The John O'Hara/Richard Rodgers & Lorenz Hart's 1940 Broadway musical Pal Joey was unusual for its time. A heel of a hero who sleeps with a wealthy older woman in order to realize his dream of owning his own nightclub, and breaks the heart of the girl who truly loves him when she impedes his plans to get ahead.
Due to the seamy nature of the plot and the double- and single-entendre song lyrics (especially the original words for "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered"), Pal Joey could not be faithfully filmed back in the 1940s. Even this 1957 version, made at a time when movie censorship was beginning to relax, was extensively sanitized: Ambitious singer/dancer Joey (Frank Sinatra) is still a louse, but a redeemable one. The relationship between Joey and his older benefactress Vera Simpson (Rita Hayworth) is one of implication rather than overt statement. And Joey's true love, chorine Linda English (Kim Novak), is as pure as the driven snow, who vehemently expresses distaste at having to perform a striptease.
Classics from the original stage musical and from other Rodgers and Hart properties include "Zip", "I Could Write a Book", "Bewitched", "There's A Small Hotel", and "The Lady Is A Tramp". All Movie Guide
[1 hr 41 min]