Vincente Minnelli was one of Hollywood’s most prolific directors. His musicals were delightful, and he is best known for them. He also created quite a few melodramatic dramas about America. One of his best is 1958’s “Some Came Running”, based on James Jones’s Post-war novel featuring Frank Sinatra in one of his better performances.
Dave Hirch (Frank Sinatra) is a returning war veteran and novice author who, after a drunken binge in Chicago, is sent on a bus to his hometown in Indiana. Tagging along for the ride is the low-class bar girl he met in Chicago named Ginny (the truly wonderful Shirley MacLaine). In the town, we learn that Dave was sent to an orphanage when his parents died by his older brother. The brother is Frank (Arthur Kennedy) and, through the wealth of his wife’s family, has become one of the pillars of the town. Dave is full of resentment at his brother and hitches up with a local alcoholic gambler named Bama (Dean Martin, typecast once again as a drunk). From there the movie dwells in Dave’s strained relationship with small town American life. As is the case with many of these old Hollywood movies, he falls in love with a local smart girl, whose frigid personality, in my opinion, should turn him off. Instead, it is love at first sight. The complications occur with the presence of Ginny.
Minnelli made this movie within the mainstream Hollywood dramas and his subject matter in many of his films belie the fact that he was an extremely artistic and skilled director. This is made very clear in the brilliant closing sequence of the movie, which occurs during a large festival happening in the town. Within the music and crowds of people, Ginny and Frank are being chased by her ex, who is a gangster, while Bama is trying to catch up to save them. The way Minelli captures the sudden appearance of the protagonists through the wide screen shots of the crowds is illuminating.
The entire cast is very good in this film, and even Sinatra comes across as believable. Special mention needs to be made to the performance of McLain as Ginny. Shirley McLain shines as the uneducated girl who sees hope in life through Dave. Her lack of intelligence is made up by her natural survival instincts and McLean brings her to life. McLain was a wonderful actress who got typecast as the loose, dizzy girl early in her career. She always managed to bring life into those characters and her Ginny is a real delight. Dean Martin was another actor (or singer) who was typecast as a drunk. He fell into that role like a hand in a glove and his Bama is a wonderful example of this.
As for the plot and story, I was not very involved or impressed. Dave is supposed to be a war veteran, yet the movie never mentions it or even hints at it. Was war one of the reasons for his rebellious attitude? The film does not give any reasons, or the filmmakers assumed that most people watching the movie read the book. I, for one, did not read the book and could not feel any real affinity for Dave. In addition, the love interest segment with the local girl seemed forced to me.
“Some came Running”, is one of Hollywood’s more visually attractive melodramas, but with a contrived ending and soapy plot, it seemed very dated to me, even when considering that it is set in 1948. Still, the end sequence is wonderful and makes the movie worth viewing once.
1001 Movies before you die 