The Man with the Golden Arm
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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The Man with the Golden Arm is a 1955 film, based on the novel by Nelson Algren, which tells the story of a heroin addict who got clean while in prison but struggles to stay straight in the outside world. It stars Frank Sinatra, Eleanor Parker, Kim Novak, Arnold Stang and Darren McGavin.
The movie was adapted by Walter Newman, Lewis Meltzer and Ben Hecht (uncredited) from the novel by Nelson Algren. The Motion Picture Association of America refused to certify the film because it shows drug addiction. The next year the production code was changed to allow movies to deal with drugs, kidnapping, abortion and prostitution.
The movie opens with one of the most famous title sequences in movie history, the animated paper cut-out of a heroin addict's arm, designed by Saul Bass. The jazz soundtrack by Elmer Bernstein was successful in its own right.
The man with the Golden Arm earned $4,100,000 in rentals at the North American box office.
