FRANK SINATRA
                                                                  Part 2
As promised, here is the second article on the movies of the late Frank Sinatra, whose film resume’ contained over 60 entries. This is the rest of the best.
As the title character in Pal Joey (1957) Frank showcases his fabulous voice on several Rogers & Hart standards. Voices are dubbed in by real singers for Rita Hayworth and Kim Novak. Sinatra plays a second rate singer romancing both ladies. When asked about Rita Hayworth’s name appearing above his on the marquee, Frank quipped, “Ladies first.” The convoluted plot involves a club named Chez Joey and back and forth times with the women. Just enjoy the music!
Some Came Running (1958) features Frank Sinatra as a writer fallen on hard times, and whose life choices involve gambling and womanizing. He is torn between the stately Gwen (Martha Hyer) and the somewhat trashy Ginny (Shirley Maclaine in her breakthrough role). He befriends Bama (Dean Martin) a questionable character with debatable habits. With Gwen’s help his writing is published again, but she rebuffs him and he returns to, and marries, Ginny. For this era, the movie’s ending is a surprise.
One of Frank Sinatra’s many claims to fame was as the leader of the Rat Pack. This disparate group of friends included him, Dean Martin, Joey Bishop, Sammy Davis, Jr. and Peter Lawford. They are all on board for the original Ocean’s Eleven (1960). As the head of the group, Frank devises a daring plan to rob five different casinos at the same time, and each member has an important part to make it work. The plan goes off with military precision (and is lots of fun!), but the ending is a real jolt. This film, and two sequels, were remade with George Clooney, and they’re not bad. 
Frank Sinatra is Major Bennett Marco in the nail-biting Manchurian Candidate (1962). He is tasked with deprogramming a returned Korean War POW, Raymond Shaw (Lawrence Harvey). The joke about this at the time was that in playing a virtual automaton, Harvey was type-cast. Shaw’s communist captors have brainwashed him and he is apparently hard wired to murder a presidential candidate. The candidate appears at Madison Square Garden for a rally where the murder is to take place. So what happens? Watch and see.
Frank Sinatra is the title character in Von Ryan’s Express (1965), as American Captain Joseph Ryan. His fellow POWs add the Von because they suspect him of collaborating with the enemy. But he heads up a daring escape that involves highjacking a German train and rerouting it toward neutral Switzerland. There’s a lot of trickery and a lot of shooting, but Von Ryan proves his mettle and the plan seems destined to work. 
I just realized on completing this article that every one of the featured films except the first one has a surprise ending. No extra charge...
All of the movies in this article are available on DVD and for streaming. All are fine for mature 10-year-olds and up.