'Pal Joey' is a light, entertaining 50's musical that features strong and appealing performances from it's three stars- Rita Hayworth, Frank Sinatra and Kim Novak.
Sinatra is the womanizing heel Joey, who lives on luck and lots of attention from the ladies until he meets Novak's good-hearted Linda English. Novak challenges Sinatra's caddish ways, and he is left to agonize between a potential romance with her and an opportune arrangement with wealthy older-woman Vera Simpson, played by Rita Hayworth.
An engaging film that uncannily makes the viewer care for a heel of a male protagonist, it utilizes Sinatra's charming boyish qualities to the hilt. I understand that this film version of a Broadway musical was truncated and heavily cut, yet the musical numbers are appealing and will leave you humming them under the breath for a while. Novak, Harry Cohn's star-creation at Columbia after Hayworth flew the roost and began to rebel against the tyrant, is refreshing in the role and she plays off Sinatra well. Hayworth, three years younger than Sinatra at the time the film was being made, is a strikingly beautiful 'older' woman and shows all the star qualities that made her a legend. And her figure looks terrific for a woman pushing forty!
From looking at this film, set in San Francisco, and Hitchock's 'Vertigo', released a year later with Kim Novak as the female lead and also set in San Fran, it is obvious as to where Hitchcock got some of his inspiration for the costuming of Novak's 'Madeleine'. Her long white coats and suits seen here in 'Pal Joey' would be replicated by Hitchcock only a year later.
Worth taking a look.
7/10.
Sinatra is the womanizing heel Joey, who lives on luck and lots of attention from the ladies until he meets Novak's good-hearted Linda English. Novak challenges Sinatra's caddish ways, and he is left to agonize between a potential romance with her and an opportune arrangement with wealthy older-woman Vera Simpson, played by Rita Hayworth.
An engaging film that uncannily makes the viewer care for a heel of a male protagonist, it utilizes Sinatra's charming boyish qualities to the hilt. I understand that this film version of a Broadway musical was truncated and heavily cut, yet the musical numbers are appealing and will leave you humming them under the breath for a while. Novak, Harry Cohn's star-creation at Columbia after Hayworth flew the roost and began to rebel against the tyrant, is refreshing in the role and she plays off Sinatra well. Hayworth, three years younger than Sinatra at the time the film was being made, is a strikingly beautiful 'older' woman and shows all the star qualities that made her a legend. And her figure looks terrific for a woman pushing forty!
From looking at this film, set in San Francisco, and Hitchock's 'Vertigo', released a year later with Kim Novak as the female lead and also set in San Fran, it is obvious as to where Hitchcock got some of his inspiration for the costuming of Novak's 'Madeleine'. Her long white coats and suits seen here in 'Pal Joey' would be replicated by Hitchcock only a year later.
Worth taking a look.
7/10.