Entre bastidores

Some of the finest work for both Franciosa AND Dean Martin, but Franciosa is extraordinary. More so for the limited but workable script. Carolyn Jones' role should have been larger as her character draws your attention every moment she is on.

On the whole a very good piece, poignant and bitter...

This film is not perfect, but it is certainly very entertaining. The film is terribly underrated, and has images that invoke films like "Marty", "A Star is Born", " A Face in the Crowd", and even "Barefoot in the Park". One could even draw a slight parallel to "Midnight Cowboy". (Martin the NYC hustler and Franciosa the small town hayseed). . Shirley MacLaine, however, steals the film with her spectacular, energetic and exotic style of acting. It was not her debut, but it was early in her career. She would go on to make "The Apartment" shortly thereafter.

The plot was nothing new; hayseed comes to NYC to become a star. That has been done 100 times, but this film captures many of the different angles of the life choices one has to make to get to the top (or at least be a major player in the game). You can't have it both ways in entertainment; you can have a happy family life, or you can have a.....career. An engrossing film from start to finish.

Tony Franciosa lives and breaths for acting on the stage. He is working currently as a waiter to make ends meet when he's in between plays. When he sees an ex sit at one of his tables, he takes us back via flashback to where it all began, with he and his wife trying to make a go of it. He meets Dean Martin who's a stage director of off-Broadway plays. They form a working kind of friendship, one that's convenient and beneficial to each other, but Tony finds over time that Dean is an opportunist who only thinks of himself. Shirley MacLaine is Dino's girl, who's madly in love with him and that's too bad. Tony's wife leaves him when he can't get steady work, so she can find a dependable father for the new baby she's going to have, and Tony and Shirley wind up together. Then there's Carolyn Jones, who used to be a stage actress, but couldn't find work so she became an agent. She develops a silent crush on Tony. "Career" is a very character-driven film and the acting by its stars are nothing less than perfect. They grab your attention and tug at your heart with their eccentricities and dreams, especially Tony and Carolyn's characters. This may just be Carolyn Jones' best performance put on celluloid, save for "King Creole" with Elvis. This film, while reflecting the highs and lows of the acting profession, delivers solid entertainment and gives a very satisfying ending. It's interesting to see how when one person's star is on the rise, another's is down and that by the end of the film everyone's lives or outlooks are completely different than the beginning. Comeuppance is found for those who may need it in very realistic ways and happiness is found for those who deserve it and worked hard for it. "Career" is about listening to oneself and discovering the obvious. Similar in tone to the film in homage to Hollywood acting and backstabbing, "The Bad and the Beautiful," this underrated film has been swept under the rug. Wipe off the dust and discover your "career" today.

I saw this film when I was in High School, 1959, the year it came out, and remember being really impressed with the quality of the acting, and although it was something of a melodrama, it was well cast and the actors brought real meaning to their roles. A young man struggling to become an actor, and Dean Martin as a kind of slick character who befriends him. I've always been a fan of Carolyn Jones, and of course Shirley McClain in those days was excellent too. I haven't seen it in over fifty years, but I grew up with films, great films, during what I consider to be the high water mark of film making in the 40's and 50's, and I remember this film fondly. Recommended.

I'll be honest, when I first rented this movie, I thought it was going to be a comedy. After all, Dean Martin got first billing. Despite the billing, and despite my first impression, Dean is the second lead in the heavy, well-acted drama Career.

Anthony Franciosa wants to be an actor. He wants it more than life itself, as he shows the audience in Career. For the most part, this is an incredibly realistic portrayal of an actor's life. He leaves his fiancé and moves to New York; after a year, he's still auditioning and living in a glorified closet with no radiator. We see him beg for the chance to audition, spew hurtful words to his agent when he feels bad, and badmouth a producer when he loses a part. It's realistic.

There's a great scene with Dean and Tony in a restaurant. They're trying to keep their voices down to not attract the attention of other people, and the tension simmers! Tony is making his case for why he deserves a part in a show. "I've got talent!" he insists. Dean shakes his head. "That's what you start with," he says. Tony explains he's not good at the self-selling aspect of being an actor. "Then learn or get out!" Dean says. It's sad, but true. Talent isn't enough in show business.

Tony won a Golden Globe for his dramatic performance that year, beating out Richard Burton, Fredric March, and Charlton Heston in Ben-Hur! He does give a really good performance; even if you love Ben-Hur, you can appreciate it. Carolyn Jones, not a very well known actress, does a particularly good job as Tony's tired and tireless agent who knows the life of an actor very well. The acting and most of the story is really good, but I didn't really care for the ending. If you like realistic show business movies, add Career to your weekend watch list!