Run, don't walk

Having pointed out a movie that I haven't recommended before, but also haven't seen, I should recommend one I haven't blogged about before, but have seen. That would be Some Came Running, airing overnight tonight at 2:30 AM ET on TCM.

Frank Sinatra stars as Dave Hirsh, a sometime Army man and writer who's through with both, but at least has enough money to live for a while and go back to his home town in Indiana. With him is a manuscript that's really not worth publishing, and the woman who followed him from Chicago, a loose woman named Ginnie (Shirley MacLaine) who has things that she too wants to get away from. We quickly learn that Indiana isn't such a good place for Dave. He left in part to get away from his family, who have become pillars of the community while Dave is more of the black sheep. Now head of the family is Dave's older brother Frank (Arthur Kennedy), the proprietor of a jewelery story who is secretly having an affair.

Everybody's past and secrets are about to catch up with them, however. Dave meets the daughter of a local college English professor, and begins to have a relationship with her while she and the father go over the manuscript. Dave meets a gambler, Barna (Dean Martin), who falls in love with Ginnie, but falls ill as a result of his dissolute life. Frank would like Dave out of town, but can't let on too much, or he'll lose face in front of the rest of town. Eventually, Ginnie's past comes back, in the form of the man she jilted in Chicago....

Some Came Running is a movie with nice visuals, having been filmed on location in a small town in southern Indiana. But the story is worthy of one of those 1950s soap opera movies, and is a story that doesn't really go anywhere. It's like the old joke about take-out Chinese food; to wit, it fills you up at the time (thanks to the cinematography and good acting) but leaves you hungry an hour later (thanks to the substandard story which makes it a bit tough to care about the individuals). However, as with all the movies for which I don't necessarily care, it's one that you should watch and judge for yourself.

Although it's airing overnight, you don't have to worry about catching tonight's TCM airing, as Some Came Running has gotten a DVD release.