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The Gene Krupa Story

  • 19591959
  • 1h 41m
IMDb RATING
6.7/10
711
YOUR RATING
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • Trivia
  • IMDbPro
The Gene Krupa Story (1959)
Biopic of famous jazz drummer, Gene Krupa, who becomes a sensation but cannot handle success and life in the fast lane and ends-up broke, struggling with drugs and alcohol.
Play trailer2:28
1 Video
65 Photos
  • Biography
  • Drama
  • Music

Biopic of famous jazz drummer, Gene Krupa, who becomes a sensation but cannot handle success and life in the fast lane and ends-up broke, struggling with drugs and alcohol.Biopic of famous jazz drummer, Gene Krupa, who becomes a sensation but cannot handle success and life in the fast lane and ends-up broke, struggling with drugs and alcohol.Biopic of famous jazz drummer, Gene Krupa, who becomes a sensation but cannot handle success and life in the fast lane and ends-up broke, struggling with drugs and alcohol.

IMDb RATING
6.7/10
711
YOUR RATING
  • Director
    • Don Weis
  • Writer
    • Orin Jannings
  • Stars
    • Sal Mineo
    • Susan Kohner
    • James Darren
Top credits
  • Director
    • Don Weis
  • Writer
    • Orin Jannings
  • Stars
    • Sal Mineo
    • Susan Kohner
    • James Darren
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 18User reviews
    • 6Critic reviews
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 1 win & 1 nomination

    Videos1

    Official Trailer
    Trailer 2:28
    Official Trailer

    Photos65

    Sal Mineo on the set of "The Gene Krupa Story," 1959.
    Sal Mineo and Yvonne Craig on the set of "The Gene Krupa Story," 1959.
    The Gene Krupa Story (1959)
    Sal Mineo in The Gene Krupa Story (1959)
    The Gene Krupa Story (1959)
    Sal Mineo in The Gene Krupa Story (1959)
    Sal Mineo and Susan Oliver in The Gene Krupa Story (1959)
    Susan Oliver in The Gene Krupa Story (1959)
    Sal Mineo and Susan Oliver in The Gene Krupa Story (1959)
    Sal Mineo and Susan Oliver in The Gene Krupa Story (1959)
    James Darren and Red Nichols in The Gene Krupa Story (1959)
    Sal Mineo and Susan Kohner in The Gene Krupa Story (1959)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Sal Mineo
    Sal Mineo
    • Gene Krupaas Gene Krupa
    Susan Kohner
    Susan Kohner
    • Ethel Maguireas Ethel Maguire
    James Darren
    James Darren
    • Eddie Sirotaas Eddie Sirota
    Susan Oliver
    Susan Oliver
    • Dorissa Dinellas Dorissa Dinell
    Yvonne Craig
    Yvonne Craig
    • Gloria Corregioas Gloria Corregio
    Lawrence Dobkin
    Lawrence Dobkin
    • Speaker Willisas Speaker Willis
    Celia Lovsky
    Celia Lovsky
    • Motheras Mother
    Red Nichols
    Red Nichols
    • Selfas Self
    Bobby Troup
    Bobby Troup
    • Tommy Dorseyas Tommy Dorsey
    Anita O'Day
    Anita O'Day
    • Selfas Self
    Shelly Manne
    Shelly Manne
    • Davey Toughas Davey Tough
    Buddy Lester
    Buddy Lester
    • Selfas Self
    Stanley Adams
    Stanley Adams
    • Bar Owneras Bar Owner
    • (uncredited)
    Marie Ardell
    • Minor Roleas Minor Role
    • (uncredited)
    Candy Barr
    Candy Barr
    • Stripperas Stripper
    • (uncredited)
    Henry Beau
      Arthur Berkeley
      • Stagehandas Stagehand
      • (uncredited)
      John Bleifer
      • Fatheras Father
      • (uncredited)
      • Director
        • Don Weis
      • Writer
        • Orin Jannings
      • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
      • All cast & crew

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      Storyline

      Edit
      The story of legendary jazz drummer, Gene Krupa. Since his youth, all Gene ever wanted to do is play the drums and make music. This is something his parents would not approve of- they want him to be a priest. When Gene's father dies he promises to enter the priesthood. He soon realizes that he doesn't belong there and leaves to join his friend, Eddie's band. Ethel, Eddie's girlfriend, convinces Gene to go to New York and make it big. The 3 of them head to New York. Here Ethel and Gene soon fall in love and Gene makes a name for himself. Gene starts to live in the fast lane, with drugs, alcohol, women and parties. Ethel, unhappy with Gene's lifestyle, leaves him. Gene soon "hits rock bottom" where he has to face reality and choose where to take his life. —Kelly
      • band
      • drugs
      • drummer
      • jazz
      • seminary
      • 27 more
      • Plot summary
      • Add synopsis
      • Taglines
        • He hammered out the savage tempo of the jazz era!
      • Genres
        • Biography
        • Drama
        • Music
      • Parents guide
        • Add content advisory

      Did you know

      Edit
      • Trivia
        When the film opened in Krupa's hometown of Chicago at the Schiller Theatre on January 15, 1960 both Gene Krupa and Sal Mineo were on hand to greet the public and sign "fan fotos."
      • Goofs
        In the spring and summer of 1930, Krupa made 7 records with Bix in NYC., most famously Barnacle Bill the Sailor in an All-Star band hand picked by Hoagy Carmichael which included Tommy Dorsey, Benny Goodman and Venuti & Lang.
      • Quotes

        Gene Krupa: What are we giving away here?

