What makes addiction such a serious illness, and so difficult to cure? This Science On Screen presentation will focus on Otto Preminger’s 1955 drama about a recovering heroin addict, THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN ARM, featuring Frank Sinatra and Kim Novak. Frankie Machine (Sinatra), a notorious poker dealer, gets out of a narcotics prison determined not to get back into using drugs or gambling, but to start a new life as a jazz drummer. Frankie’s wife, and his greedy former bosses have different ideas, and while Frankie is determined not to backslide, his environment proves a challenging opponent. The film was groundbreaking for Hollywood of the era, featuring explicit drug use and blatantly breaking production code, and ultimately, helping to force the code to change. Following the screening, we will be joined by Lori Holleran Steiker, Ph.D from the Steve Hicks School of Social Work at UT.

35mm print restored by the Academy Film Archive with funding from the Film Foundation and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.

Science on Screen is an initiative of the Coolidge Corner Theatre with major support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.