Frank Sinatra

The film career of Frank Sinatra is far more than an addendum to his work as the twentieth century’s greatest popular singer if a little less than it might have been if he wasn’t so busy as a live performer, recording artist and Rat Pack member.  Sinatra was an intuitive actor whose natural talent and charisma saw him transcend early musical roles in which his slight frame led to a series of nervous wall flower parts.  Nothing could be further from the real life lothario than his character in the classic “On the Town”: a dithering idiot who has to be chased by the woman.

“From Here to Eternity” famously restored the lustre to Sinatra’s star.  Perfectly cast as the feisty Private Maggio, he got to enact an Oscar winning death scene that doesn’t feature in James Jones’ source novel.  It was Jones who also provided arguably Sinatra’s finest leading role, that of the sensitive writer returning to his hometown in Vincente Minnelli’s magnificent melodrama “Some Came Running”.

The Rat Pack films were inconsistent and generally no where near as funny as they thought they were.  Given the amount of singing talent within the group - Sinatra himself, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., and an ex-officio member from an earlier generation, Bing Crosby - it is strange that none are true musicals.  “Ocean’s 11″ is best known but the most satisfying is “Robin and the Seven Hoods” in which Sinatra gets to croon one of his many anthems, “My Kind of Town”.

“Pal Joey” is the pick of his later musical roles.  Playing a womanising cad comes naturally to Sinatra and a score which includes the classic “The Lady is a Tramp” provides the Chairman of the Board material worthy of interpretation.  The clear chemistry with co-star Kim Novak built on that seen in an earlier dramatic tour de force, “The Man With a Golden Arm”,  which sees Sinatra as perhaps the screen’s first openly acknowledged heroin addict.  A scene in which his character goes ‘cold turkey’ rivals anything in “Trainspotting” for emotional intensity.