I just got through watching The Man With The Golden Arm on KET, or tried to. Whoever was responsible for playing the film apparently went out for pizza or spent most of the time on the phone, or jacking off or whatever, because it was a mess. But it was one hell of a mess.
This is a film that is crying, screaming, and begging to be remade. And this is coming from a person who hates remakes as a general rule.
Still, I can see this remade and set in modern times, with Frankie Machine not a jazz drummer, but maybe as a heavy metal drummer, or for that matter guitarist. Instead of a heroin addict, he is a meth addict. Of course, the film would more sex, violence, and foul language, though admittedly the original starring Frank Sinatra was far ahead of its time in approaching what was then considered the taboo subject of heroin addiction. It was very gritty and realistic, and the jazz score actually added to the film's complexity and charm, as opposed to being corny and distracting, as in the case of so many films where such attempts come across as a blatant attempt to be cool but end up falling flat.
It would be hard to imagine who would direct an updated version and come close to approaching the level of ingenuity achieved by Otto Preminger, and I won't speculate.
It would be interesting to see who would be cast to play the updated role of Frankie Machine. Anybody but that little punk Matt Damon, please.
I won't give a rundown of the film, but if you insist, the link I posted is from Wikipedia, but a word of caution-there is one flaw in the synopsis as given. Of course, I can't be really too damn sure of that, because like I said, the film was so distorted through such a large portion of the airing, its hard to remember everything just right.
Having said that, it's definitely worth watching, and I recommend it highly, so if you haven't seen it, do what I should have done-rent it.
7 comments:
Sinatra defined coolness. Even the movie poster to that show was great.
That's a great movie. How about Robert Downey Jr. for the remake? He can definitely act and he knows about drug addiction.
Yeah, he'd be perfect for the role, come to think of it. I don't know how believable he would be as a hard core metal guitarist or drummer, but who knows?
I bet if they remade it though, they'd probably end up giving it to somebody like Nicholas Cage and making him just a 2000's version of a jazz drummer.
Another possibility would be making it more of a black film and making the character a R&B or even a rap artist.
It is fun to speculate on stuff like that. I have this scene all worked out in my head for the part where Frankie's in jail with his buddy and gets all upset when the drug addict starts freaking and throwing himself against the bars.
I would draw it out for a few minutes more and make the guys part beefier and a lot more menacing, and Frankie's reaction a lot more intense.
DeCaprio?
Caprio, yeah, he'd be good. So would Depp.
DeCaprio I meant. It would be fun finding roles for the other parts too, like his buddy. Or the drug dealer, who I would put in a crack house/meth house setting, with various habitues constantly in and out in various stages of withdrawal or drug induced euphoria, or just all together zoned out.
I don't know, but I kind of see Drew Barrymore in the role of the girlfriend. I mean the one who pretended she was crippled.
Rose McGowan
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