction of what drugs can do to even an ambitious person. Its cautionary tale still holds up today as heroin has come back to haunt not only the inner city but middle America as well.

It contains what Frank Sinatra himself considered his best performance, a role which gained him an Oscar nomination for Best Actor of 1955. Directed by the notorious Otto Preminger, this hard-edged, expressionistic view of the normally-depicted-as-glorious 1950s will comes as a fascinating surprise to those who have yet to discover this classic melodrama. Co-starring a young Darren McGavin in his debut film performance, it also contains one of the movie score legend Elmer Bernstein's best compositions which earned one of the film's two other Oscar nominations, along with one for art direction.