This is not one of Frank Sinatra's best films, but his acting in the film is excellent. The rest of the cast also performs well.
But this is not a very entertaining film. Certainly, it is a depressing story about a mean, thankless alcoholic who reliably punished those who dared care about him.
Supposedly it's a biography of Joe E. Lewis, but the degree of accuracy in the script is debatable and questionable, so it loses some of its allure as a "true story". What the viewer is left with is a showcase for some great talents caught in a film about a crime victim who never rose above his self perception as a loser, which is too bad.
Lewis is portrayed as a lush. Sinatra manages to play the various shades of intoxication masking deeper feelings. He has a love/hate relationship with booze that overpowers every other aspect of the film.
The ending is a disappointment, seemingly an attempt to inject real humor combined with a hollow sentiment that resolves nothing.
But this is not a very entertaining film. Certainly, it is a depressing story about a mean, thankless alcoholic who reliably punished those who dared care about him.
Supposedly it's a biography of Joe E. Lewis, but the degree of accuracy in the script is debatable and questionable, so it loses some of its allure as a "true story". What the viewer is left with is a showcase for some great talents caught in a film about a crime victim who never rose above his self perception as a loser, which is too bad.
Lewis is portrayed as a lush. Sinatra manages to play the various shades of intoxication masking deeper feelings. He has a love/hate relationship with booze that overpowers every other aspect of the film.
The ending is a disappointment, seemingly an attempt to inject real humor combined with a hollow sentiment that resolves nothing.