THE FILM
FILM DIRECTOR: Vincente Minnelli
SCREENWRITER: John Patrick, Arthur Sheekman
FILM STARS: Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Shirley MacLaine, Martha Hyer, Arthur Kennedy, Nancy Gates, Leora Dana, Betty Lou Keim, Larry Gates, Connie Gilchrist
COUNTRY: USA
THIS BOOK
AUTHOR: James Jones
TYPE: Novel
PUBLISHER: Panther
THIS EDITION PUBLISHED: 1960
COUNTRY: Great Britain
COVER: Paperback
THE ORIGINAL BOOK
ORIGINAL AUTHOR: As Above
YEAR FIRST PUBLISHED: 1957
ORIGINAL BOOK TITLE: The film title
NOTES
GENRE: Drama
WORDS: An epic multicharacter domestic drama. I found both the film and the novel fascinating. The (slightly) autobiographical story is about a World War 2 veteran with continuing literary aspirations who returns in 1948 to his hometown in the Midwest after a failed writing career . It follows him and the people he hangs out with. The film captures the post war disillusionment, the lack of direction, the (50s style) questioning on “what’s it all about”. The four leads in the film are perfect. It’s great to see Sinatra and Martin in something other than their (admittedly wonderful) jokey normal on screen roles. Though, that’s not to say there isn’t humour here, especially with Martin’s character. People say Sinatra and Martin play themselves. If they do I don’t care, because they have enough of themselves in the characters as written to make it convincing.. Director Minnelli makes the most of the Cinemascope … you have to love dramas done in Cinemascope.
The main different between novel and film is the novel is more frank with the sex and sex talk but the film does enough for you to put it all together. Well, also (major spoiler coming), the central character is killed in the book but not in the film. (for the same dramatic punch the film has the central female character killed) . The title comes from a bible quote, Mark 10:17, King James Version: “And when He was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked Him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?” And, yes this edition is not quite a “tie-in” though that is Frank and Shirley from the film on the front, so, close enough.
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James Jones is an underrated writer. From Here to Eternity is a very nuanced book. While the movie is entertaining it doesn’t fully capture the subtlety of the characters in the novel. The Thin Red Line is one of the great war novels, far superior to The Naked and the Dead. I liked the movie though again it didn’t capture the complexity of the novel.
I haven’t read Some Came Running, though I will one day. The movie sounds interesting. Sinatra was always good (I can’t think of any role, whether it was comedy or drama where he didn’t put in a first rate performance) and Dean Martin was IMHO a greatly under appreciated actor.
agree with everything you have said. I thoroughly recommend this book … I though have to read “From Here to Eternity”. I didn’t like the movie much. Or rather I did, but for the cast. Director Fred Zinnemann, was a fine craftsman but he was always relatively emotion free (second only to Kubrick) in his films.