File #12 Joker is Wild/Live @ Caesars Palace

Similar to his role in Guys and Dolls, in The Joker is Wild Frank Sinatra plays a man obsessed with gambling and avoiding commitments such as marriage. As with Sinatra’s role in The Man With the Golden Arm, Joe E. Lewis has had more than his fair of rough times especially with addictions. What’s more surprising is how this role seems to mirror Frank Sinatra himself. Like the character, Frank Sinatra seems utterly or subconsciously determined to remain single, entertain, and remain in Las Vegas nightclubs and casinos. What is perhaps more interesting is the connection with the home, in both Frank Sinatra’s personal life (ex. showing his home without knowing where anything is) and in the case of his character, Joe E. Lewis, Sinatra cannot find himself able to settle down.  

Another connection between his character and himself is shown in his live performance at Caesars Palace, wherein Frank performs the majority of his songs in a sort of self-mocking style with his own personal brand of humor. Yet one can’t help but notice how “at home” Frank Sinatra feels in Vegas. It is as if it was his natural habitat (the light musky fog of cigarette smoke, the faded lights and lively, party atmosphere), and as the proverbial saying goes, “What happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas.

File #11 The Tender Trap/ Playboy Rising

In The Tender Trap Frank Sinatra plays a man of many women, a far cry from the characters he played in his earlier career such as Anchors Aweigh. Much like his recording persona, Frank Sinatra’s character here plays the role of a womanizing man unable to settle down and thus independently wealthy. This film seems to do a good job at embodying the playboy of the 1950s with the clash of his best friend (the married man) In an almost blunt fashion The Tender Trap can be seen as the taming of the playboy, showing that even such men as Sinatra’s character must eventually settle down and embody the married man persona. This can also be seen as city vs countryside wherein the city is viewed as the playboy’s playground and the countryside as the place in which men and women go to settle down. Unlike Frank Sinatra’s wartime characters his character in this film shares more of the sunny attitudes from his musical characters. He smokes rarely, he exhibits no agony of loss on the same level of his prior characters and in a way he is more or less smug. The Tender Trap, for us, is the beginning of the playboy years. 

and now your moment of zen, Frank Sinatra getting dissed by Orson Welles! 

Orson Welles roasts Frank

File #10 The Man with the Golden Arm

The Man with the Golden Arm shows a different side of Frank Sinatra similar to his role in From Here to Eternity, perhaps because he strongly wanted to play the part in both. In the film it is really hard to explain whether or not the character of Frankie Machine is a hero or antihero. I guess it really depends on what you view as a hero. If you think that hero is someone who is squeaky-clean, never breaks the rules, or always does the right ‘lawful’ thing than I would have to say Frankie Machine isn’t one of them. Likewise, if an antihero is something like The Punisher, fighting crime by killing criminals, or riding a black bike and taking names I do not think that quite fits Frankie either. At the end of the day though I would probably have to say he is a hero for the simple fact that he longs for redemption despite his surroundings, which are arguably what hinders him from doing so. At the end of the movie I’d argue that that redemption he seeks is finally achieved because he has kicked his addiction and cleared his name with the cops after the true killer (his wife) is exposed. 

Until next time!