jhkp Every time I watch Pal Joey, it hooks me by its interesting beginning, but I get bored around the time Joey starts planning his new night spot on Nob Hill with the help of his wealthy, older benefactress, Mrs. Simpson (Rita Hayworth), which messes up his budding relationship with a much younger "mouse," Linda English (Kim Novak).Up to that point, it's been a pretty fun show. Joey wangling his way into a nightclub job, chasing the girls at the club, exchanging barbs with one of the dancers (Barbara Nichols). His cynical friendship with an old friend, the back-and-forth with the club manager, his cute one-on-one with the landlady (Elizabeth Patterson). Etc.It's also been a treat to see Frank take the stage at the club and do one of the best numbers he ever did on screen (even if he's clearly way too talented to be scrounging for jobs as a girlie show MC).If only the breezy, atmospheric tone had continued for another few reels. But it's amazing how lugubrious the film becomes once Joey gets in with society dame Rita and starts getting his nightclub plans realized. And the delightful relationship with Novak bogs down into slush right around the same time.The three central performances are good. Sinatra's is the most three-dimensional and real. He walks a fine line, being able to make a jerk likable and attractive. (It's when we're being asked to love the jerk that the film gets a little messed up). Hayworth, 39 years old, tries and almost succeeds at being a believable cougar. But Sinatra at 38 is too old to be her boy toy. Novak is good in her attempts to do musical comedy and good in her role in general.Former MGM director George Sidney (Holiday In Mexico, Bathing Beauty, Anchors Aweigh, Show Boat, Kiss Me Kate) gets some but not all of it right. A former MGM screenwriter, Dorothy Kingsley, adapted Pal Joey for this version.

Robert W. I have said before that sometimes stage plays, even great ones, don't translate well to film and sometimes they do. It really does depend on the screenplay and who stars in the film and a few other key details. Pal Joey has its ups and downs and is overall entertaining but mostly thanks to Frank Sinatra and his larger than life persona that is hard to ignore in any capacity. It has elements of romance and music and drama and a few genuinely funny moments. Ideally though this is a vehicle for Sinatra. With anyone else in his role it wouldn't have been even nearly as good. His charisma saves this from being a rather hum drum sort of romantic comedy/musical. I think the biggest problem I personally had with the film was the lack of chemistry between the leads. I think in order for this to be genuinely great you need a guy and two girls that have great energy opposite of each other. At the heart (pun intended) of the film is a romance and yet you don't really feel that. The main character is such an egotistical ladies man and you expect a full turn around but I'm not sure you ever get that. You are sort of left with he is who he is but she's gonna be with him anyways.I have very little experience watching Frank Sinatra on screen but I love the man for his albums, always have since I was a kid, so the highlight of this movie for me was seeing him perform. He is mesmerizing and it is easily the strong point in the film. Singing "Lady is A Tramp" to Rita Hayworth was definitely worth the price of admission. Sinatra is very good in this role and suits it to a T. He is perfectly believable as a street-wise ladies man with big dreams and his character actually is a complex guy and I'm not sure we get everything out of one movie. Kim Novak is beautiful of course and her role as Karen English is decent. I just didn't feel like she got a lot of depth nor did her and Sinatra have the right chemistry. They had some good scenes and some okay banter but the door is open here for this terrific love-hate rivalry that never really takes off. Rita Hayworth is also very good if not just a touch obvious as the aristocratic Vera Simpson who lures Frank's Joey into a relationship of necessity. Hayworth's character is not very likable though she has a very good turning point in the end. However, like Novak, her chemistry with Sinatra is okay at best and her and Novak don't share enough screen time.Like many directors of the time, George Sidney has done other musical to screen adaptations. I just think Pal Joey isn't necessarily the right stage play to adapt though I'd love to see a modern take on it (think Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan annnnd Julia Roberts in the 90's) but the chemistry was off, the pacing doesn't feel quite right and the music is a little underwhelming. Still, it is a classic for a reason and it was fun. Some of the dialogue (especially from Sinatra) was legendary. He was a fast talking sarcastic lout and he did it well. I would think for its time, Pal Joey was a touch racy and I actually liked that about it. Watching a classic with a little bit of an adult edge for its time made me feel a little naughty like I'm sure it did for them back in 1957. I can assure you that I will now check out some of Frank Sinatra's more well known roles so the movie is not a total loss. Its worth seeing if you love the classics but certainly far from the best out there. 7/10

