File #9 Manchurian Candidate/The Donkey Agenda

The Manchurian Candidate is by all means a political thriller and depending on how you look at it you can interpret it different ways. On the one hand you can take Frank Sinatra’s character as a troubled conservative unhappy with the way things are run and possibly morphing into the opposition as the film goes on. There is no denying the obvious nod towards Republican senator Joseph McCarthy with Sen. John Yerkes Iselin and one could easily claim that the film conveys the typical liberal notion that the government and corporations traumatize innocent people into brainwashed killers. Another possible hint is the reaction Raymond Shaw has when meeting the Jordans, which he grows to like very much and who more likely than not are Democrats. The sheer appearance difference between the Jordans and the Iselins is also quite telling. Shaw’s mother dresses very conservatively, showing little skin while young Jocelyn thinks nothing of ripping off her shirt to wrap around Shaw’s leg before riding off on a bicycle. The same could be seen with Sen. Iselin and Sen. Jordan where one wears suits while the other first appears in relaxed wear. You could also presuppose that Mrs. Iselin serves as the human figure of conservatism wherein she finds it necessary to tell her son how he should do things.

Frank Sinatra’s dramatic war film characters seem to share a certain lack of naivety that their musical counterparts share. It is as if they are hardened versions of the musical characters sharing little more than the same face between them. Frank Sinatra acts more like a boy in his earlier films; one in which the world of women, pain, and loss remain a mystery. His older roles, on the contrary, share a sense of progression in that regard. These films so a maturity in the place of childhood, regret in the place of romantic longing and wisdom in the place of innocence, like a puppy thrown in a furnace reborn a junkyard dog. The glimmer of his former characters still twinkling in his eyes but noticeably stricken with the ravages of time.

File #8 None But the Brave/ He did it His Way

None but the Brave is Frank Sinatra’s only directorial work and as far as his approach goes, its more or less the same old Frank. Sinatra’s character has elements of Maggio from From Here to Eternity but a little more “Sinatra.” The story itself is surprisingly better than other actor/director attempts at this part of World War II (cough…cough…Clint Eastwood...cough, cough) 

The direction Frank Sinatra takes doesn’t fall far from the direction his other films took him and in a way it seemed almost ironic that he would do that to himself. However the film does serve to continue the star image he created after From Here to Eternity and Frank Sinatra seems almost in the backseat of his own film despite his amount of screen time. None but the Brave also seems to propel two important images for Sinatra 1) military roles = patriotism/working class hero/etc. sand 2) the way in which the story plays out seems very in line with Frank Sinatra’s personal views on race relations (despite his reference to, “those dirty Japs” in The House I Live In).  

Until next time! 

for your entertainment the story of Frank Sinatra via SNL, enjoy.

 Hulu - Saturday Night Live: The Story of Frank Sinatra

File #7 Kings Go Fourth/ War, Race, & Frank

Unlike in From Here to Eternity, Kings Go Forth sees Frank Sinatra as a more stable character however here too we find “trouble in paradise”. Sinatra is an Army officer who begins to fall in love with a French girl where he is stationed. However trouble begins when the girl declares that her biological father was black.

After reading Sinatra’s various remarks on race relations in America it seems almost ironic that his character at first has trouble dealing with this fact.

Compared to The House I Live In, Kings Go Forth differs not only by the obvious fact that the girl is half black and not religiously different but more importantly it touches upon the subject of cohabitation between blacks and whites. The House I Live In is more or less comparatively tame in its message. In fact all the kids involved where white, and instead of focusing on the subject of racial differences it instead talks about religious differences and patriotism and standing together against those no good dirty Japs, which after the fact seems a bit racist in it of itself. Kings Go Forth is in a way also tame because the girl, Monique, is only half black thus making it only half a problem for Sinatra’s character.  

I wonder how the reception by the audience and the character’s resolutions would change if Monique were fully black or if instead of Frank Sinatra it were a black man and the girl was white? 

Ever wonder what a duet with Sinatra and Stevie Wonder would be like? SNL did and its hilarious!

Stevie wonder and Frank S. on Yahoo! Video

Until next time, over and out!