Event Details
This gritty biopic dives into the smoky, dangerous glamor of Prohibition-era Chicago for the true story of nightclub performer Joe E. Lewis, famous for being one of the few people who could make gangster Al Capone laugh. Crooner Frank Sinatra, lauded by the film's marketing as “the most electric personality of our time,” follows Lewis’s highs and lows with the same realism and range he brought to The Man with the Golden Arm (1955). Ol’ Blue Eyes also adds musical dimension to the character — the real Lewis was more comedian than singer—with director Charles Vidor (no relation to fellow director King) compounding his experience with musicals and comedies into a story with dramatic nuance.
Academy Museum film programming generously funded by the Richard Roth Foundation.
1957 | 126 min. | USA | Black-and-White | English | Not Rated | 4K DCP
DIRECTED BY: Charles Vidor
WRITTEN BY: Oscar Saul
WITH: Frank Sinatra, Mitzi Gaynor, Jeanne Crain, Eddie Albert