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!

This movie, originally a Broadway play, tells a story of a man, who runs an unsuccessful Miami Hotel.This man, Tony Manetta, is constantly broke, therefore he has a hard time taking care of his 12-year old son.But those two have an undying love for each other, and he doesn't want to let go of him.A Hole in the Head (1959) is directed by the legendary Frank Capra.It's written by Arnold Schulman.The lead, Tony Manetta, is played by Frank Sinatra.Edward G. Robinson is terrific as his brother Mario.Eleanor Parker is very good as Eloise Rogers.Carolyn Jones is wonderful as Shirl.Thelma Ritter is fantastic as Sophie Manetta.Keenan Wynn does a great job playing Jerry Marks, a character based on Walt Disney.Dub Taylor is great as Fred.The kid, Alvin "Ally" Manetta is played by Eddie Hodges, and he does the job very well.Frank Capra certainly came up with better than this in his career, but this still isn't a bad movie.I don't think Frank Capra was able to make a bad movie.There was something enjoyable in this movie, like the song High Hopes.So even at his worst, Capra was quite good.

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.

A Hole in the Head is based on a Broadway play that ran for 156 performances during the 1956 season by Arnold Schulman. So popular and enduring has it proved that a full musical version was done on Broadway in 1968-1969 that starred Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme in the parts done here by Frank Sinatra and Eleanor Parker. High Hopes didn't make it to Broadway, but the song I've Got To Be Me was introduced there by Steve Lawrence and made popular by fellow Rat Packer Sammy Davis, Jr.In Frank Capra's autobiography he says that Schulman was not happy with the change of characters from Jews to Italians, but Capra brought him around to his point of view on this and other things. The ending in the film version is not as upbeat as in the original play.Capra had heard a lot of stories about how disagreeable Sinatra could be to work with, but he says that Sinatra was nothing, but cooperative during the entire work. His biggest difficulty was the fact that Sinatra likes to do things in one take because he becomes bored with repeated efforts. Whereas Edward G. Robinson likes to go over things repeatedly until it was perfect. Capra did work out a compromise where Robinson did his rehearsing, but without Sinatra.The story is about a widower who owns a ramshackle motel in a not popular area of Miami Beach and he's got money problems. Sinatra as the widower also has a son, Eddie Hodges and they are devoted to each other. Edward G. Robinson and Thelma Ritter are his brother and sister-in-law who are visiting from New York and Sinatra is hoping for a touch from him. Robinson's bailed him out a few times and he puts a lot of conditions on future help. Like maybe a remarriage for instance and Ritter tries to hook him up with an old friend, Eleanor Parker. They actually hit it off. But there's still a whole lot of complications.High Hopes which is sung by Sinatra and Eddie Hodges sold a few platters for Frank back in 1959 and won the Oscar for best movie song. Sinatra also sings All My Tomorrows over the opening credits and that song did not catch on at first. Later in the mid Sixties, Sinatra recorded it again this time for his own Reprise label, before it had been done for Capitol as had High Hopes and this time it became a minor hit for him. It's quite a poignant ballad.Keenan Wynn has a small, but important part as a real estate kingpin promoter who came down with Sinatra to Miami Beach, but made a big success. Sinatra also tries to hit him up with not so good results. Funny thing is that his big idea was a Walt Disney like park for Florida and life imitated art there, though the park got located in the Orlando area.Frank Sinatra is not as noble as some of Capra's populist heroes, but he's also down to earth and likable. It's one of his best screen performances in one of his best films.Though I have to say with that red hair Eddie Hodges looked a whole lot more like Eleanor Parker's son than Frank's.