I had little or no respect for Frank Sinatra as a man. I did, however, have a great deal of respect for his recording career from 1954 - 1965, and occasionally after that; many of those recordings are, quit simply, the best recordings of those songs ever made. And, at least from time to time, I greatly respected Frank Sinatra's acting. And this is one example of that.Sinatra could do on film what he could rarely do on television -- reach out and grab the audience, particularly when the role called for the character to be ingratiating...as this film does. Few could match his talent at doing that. We see it in a number of his films, particularly including "The Joker Is Wild". Sinatra was, quite simply, perfect for his role in this film. I can't imagine another actor doing it half as well.It's interesting also that this is directed by Frank Capra. So, yes, Capra Corn...but really good corn! I'd go so far as to say that this was Capra's last great film, and perhaps his only great film of the 1950s.Aside from Sinatra's excellence here, the performance of Edward G. Robinson as Sinatra's brother is terrific...funny as heck. And Robinson's wife is played by Thelma Ritter...again, just tremendous. Eleanor Parker was great as the eventual love interest. And wonderful little Eddie Hodges as the son...remarkable (go online and look for a pic of him as an older adult...quite a change!). I wasn't as thrilled with the performance of Carolyn Jones as the the sort of hippie first love interest...and now that I think of it, I'm not sure I was ever very impressed with Jones. Keenan Wynn plays a not very sympathetic character, but he is good in the part. Dub Taylor as the desk clerk at the hotel was, I thought, just a little over the top.If you want to see Sinatra at his best in film, this is ONE of the films I'd recommend. And, it's fun!

A HOLE IN THE HEAD (1959) might not live up to Frank Capra's earlier classics like MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON (1939) or IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946), but it's a fine film. The story deals with a single father struggling to keep his Miami hotel business afloat while dreaming of bigger, better things. The material comes from a stage play, but there's a sense of the familiar Capra values. The Capra-esque resolution is not as powerful as in his earlier films, though, and isn't completely satisfying.The film has its weaknesses, but should not be dismissed. The movie is actually pretty funny at times, to go with the family-friendly themes. The cast is universally excellent and boasts Frank Sinatra (in single dad mode), the great Edward G. Robinson (hilarious as Sinatra's square older brother), the incomparable Thelma Ritter (as Eddie G.'s wife), Eleanor Parker (as a lonely widow), and even Keenan Wynn (as Sinatra's successful friend). Sinatra's on-screen son is played well by young Eddie Hodges and Sinatra's out-there, bongo-chick girlfriend is played by Carolyn Jones (Morticia Addams on "The Addams Family").Robinson and Ritter are superb as the shop-owning husband and wife who fly down to Florida to help out Sinatra. Who knew Edward G. Robinson was so adept at comedy? The man could do it all. He's great complaining about his no-good brother, his hula-hooping embarrassment of a son, the peculiar rocking chair in Sinatra's room, and the holes in the ice cubes. Ritter is the voice of reason between the brothers and wants what is best for Sinatra's young son. Frank Sinatra does alright, playing a loving father who's still a playboy at heart. He struggles along financially, but never admits defeat.Apparently the script was adapted from a Yiddish play, which explains why Eddie G. and Thelma Ritter (and sometimes even Sinatra) seem to be doing some Jewish-style shtick. It's funny stuff, but it was a little odd thinking of Frank Sinatra coming from a Jewish family. (In the movie they're Italians, I guess.)Frank Capra's direction allows the actors time to inhabit the scenes. I noticed the many relatively long takes, which are always impressive. Scenes in Sinatra's living room feature the bickering brothers on opposite ends of the widescreen frame, with Ritter in the middle. The characters are standing up and sitting down and carrying on back and forth without the camera cutting away. Later, Sinatra and Hodges sit down together and sing "High Hopes" in one take and there seems to almost be a spontaneity to the duet (flubbed lines? ad-libs?).When hotel owner Sinatra is desperate for cash before an approaching deadline, we don't feel for him the way we feel for busted banker George Bailey. I guess it's because it seems that Sinatra's character put himself in that position. But considering that he needs to support his darling of a son, we feel sorry for Sinatra. Especially when we see him take what little money he has to the racetrack with his high-rolling buddy.One of Frank Capra's last movies, A HOLE IN THE HEAD has value at least as a curiosity. Frank Sinatra sharing the screen with Edward G. Robinson? Thelma Ritter thrown into the mix as Robinson's wife? The origin of the hit (and Oscar-winning) song "High Hopes" (familiar to fans of another film about a single dad and his son, A GOOFY MOVIE)? But I think the film also has merits of its own. There's some great comedy, particularly from Eddie G., and the widowed-father-meets-lovely-widow story might warm a few hearts.

Frank Capra pulled together a great cast (Frank Sinatra, Edward G. Robinson) and produced one of the late night classics that just isn't seen on the TV channels much any more.One film trivia note: Frank Capra was the first director to shorten the time of each take to under 4 seconds (see Our Mr. Sun TV show), but in this movie he has a tracking shot during one of the songs (was it High Hopes?) that starts upstairs and stays on all the way to the street.I think it might still be the longest single take in the history of sound film, maybe all film.The theme of the movie is possibilities and living your dream, a recurring Capra theme.

You forgot to include the name of the most important actor in the film, the boy Eddie Hodges (Ally). The whole film revolves around him, and he has the big moment when he sings with Frank Sinatra the academy award song HIGH HOPES/ Prior to this movie the boy was famous as the boy of the Music Man on Broadway. I wonder if he made any more films afterwards. He is extremely talented in this film. Also this film conrains two important songs by Sinatra "All my Tomorrows" the title song, in which you get to see spectacular views of 1959 Miami Beach. The Other song was High HOPES/ Both of these songs by Cahn and Van Heusen. Please update the information.