Best movie of this year hands down!

Boring

Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Fun to see early Sinatra in what may or may not be thinly-veiled version of his own reputed Mob-driven rise to fame, especially when miscast Shelley Winters is along for ride as female love interest (of sorts). But story just doesn't hang together: A singer who's lucky to land third- rate club bookings readily agrees to give shrewd promoter half of all his future earnings in perpetuity (huh?)--then, when he becomes wildly successful almost overnight, attempts to welsh on the deal. (So who's the real bad guy in this deal?) Then, when singer refuses to play ball, promoter tries to murder him. (Again, where's the logic? Why kill the goose laying golden eggs, if all you've really got to do is threaten to break his wings?)If this starred anyone but Sinatra (who sings a handful of standards), nobody would give this a second look. . .except maybe B movie insomniacs and fans of Shelley Winters' brand of Honey Baked histrionics.

Once he got important enough to do such things Sinatra banned Suddenly (he blamed it for getting Kennedy shot) and this film (too close to his own life story). The former was released a few years ago and now, at last, this one. I first saw it on my honeymoon over 50 years ago and never again until now.The plot has been filmed some thousands of times before - both the love affair and the shoot out (unarmed Sinatra kills two armed hoodlums) are ludicrous but Sinatra acts well and sings sublimely. Despite this being filmed when his career was going downhill the singing is positively the best he ever did on film so it gets its 9 score for this.Forgetting the singing maybe 5 or 6 although Sinatras acting must be nearly up to his Maggio of a year later. Shelley Winters is o/k but many of the rest dire and there's some nice cameos - was that Ray Anthony on trumpet in Sinatras big time try-out? Buy the DVD even though for some reason there are no credits, extras or even scene selection spots on the version I purchased in the UK!

Not at all bad. Meet Danny Wilson, a show-business melodrama with a lot of songs thrown in, betrays a distinct noirish tinge which darkens as the movie progresses. It's a thinly-veiled knockoff of the stories about Frank Sinatra's early days in show business – from the shrieking bobby-soxers to the extortionist contract that almost held him back. Obviously, it stars Sinatra, at a low ebb in his career before he had gained the imperial control of his later days as Chairman of the Board, and before he had assembled the legendary `cool' that, as much as his voice, was to become his hallmark.Crooner Danny Wilson and his pianist/manager/buddy (Alex Nichol) are a couple of rough-and-ready slum-bred boys having trouble breaking into the big time. Through the help of a lounge singer they meet up with (Shelly Winters), they get a gig in a posh nightclub run by a mobbed-up entrepreneur (Raymond Burr). The catch is, Burr spots Sinatra's potential and demands half of his future take. A messy love triangle emerges, too, with Sinatra falling head over heels for Winters, who's smitten with the loyal square rigger Nichols. The plot points get connected with the arrival of Success, in the form of recording contracts, attendant royalties and even the movies.Most arresting is Burr as gangster Nick Driscoll. An indispensable fixture of the noir cycle, where so often he played the Heavy Menace, here he takes on a better-written, more shaded role. In addition, he's slimmed down drastically, and the slimming brings out his huge and expressive – even seductive – eyes. But he still doles out the menace, even if it's cushioned in unaccustomed suavity. Apart from Sinatra, he's the most memorable actor in the film (certainly more memorable than the generic Nichol).Sinatra performs several of the hits which were to enter his standard repertory; he also duets with Winters in a patter-song. Meet Danny Wilson remains strangely obscure, but, despite a warm and perfunctory wrap-up, it's a better crafted and more solid outing than many of the movies he made in his pigs-in-clover Rat Pack days.

At the time of its release "Meet Danny Wilson" was never considered to be one of Frank Sinatra's better roles and the film received poor reviews in most of the Press. However, in my opinion it was the perfect part for Sinatra (almost a fictionalised biography of his life in fact) - he gave a most impressive performance and put over all his songs with superb style and confidence. This was Sinatra's last film before his celebrated "comeback" role in "From Here to Eternity" (1953) for which he deservedly won the Best Supporting Actor "Oscar". "Meet Danny Wilson" is one of Sinatra's lesser known films made during the shaky period when his career was in serious decline. Everyone remembers "Pal Joey", "The Joker Is Wild", "Man With the Golden Arm", "High Society", "Guys and Dolls", "The Manchurian Candidate", "Oceans 11" and the other Rat Pack films but how many can actually recall "Meet Danny Wilson"? Just a few dedicated fans I'll wager!Although "Meet Danny Wilson" was only a small budget black and white production (from Universal International) it was competently directed by Joseph Pevney and had a talented supporting cast including Shelley Winters, Alex Nicol and Raymond Burr, with cameo appearances from Tony Curtis and Jeff Chandler. The film contains a wonderful range of Sinatra standards such as "She's Funny That Way", "That Old Black Magic", "When You're Smiling", "All of Me", "I've Got a Crush on You", "How Deep is the Ocean?" and others.Sinatra played quick tempered up and coming bar singer Danny Wilson hoping to break into big time show business. Alex Nicol was his friend/pianist/manager Mike Ryan always there to get him out of trouble and Shelley Winters as Joy Carroll provided the love interest (although it has been rumoured that in reality Winters did not get on at all well with Sinatra during the filming!). Raymond Burr (in an early role long before his popular "Perry Mason" TV series) was corrupt club owner and gangster Nick Driscoll who could foresee the star potential in Danny and therefore gave him a singing engagement at his club to get him started (and gain control) in return for 50% of all Danny's future earnings. This arrangement naturally caused much bitterness and many problems later when Danny became famous!!Raymond Burr: "Personally, I'm a Crosby fan". Sinatra: "That should make Bing very happy"."Meet Danny Wilson" is one of Sinatra's more obscure films but has an interesting storyline with good performances by its stars. The songs alone make it all worthwhile. Be sure to see it if you get the chance. 10/10. Clive Roberts.