Some Came Running (1958)

Director:

Vincente Minnelli

Writers:

James Jones (novel)
John Patrick (writer) ...
(more)

Release Date:

18 December 1958 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Tagline:

Dave was back and the whole town knew that trouble- and women- were close behind!

Plot:

Dave Hirsch, a writer and army veteran, returns to 1948 Parkman, Indiana, his hometown. His prosperous brother introduces him to Gwen French...

Plot Keywords:

Hometown | Writer | Veteran | Indiana | Homecoming

Awards:

Nominated for 5 Oscars. Another 7 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Frank Sinatra	...	Dave Hirsh
Dean Martin	...	Bama Dillert (professional gambler)
Shirley MacLaine	...	Ginnie Moorehead
Martha Hyer	...	Gwen French (schoolteacher)
Arthur Kennedy	...	Frank Hirsh
Nancy Gates	...	Edith Barclay (Frank Hirsh's secretary)
Leora Dana	...	Agnes Hirsh
Betty Lou Keim	...	Dawn Hirsh
Larry Gates	...	Prof. Robert Haven French
Steve Peck	...	Raymond Lanchak (Ginny's suitor) (as Steven Peck)
Connie Gilchrist	...	Jane Barclay (Edith's mother)
Ned Wever	...	Smitty (owner, Smitty's Bar)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Jan Arvan	...	Nightclub manager (uncredited)
George Brengel	...	Ned Deacon (uncredited)
John Brennan	...	Wally Dennis (uncredited)
George Cisar	...	Hubie Nelson (uncredited)
Chuck Courtney	...	Parkman Hotel clerk (uncredited)
Sheryl Deauville	...	Julia, Solo Dancer in Bar (uncredited)
Roy Engel	...	Sheriff (uncredited)
Joe Gray	...	(uncredited)
Don Haggerty	...	Ted Harperspoon (Dawn's date in Terre Haute) (uncredited)
Anthony Jochim	...	Judge Baskin (uncredited)
James Jones	...	Crew cut man playing poker (uncredited)
Paul Jones	...	George Huff (uncredited)
Donald Kerr	...	Waiter at Smitty's (uncredited)
Harold Lakeman	...	Extra (uncredited)
Len Lesser	...	Indianapolis poker player (uncredited)
William Lockridge	...	Bus driver (uncredited)
Joe McKenna	...	Extra (uncredited)
Denny Miller	...	Dewey Cole (uncredited)
Frank Mitchell	...	Nightclub waiter (uncredited)
Carmen Phillips	...	Rosalie ('Bama's girl) (uncredited)
Janelle Richards	...	Virginia Stevens (uncredited)
Ric Roman	...	Joe (uncredited)
Marion Ross	...	Sister Mary Joseph (hospital nurse) (uncredited)
William Schallert	...	Al (jewelry store clerk) (uncredited)
Diane Signore	...	Extra (uncredited)
George E. Stone	...	Slim (uncredited)
Albert T. Viola	...	Guitarist (uncredited)
Geraldine Wall	...	Mrs. Stevens (uncredited)
Dave White	...	Bus driver (uncredited)
John Wurtz	...	Extra (uncredited)

Directed by
Vincente Minnelli

Writing credits
James Jones		(novel "Some Came Running")
John Patrick		(writer) &
Arthur Sheekman		(writer)

Produced by
Sol C. Siegel	....	producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
Elmer Bernstein

Cinematography by
William H. Daniels

Film Editing by
Adrienne Fazan

Art Direction by
William A. Horning
Urie McCleary

Set Decoration by
Henry Grace
Robert Priestley

Costume Design by
Walter Plunkett

Makeup Department
William Tuttle	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Dave Friedman	....	production manager (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
William McGarry	....	assistant director
Tom McCrory	....	second assistant director (uncredited)
Kurt Neumann	....	second assistant director (uncredited)

Sound Department
Franklin Milton	....	recording supervisor
Van Allen James	....	sound editor (uncredited)

Special Effects by
Doug Hubbard	....	special effects (uncredited)

Stunts
Joe Gray	....	stunts (uncredited)

