User reviews

I really didn't get on with this. I guess I bought it because I usually like the work of Burt Lancaster. Here, he is okay but it is not a solid performance, occasionally over acting and sometimes barely at all. Sinatra for me, is even worse but then perhaps he shouldn't have been asked to play drunk so much. Overall there are too many scenes of bullying and drunkeness. Worse there is a brothel that looks more like a high school prom and two leading ladies that look like someone's maiden aunt. Certainly not my idea of sexy and when we come to the famous beach kiss, my goodness, it comes so early and so briefly and in such an over the top and cliched manner. As Woody Allen might have said, it is quite terrible and there is not enough of it.

Performances are very wooden. None of the characters drew me to really care what happened to them and in a drama that is essential for it to work. The direction is just point and shoot and observe what happens rather than injecting any sort of flair into proceedings.

I hate to trot out that age old cliche but....read the book!

Though I would say I liked Frank Sinatra's character the best I'm not sure I would have given him the Oscar for it had it been up to me. I would have given it to Montgomery Clift the Oscar had it been up to me. Then again I wasn't alive in 1953. I don't really think it was all the movie it was made out to be. And there was way too much drinking and smoking in it. I know it was the time period but they could have done without as much of it. But I think it wasn't all that bad. Montogmery was differently the star of the movie and should have been rewarded for it. I don't think that he got top billing and I think that he should have. He was the star and everyone else was just extra.