Pal Joey (1957)

Intro.

I love hearing the backstories of films from TCM's host Robert Osborne.  For example, he explained that the story of Pal Joey began back in the 1930s as a Broadway play.  At one point it starred Gene Kelly, so when studios began trying to  make it into a film, he was their first choice.  However, due to the racy nature of the story and Hollywood's strict codes, it took a long while to be green-lighted.  Finally, Columbia Pictures made it, and cast their biggest star of the 1940s and 50s, Rita Hayworth.  They also cast up-and-coming star Kim Novak.  The problem was finding a leading man - Kelly wasn't available, so they tried Marlon Brando (who couldn't do it) and Jack Lemmon (who was still more or less unknown and Rita Hayworth did not want in the film).  At last Frank Sinatra was cast and the film was a perfect fit for him. 

Overview

Pal Joey feels almost like a Sinatra biography - or at least, the life he presented to the world.  The film opens with Joey (Frank Sinatra) getting thrown out of town for seducing an underaged girl.*  He winds up in San Francisco, where he looks up an old friend in the nightclubs on Barbary Coast.  He talks his way into a job as a singer and it's clear from his first performance that he excels at the job - women throughout the club start falling into a trance just listening to him.  It seems that the only one not affected is one of the chorus girls, Linda English (Kim Novak), who is a bit more reserved than the rest.  Joey pretends not to care about her, but then deliberately moves into the apartment next to hers.  Their first evening job away from the club is at a big fundraiser gala.  The much admired hostess Vera Simpson (Rita Hayworth) puts on a class act, but Joey happens to recognize her from her time as a famous stripper.  When the auction falls short of the monetary goal, Joey pipes up that he'd pay a thousand dollars to see her do her most famous routine right there on stage.  The bidding opens and the goal is met.  But that's only the beginning of an interesting push and pull between Vera and Joey.  Meanwhile, Linda starts to soften towards Joey, thanks to an adorable terrier named Snuffy.  Vera finally makes peace with Joey as well as a deal to open a new nightclub in Joey's name.  Joey's lifelong dream finally comes true, but is short lived as he realizes he's working with a very jealous woman.  The love triangle drives Joey to finally make his choice, but can both women live with it? 

Highlights

Pal Joey is a musical without feeling like a musical.  It's along the same lines as Gentlemen Prefer Blondes or Young at Heart: the songs are a natural part of the plot.  Almost all of the songs are done as nightclub performances, when you'd expect to hear them, not out in the middle of the street just for the heck of it.  And these songs are wonderful!  They are all Rogers and Hart numbers, and very familiar to many Frank Sinatra fans.  I loved hearing and seeing him perform some of my favorite songs like "I Could Write a Book" or "The Lady is a Tramp."  Rita Hayworth and Kim Novak each had some great numbers (like "Bewitched" and "My Funny Valentine"), though I learned afterward that they had both been dubbed.  Dubbed or not, it was still a great score and a lot of talent.

I want to talk briefly about icons.  I noticed that in this film, there's a part where a large poster of Joey is put up outside the Barbary Coast club.  That poster is one of the iconic Frank Sinatra images - it's the one where he's got his hat forward and his trenchcoat slung over his shoulder.  I mentioned before that this film was a perfect fit for Frank and it was.  I can't imagine anyone else in this role (except maybe Gene Kelly).  It's almost as if Angelo Maggio** had survived Pearl Harbor and was working the coast after the war.  Joey is the legend of Sinatra - singer, swinger, heartbreaker with all the swagger and bravado we know and love.  As much as I love Frank Sinatra, I know he wasn't the most handsome of leading men, but his voice and confidence more than make up for it.      

Rita Hayworth at this point in her career had already been a top leading lady for a number of years.  She was #1 at Columbia Pictures, having made her mark in films like Only Angels Have Wings (1939), Cover Girl (1944) and Gilda (1946)***.  Kim Novak had just started to rise, having made a huge success in the film Picnic only two years earlier.  As Robert Osborne said, this film was like a "passing of the crown" from Columbia's former leading lady to the new one.  Both women are great, talented actresses and each one does a phenomenal job in this movie.  I think Novak, Hayworth and Sinatra have equal roles in the film, though ultimately it does bring sharp focus to just Sinatra's character.  The film is a strong vehicle for all three performers and a must-see!

I have to mention some of the great lines in this movie.  First, upon seeing Joey sing for the first time, one of the chorus girls remarks how cute he is.  Her friend says: "You think everyone with pants is cute." To which the girl replies: "That's not true.  I like lots of people without pants."  Later on, Vera tells Joey he has "all the subtlety of a battering ram."  I think I've heard this line before, but never delivered as well as Rita Hayworth does it!  A few times we also hear the line, in reference to Joey, that "one false move and you're out on your Francis!"  I don't know how they came up with that line, whether it was really a figure of speech or not, but I laughed as Sinatra is a Francis.  Joey throughout the film spells out his words for emphasis, but never spells them correctly.  I wasn't sure each time if he was being funny or if he was uneducated.  For example, he spells classy "K-l-a-s-y".  Some of those misspellings Frank Sinatra kept using off stage - his line to Snuffy to get off the bed: "Get off, O-R-F, off!" was used during his performances at the Sands in the 60s.  Just another way that films cross into real life and legends are made.

Review and Recommendation

Pal Joey is a brilliant showcase for three legends of Hollywood.  It's a fun, energetic story full of romance and great music.  Maybe not one of the most famous of musicals, it's nevertheless an entertaining one and well worth watching.

Random Film Trivia:
* Sinatra was once arrested for "seduction and adultery in New Jersey in the 1930s.  Charges were eventually dropped, but the story stuck with Sinatra.
** Angelo Maggio was Sinatra's character in From Here to Eternity (1953); a performance which won Sinatra an Academy Award.  He wanted the part because he said it was a perfect fit for him and he wouldn't even have to act. 

*** For modern movie fans, Gilda was the film being shown in The Shawshank Redemption (1994), which is why Andy asks for Rita Hayworth.  The original story by Stephen King is called Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption.  I highly recommend both the film and the novella!  I got the movie listing from IMDb.