Джокер: История Джо Э. Льюиса

1957 American film
the 1957 film

The Joker Is Wild is a 1957 American musical drama film directed by Charles Vidor, starring Frank Sinatra, Mitzi Gaynor, Jeanne Crain and Eddie Albert, and released by Paramount Pictures. The film is about Joe E. Lewis, the popular singer and comedian who was a major attraction in nightclubs from the 1920s to the early 1950s.

In 1929, Joe E. Lewis is a successful nightclub singer in Chicago while working for the Mob during the Prohibition era. His decision to work elsewhere displeases his Mob employer, who has his thugs assault him by slashing his face and throat, preventing him from continuing his career as a singer. After many years, he eventually recovers and turns his acerbic and witty sense of humor into an act, when given a break as a stand up comedian from singer Sophie Tucker. Soon, Lewis makes a career as a comic, but heavy drinking and self destructive behavior lead him to question what his life has become and how he has hurt the people around him, including his wife Martha and his best friend Austin.

Sinatra read Art Cohn's book, The Joker Is Wild: The Story of Joe E. Lewis, in the mid 1950s, was immediately taken by the story, and bought the rights to the book after Lewis turned down a reported $150,000 from Metro Goldwyn Mayer for the film rights to his story. Variety reported in November 1955 that Paramount Pictures would finance what was, for all intents and purposes, an independent feature film that was headed by Lewis and Sinatra, along with director Charles Vidor and author Art Cohn. Each of the four partners was paid a reported $400,000, along with 75% of the film's net profits. The New York Times reported that Sinatra's share was in the region of $125,000, along with 25% of the film's profits. The filming of the movie was done mostly later in the day; Sinatra preferred to work at that time, and the filming schedule was tailored around this. Sinatra also insisted that all the musical scenes in the film, and songs therein, be recorded live on set to keep the performances more genuine. Sinatra stated, "When I do a concert and someone coughs, I like that. I like the scraping of chairs. You get the feeling that it's really happening. I've always thought Lewis was one of only about four or five great artists in this century one of them was Jolson and I remember him screaming like the devil when he made a soundtrack" (from All the Way: A Biography of Frank Sinatra).