        Guitarist: The most! On sip and you're gone from the vale of tears.

        Gene Krupa: Reefers?

        Guitarist: Reap the tender weed. Or as the peasants say: tea. And I don't mean Oolong.

        Gene Krupa: So that's what they look like. Huh?

        Guitarist: Don't give me that, Daddy-O. How else would you get that crazy kick on your drums.

        Gene Krupa: Oh, come off it Jack. You think I need anything like that to get me out there?

      • Connections
        Featured in Police Story: The Broken Badge (1978)
      • Soundtracks
        Royal Garden Blues
        (uncredited)

        Written by Clarence Williams and Spencer Williams

      User reviews18

      Review
      Top review
      5/10
      One Weird Film-Big Bands for Bobby Soxers
      Imagine that it is 1970 and they have just released "The Frank Sinatra Story" with then 20 year-old David Cassidy playing the Italian crooner from ages 17 through 47. If that sounds weird imagine that the production designer on the film never shows up and they film it as if everything from 1935 to 1965 looks (and everyone talks) like it is set in 1970. Finally imagine that to preserve the 1970's look, all the action takes place inside, with one short scene on an indoor sound stage with fake grass and trees.

      That is essentially "The Gene Krupa Story", with bobby soxer heartthrob Sal Mineo replacing Cassidy, Krupa replacing Sinatra, and the look of 1959 replacing 1970. Mineo was the Cassidy of his generation, with about the same level of acting talent but harder working and more willing to take direction.

      Like the imagined "Cassidy as Sinatra" film, the idea was to expand the target audience by including someone who would attract teen and pre-teen girls. In this "The Gene Krupa Story" was successful and the film had good box office. The downside was that big band fans generally considered the whole production laughable. My father was a huge Krupa fan and he hated this film with an unprecedented passion. In part for the cheap production design and in part because of Mineo and the reasons for his casting, but largely because of the many factual omissions and distortions. To him the only saving grace was that they used Krupa's actual drumming, to which Mineo is generally in sync although there are times when he is beating a tom and the sound is that of a cymbal.

      Like most Hollywood bio movies ("The Lou Gerhig Story", "The Al Jolson Story", etc.) Krupa's mother was violently opposed to her son's ambitions, in this case she and her husband want him to be a priest. But he leaves the seminary to set out for New York with Eddie Sirota (James Darren) and Eddie's composer girlfriend, Ethel (Susan Kohner). After a rough three months Ethel is forced to take a job as a telephone operator and her romantic interest switches to Gene.

      Gene's career takes off and he begins running with a fast crowd of 1930's musicians (who sound strangely like a Maynard G. Kreb's take on the 1950's beat scene). A jazz singer named Dorissa Dinell (Susan Oliver) connects him with some dope dealers and the film gets a lot like "Reefer Madness" (but with a 1959 setting). Which may account for a surreal montage of newspaper headlines chronicling his rise to national fame and his fall in a drug bust. There is even an "I told you so" phone call from mom. This has ramifications beyond Krupa as the entire jazz world is outed as dope fiends and corrupter of America's youth. When the chips are down, Dorissa bails on Gene with the classic exit line: "Now if you'll excuse me, I've got a town I'd better get out of." Gene is reduced to playing in strip clubs with other beatnik musicians wearing dark glasses. When it seems like he can't go on another day Ethel re- enters his life and things begin to break his way once again.

      For the aging sequences Mineo could draw upon the example James Dean, who he worked with in both "Rebel Without a Cause" and "Giant". Dean was faced with the same challenge in "Giant" and Mineo's attempt here is clearly superior. So much so that what could have been the film's biggest liability is actually a strength. And Mineo successfully mimics Krupa distinctive drumming style and facial expressions, details that he worked on with Krupa himself. There are seven drum solo set pieces, mostly medium shots that capture the spirit if not the actual magic of a Krupa performance.

      Susan Kohner shows considerable range in two of her 1959 films, this one and "Imitation of Life". Here she will remind you of Eva Marie Saint's "On the Waterfront" character, a considerable contrast with the overwrought racially conflicted daughter she played in the other film. The likable James Darren (later to star in television's "The Time Tunnel") is a better singer than an actor. His scenes with Mineo are pretty awful, certainly the film's worst moments, and the fault does not lie with Mineo who tends to play up or down to the level of whoever he shares a scene. The hard working Mineo simply did not have enough talent or training to salvage a scene gone bad and really needed to be surrounded by a strong cast to help him sell his characterizations. Susan Oliver ("Butterfield 8") gets the best role and has a lot of fun with her character, benefiting from having almost all of the film's good lines. "Snow me again, junior, because I didn't quite get your drift." When I see her in a film I am always reminded of her classic guest-staring appearance as the sizzlingly hot female prisoner Barney and Andy have to cope with in episode 4-18 of "The Andy Griffith Show".

      Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.
      helpful•19
      3
      • aimless-46
      • Nov 14, 2006

      FAQ5

      • What is 'The Gene Krupa Story' about?
      • Is 'The Gene Krupa Story' based on a book?
      • How does the movie end?

      Details

      Edit
      • Release date
        • December 1959 (United States)
      • Country of origin
        • United States
      • Language
        • English
      • Also known as
        • The Drummer Man
      • Filming locations
        • Hollywood, California, USA
      • Production company
        • Columbia Pictures
      • See more company credits at IMDbPro

      Technical specs

      Edit
      • Runtime
        1 hour 41 minutes
      • Color
        • Black and White
      • Aspect ratio
        • 1.66 : 1

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