SYNOPSIS

Dave Hirsh is a returning WWII veteran whose career as a writer has taken a nosedive. He arrives by bus to his boyhood home of Parkham, Illinois, carrying a new manuscript. Shortly upon arrival he hooks up with a good-hearted floozy named Ginny. Dave proceeds to shake up the complacency of the small town as he reacquaints himself with his estranged brother Frank and his upper-crust family. Ginny attaches herself to Dave and his other circle of friends, which includes local gambler Bama. Playing both sides of the town's dividing line of respectability, Dave also forms a relationship with Gwen, a lonely schoolteacher.

Director: Vincente Minnelli
Producer: Sol C. Siegel
Screenplay: John Patrick, Arthur Sheekman, based on the novel by James Jones
Cinematography: William H. Daniels
Editor: Adrienne Fazan
Art Direction: William A. Horning, Urie McCleary
Music: Elmer Bernstein
Song: Sammy Cahn, Jimmy Van Heusen
Costume Design: Walter Plunkett
Makeup: William Tuttle
Cast: Frank Sinatra (Dave Hirsh), Dean Martin (Bama Dillert), Shirley MacLaine (Ginny Moorhead), Martha Hyer (Gwen French), Arthur Kennedy (Frank Hirsh).
C-137m. Letterboxed. Close captioning.

Why SOME CAME RUNNING is Essential

Encouraged by the sales and the critical acclaim of his book, From Here to Eternity, James Jones set down to write the great American novel. The result was Some Came Running, the story of a war veteran with literary aspirations who returns in 1948 to his hometown of Parkham, Illinois, after a failed writing career. While it wasn't the masterpiece Jones hoped it would be, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, hoping to duplicate the success of From Here to Eternity (1953), optioned the book and cast Frank Sinatra as the lead, Dave Hirsh. Sinatra, in turn, approved Dean Martin for the role of his gambling pal, Bama Dillert. Martin had recently split from a partnership with Jerry Lewis and was just beginning to prove himself as an actor.

Producer Sol Siegel brought Vincente Minnelli on board as director. Minnelli was no doubt attracted to many of the story's major themes - the tortured artist (a frequent Minnelli protagonist), the conflict of two brothers who are polar opposites in temperament (reminiscent of the brothers that had been seen in Minnelli's Undercurrent (1946) and would feature in his 1960 melodrama, Home from the Hill), and small-town America - here featuring complex layers of hypocrisy and social strictures. Minnelli later wrote that he drew upon his own childhood memories for many of the small-town details.

The movie provided Shirley MacLaine with her best role to date. In her autobiography, Dance While You Can, MacLaine gave much of the credit for her success in the part to Sinatra: "I always thought he was responsible for my good performance in Some Came Running. 'Let the kid get killed,' he said to Vincente Minnelli and to the head of the studio. 'If she dies, she'll get more sympathy. Then she'll get nominated.' He was right."

Minnelli puts every part of the CinemaScope widescreen to use in Some Came Running - it is a textbook example of using the format in a non-epic film. Minnelli's staging and composition within the frame often provides as much information about character relationship as does the dialogue. Using very few close-ups, Minnelli stages long takes in medium shots that are crammed with background detail and bits of business that reveal much about the town and the characters' shifting social status within it.

The film features careful color and design choices throughout. Minnelli saw Some Came Running as "a story of small-town honky-tonks, of cheap low lifes not without charm. The audience had to be knocked out by their vulgarity. I decided to use the inside of a juke box as my inspiration for the settings - garishly lit in primary colors." While the pyrotechnics of color are clearly evident in the carnival setting of the finale, the entire film is enhanced by a subtle color design.

Elmer Bernstein provides Some Came Running with a varied and underrated music score. It avoids being overwrought in supporting the quiet melodrama of the picture, but is appropriately jazzy for the violent outbursts. A flash of intense red kicks off the carnival finale, and Bernstein keeps up with Minnelli's garish "juke box" visuals shot for shot.

In addition to MacLaine's Oscar® nomination for Best Actress in Some Came Running, the film was also in the running for Best Supporting Actor (Arthur Kennedy), Best Supporting Actress (Martha Hyer), Best Song ("To Love and Be Loved" by Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen), and Best Costume Design (Walter Plunkett). Although Some Came Running didn't win in any of the categories, 1959 was a banner year for Vincente Minnelli who won the Best Director Oscar for Gigi. He could be proud of the fact that together his two films racked up a total of fourteen Academy Award nominations.

by John Miller & Jeff Stafford