Throughout Sinatra’s films, alcohol is inextricably linked to bringing people closer together and social situations. This film, however, acknowledges how alcoholism can develop as a means to self-medicate. After having a short-lived success as a singer due to his injury dealt by his mobster boss, Joe E. Lewis feels a loss of identity, turning to isolation and alcohol in order to cope. After his piano playing friend Austin finds Joe, he pressures Joe to pursue performing again. Joe reacts with joking and elicits a good response from the audience. Letty Page, a beautiful and wealthy woman, was watching the show, approached Joe and proposed that he pursue comedy. They began their romance but Joe depended more upon his alcohol than her as an emotional outlet. After acknowledging his problem with alcohol and commitment issues, they moved apart and finally she married another man. Joe, depending more and more upon alcohol as an outlet, enjoyed great success with his comedic act but it seemed hollow. He then pursued a marriage with Martha who was his chorus girl in order to gain some stability in his life. With her work schedule, the marriage didn’t include the intimacy that he needed in order to have the strength to give up his addiction. His acts got sloppier and his drinking did too. The film concluded with Joe E. Lewis being completely alone walking down the street. His two lovers had left him and his friend had finally left him as well. His reflection called him out in the window and challenged him to give up alcohol, not for others but for himself. He couldn’t move forward with the addiction. The scene then closes and the film ends.
Sinatra’s portrayal of Joe E. Lewis has many parallels to how he played Frankie Machine in The Man With the Golden Arm. Both characters were addicted to a substance—alcohol and heroin respectively. They both had women who were romantically involved who urged him to stop abusing the substance. Both addictions were intended to provide escapes for the characters. Joe E. Lewis felt a dependence upon alcohol as well in order to perform as a standup comic and even the content of his act largely drew upon his alcoholism. Frankie Machine used drugs when working and also as an escape from the situation with his crippled and nagging wife. Joe E. Lewis actually lost two women who loved him because he could not reign in his addiction. Frankie Machine’s addiction may have actually brought him closer to his lover because she was taking care of him and succeeded. The end result of both movies was vastly different. Joe E. Lewis ended up completely alone and still drunk but decided that he would give up drinking for himself. In The Man With the Golden Arm, Frankie Machine concluded the film with a girl and a new sobriety. Exiting after watching both films, I felt both movies were somber because they displayed how tragic addiction can be.
In comparison to earlier film roles, Joe also represents a form of flawed masculinity. He had in his earliest films been boyish or shy with girls which contrasted with the confident and mature ideal man of that era. The disturbed or withdrawn guy which comes across in several films such as The Manchurian Candidate or The Man With the Golden Arm also falls short of the more solid and dependable breadwinner ideal of masculinity. Joe’s self-destructive behavior which manifested itself through alcoholism actually harmed his friends much more than the other films. His two wives and his pianist who was his best friend all suffered due to Joe’s substance abuse. Also, this was the only film in which Sinatra’s character ended up completely alone and supported by no one. Even in From Here to Eternity, Sinatra’s character had friends who tried to help him out of his situation with the prison ward.
Sinatra’s recording persona closely relates to the character of Joe E. Lewis, but Sinatra’s problems were not as extreme as Joe’s. Joe and Sinatra both rely on alcohol and the Las Vegas lifestyle to shape their images. Sinatra, however, appeared to have a more moderate drinking behavior. Also, a reliance on a sense of humor was evident with both but that was Joe’s main attraction. A large difference between the two is that Sinatra was not abandoned by all people. Even in the time of his downfall, he had a relationship with Eva Gardner. That feeling of being completely abandoned did not occur with Sinatra but he did face rejection when he had his downfall in the late 1940s. Sinatra had a supportive group of males friends who surrounded him; whereas, Joe lacked that consistent group of male friends.
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