A strung-out junkie (Frank Sinatra) deals with daily demoralizing drug addiction while crippled wife (Eleanor Parker) and card sharks continue to pull him down.
While this is not the first film to deal with drugs, it is probably the first to deal with them in a very serious manner. "Reefer Madness" and "Cocaine Fiends", for example, can be written off as humorous nostalgia. This film, on the other hand, is decades ahead of "Trainspotting" and "Requiem For a Dream". (Did you even know heroin addiction was prominent in the 1950s?)
Variety called the film "a gripping, fascinating film, expertly produced and directed and performed with marked conviction by Frank Sinatra as the drug slave." I agree for the most part, though I really did not enjoy Sinatra's acting as much as many others did, I think. Otto Preminger is a first-rate director, and I hope this film gets the respect it deserves over the long run (I found the 50th anniversary release to be not nearly cleaned up enough).
While the focus is heroin and addiction, one could also make a case about this film being about love. Frankie's wife brings him down, encourages him to go back to his old habits, turns him away from his dreams. Molly (Kim Novak) does just the opposite. Divorce and adultery are hardly ever positive topics, but in this film you almost hope that Frankie goes that route.
