Pal Joey is a 1957 film directed by George Sidney, based on the Broadway musical of the same name, starring Frank Sinatra, Rita Hayworth and Kim Novak.
Plot: Joey Evans, known as Pal, penniless and bouncy but gifted with great singing talent, returns to San Francisco with empty pockets and the need to find a source of income. He decides to enter a nightclub of mediocre standing, the Costa dei barbari, whose pianist and orchestra director is an old acquaintance and his creditor: Joey has in fact owed him, since time immemorial, three hundred dollars. Taking advantage of the sudden absence of the official singer, he successfully replaces him and obtains from the skeptical owner a contract for the following evenings. Here he eyes one of the dancers, Linda English, but the first contacts are rather abrupt. Invited to a charity party organized by Vera Simpson, a representative of San Francisco high society, Joey obtains great success by forcing Vera to auction off among those present a number that the woman, years earlier, used to do in a night. Vera plays along and sings, remaining, although annoyed, intrigued and admired by Joey's skill and presence of mind (the auction had been improvised by Joey due to the disappointing result of the party's fundraiser). A few evenings later she, with a couple of high-ranking friends, visits him at the Barbarian Coast, delighting the owner of the place, from whom Joey obtains further goodwill. Meanwhile, his meetings with Linda become more frequent and the two find themselves sharing a bathroom in a modest guesthouse. Joey is then fired for his antics, but manages to get back in thanks to the intervention of the rich widow. Who, in the meantime, has fallen in love with him, takes him on her yacht and decides to make Joey's dream come true: founding a high-class nightclub in the most exclusive neighborhood of San Francisco. Vera, financier of the initiative, however, poses one condition: Linda's dismissal. Joey, after a series of attempts to get by, faced with the alternative, either Linda or the new nightclub, decides to give up the latter for love of Linda and the two find themselves resuming, but together, a life of wandering artistic.
