Pal Joey (film)

Pal Joey is a 1957 American musical comedy film directed by George Sidney, loosely adapted from the Rodgers and Hart musical play of the same name, and starring Rita Hayworth, Frank Sinatra, and Kim Novak. Jo Ann Greer sang for Hayworth, as she had done previously in Affair in Trinidad (1952) and Miss Sadie Thompson (1953). Novak's singing voice was dubbed by Trudy Stevens. The choreography was managed by Hermes Pan. Nelson Riddle handled the musical arrangements for the Rodgers and Hart standards "The Lady Is a Tramp", "I Didn't Know What Time It Was", "I Could Write a Book", and "There's a Small Hotel".
Sinatra won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for his role as the wise-cracking, hard-bitten Joey Evans. Along with its strong box-office success, Pal Joey earned four Academy Award nominations and one Golden Globe Award nomination.
Pal Joey is one of Sinatra's few post-From Here to Eternity films in which he did not receive top billing, which surprisingly went to Hayworth. Sinatra was, by this time, a bigger star, and his title role was predominant. When asked about the billing, Sinatra replied, "Ladies first." He was quoted as saying that, as it was a Columbia film, Hayworth should have top billing because "For years, she was Columbia Pictures" and that with regard to being billed "between" Hayworth and Novak: "That's a sandwich I don't mind being stuck in the middle of." As Columbia's biggest star, Hayworth had been top-billed in every film since Cover Girl in 1944, but her tenure was to end in 1959 with Gary Cooper in They Came to Cordura.
Sinatra's earnings from the film paid for his new home in Palm Springs. He was so delighted that he also built a restaurant there dedicated to the film, named Pal Joey's.
Category:Films