mark.waltz O.K., so alterations had to be made to some of them, and with his death over a decade before, much of the wit is gone from them. But what remains is a clever update that will upset theatre purists (like myself) but ultimately satisfy those searching for a fun musical time (like myself). Frank Sinatra's Joey is as far from his former co-star Gene Kelly's Joey (and Harold Lang's in the 1952 smash hit revival), but he is still a cad, using women to get ahead, if not as voraciously as the Broadway version. He's basically been tossed out of every city he's been to, most recently for breaking "legal age" laws. Now in San Francisco, he sets his sights on two beauties: a shy chorus girl (Kim Novak) and a wealthy socialite (Rita Hayworth) whose past Sinatra knows a thing or two about. This gives Hayworth the chance to take on the altered lyrics of "Zip!", initially sung by a reporter as a parody of Gypsy Rose Lee, but here made to be the former theme song of Hayworth's stage career.Of course, the older socialite makes demands of Sinatra, funding a nightclub for him to host, but will Frankie boy remain true to purse strings or his heart? If he could write a book, it wouldn't probably be about the lady who's a tramp, most definitely more open to the one with the funny valentine. Interpolated Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart songs from other shows ("Babes in Arms", "On Your Toes") replace many cut from the show that was fresh to many filmgoers in 1957 because of the recent hit Broadway revival which toured for years afterwards.As film entertainment, this is totally acceptable, but for representing a Broadway musical that was initially ahead of its time, forget about it. Sinatra is a bit of a ham here, trying to steal scenes every chance he gets, and the role of the blackmailing Gladys (here played by sex-pot Barbara Nichols) has been watered down to practically nothing. She had more to do in the same year's "The Pajama Game". Hayworth, dubbed by Jo Anne Greer, is still a beauty even if now a 40-something "has-been", yet at the end of her Columbia years, is still a sight to behold, especially as she sings "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered" in her bedroom and shower. When she joins Novak with long tresses for the fantasy number, "What Do I Care For a Dame?", it appears that the hands of time have rolled back the clock. As for Novak, she would go on to better performances, but it is apparent that here, having risen to stardom several years before, she's still a novice compared to the company she keeps. Her shy, butter wouldn't melt in her mouth routine is never fully believable, and when she does a striptease to "I Could Write a Book", it is obvious that this is where it's at for this former model who was Harry Cohn's last shot for stardom . Elizabeth Patterson is witty in a small role as Novak's landlady. The direction by George Sidney is as crisp as anything he did over at MGM, but the truth of the matter is that this isn't anywhere near the classic it could have been had it stuck closer to the original intentions of John O'Hara from his scandalous book which later scandalized Broadway and made Gene Kelly a star.

Mary Ann What started as a series of letters in a newspaper, was then a hit on Broadway starring Gene Kelly, then became a movie classic in 1957's "Pal Joey".With a terrific Rodgers and Hart score (including "The Lady is a Tramp" which is sung in one of the best scenes in the whole movie, "My Funny Valentine" and "I Could Write a Book"), Frank Sinatra in the title role and Rita Hayworth and Kim Novak as the gorgeous leading ladies, really a plot was unnecessary. But your "Pal Joey" gives you one anyway, and a great one, too.Joey Evans (Ole Blue Eyes) is, essentially, a heel. Working as an M.C in a nightclub in San Francisco, Joey meets many women. But two interest him even more than all the others : Vera Simpson (Hayworth) and Linda English (Novak). Vera, a former stripper ("She used to be Vera with the Vanishing Veils"), is now a wealthy widow who is helping Joey finance his new nightclub, Chez Joey. Linda is the chorus girl ("the best built mouse in the joint") who Joey really falls for. Kim or Rita? Which would you choose? Either way, "Pal Joey" is a fun, classy ("K-L-A-S-Y") movie that you will love.