Editorial Department
Charles K. Hagedon	....	color consultant

Music Department
Elmer Bernstein	....	conductor (uncredited)
Jack Hayes	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
Leo Shuken	....	orchestrator (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Distributors

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1958) (USA) (theatrical)
• National Broadcasting Company (NBC) (1964) (USA) (TV) (original airing) (pan/scan)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (199?) (USA) (VHS) (pan/scan)
• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1959) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• Warner Home Video (2008) (Germany) (DVD)

Runtime:

137 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System) | 4-Track Stereo

Certification:

Canada:PA (Ontario) | USA:Approved (PCA #19154) | West Germany:16 (f) | Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Jefferson County, Indiana, USA

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

It was during the making of this film that Shirley MacLaine found herself welcomed into what would later be called the "Rat Pack" fraternity that included Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin, her co-stars in this film. Shirley MacLaine says the group known as the "Rat Pack" was actually called "The Clan" by the members while "Rat Pack" was a term given in the 1950s to Humphrey Bogart and his pals.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: Although the movie is set in 1948, several cars from as late as the mid-1950s can be seen in the background in certain scenes.

Quotes:

Dave Hirsh: [to bartender, as he exits and leaves a tip] Buy yourself a Quonset hut.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Flubber (1997)

Soundtrack:

To Love And Be Loved

"It Might Have Lacked Something In Craftsmanship"

Dave Hirsh is through with the army. A drinking binge with his buddies results in Dave being loaded onto a Greyhound bus bound for Parkman, Indiana (his seldom-visited hometown) clutching the few things he has managed to collect - Ginnie the floozie ("that dumb poushover") and a bag containing two bottles of scotch, the tattered manuscript of a love story and Hirsh's beloved copies of Faulkner, Wolfe and Steinbeck. Dave was once a writer of considerable promise. It had not been Dave's intention to revisit Parkman, but now that he's here he decides to hang around for a while. He wants to settle a score with his brother Frank.

The proprietor of a thriving jewellery store and a rising star in the Rotarians, Frank Hirsh is the worst kind of small-town phoney. He is a master of glib sales patter and the vacuous small talk of country club social evenings. Though he would rather die than say so, he doesn't want his kid brother within a hundred miles of Parkman. Dave is bohemian, hedonistic, creative - in other words, thing which threaten scandal. Having to socialise with Dave (folks would gossip if he shunned his own brother), Frank spends the time alternately bragging about his vulgar prosperity and timidly hinting that maybe Dave should move on.

"I'm an expert on tramps," wisecracks Dave (played by Frank Sinatra). Typically of Ol' Blue Eyes' projects of the period ("Ocean's Eleven", "Come Blow Your Horn") women are depicted as chattles to be despised and traded.

Equally typically, it is from Dean Martin's character that the most virulent misogyny comes. Bama Dillert warns Dave that you either give women orders, or allow them to dominate you. There is no other way. Bama hangs around with Rosalie, the lowlife zombie, and tells Ginnie to "just be a good girl and shut up". It is poor, good-natured Ginnie who gets most of the abuse. "You'll go anywhere with anybody," says her husband-to-be. She is grateful when he allows her to clean the house for him. Edith the nice girl and Dawn the perfect daughter are shown to be whores at heart. Even superior, educated Gwen has her sluttish moments.

Dave's rediscovery of his writing talent is somewhat improbable, as is the volume of whiskey supposedly consumed by these 'real men'. Even more unlikely is Dave's romantic rush of blood to the head near the end of the picture, and the melodramatic consequences which flow from it.

There is a Cahn and Van Heusen theme song, of course ("To Love And Be Loved"). Shirley Maclaine is good as Ginnie the 'escort' with the heart of gold. She tended hereafter to be typecast as a trollop ("Irma La Douce", "Woman Times Seven", "My Geisha", "Sweet Charity", "Two Mules"). The set of the French house is marvellous, with its easy-on-the -eye three-dimensional layout. Martha Hyer as Gwen seems miscast as Frankie's love interest, not least because her head is twice the size of his.