Editing The Man with the Golden Arm (section)

==Differences from the novel==
{{more citations needed section|date=November 2016}}
After replacing novel author and original screenwriter Nelson Algren with Walter Newman, Preminger proceeded to change the plot and characters extensively from the original novel, which led to feelings of bitterness from Algren. When photographer and friend [[Art Shay]] asked Algren to pose below the film's [[marquee (sign)|marquee]], he is reported to have said, "What does that movie have to do with me?"<ref name="Reader">{{cite news |url= http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/full-nelson/Content?oid=897786 |author= Jeff Huebner |title= Full Nelson |newspaper= [[Chicago Reader]] |date= 19 November 1998 |access-date= 13 July 2011}}</ref><ref name="Chicagoist">{{cite web |url= http://chicagoist.com/2009/05/18/interview_filmmaker_michael_caplan.php |author= Rob Christopher |title= Interview: Filmmaker Michael Caplan |publisher=[[Chicagoist]]|date= 18 May 2009 |access-date= 13 July 2011 |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20101019202146/http://chicagoist.com/2009/05/18/interview_filmmaker_michael_caplan.php |archive-date= 19 October 2010 }}</ref>

Even though the first draft of the novel did not even deal with drug addiction (it was only added later),<ref name="Paris">{{cite journal |last1= Anderson |first1= Alston |last2= Southern |first2= Terry |url= http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/4987/the-art-of-fiction-no-11-nelson-algren |title= Nelson Algren, The Art of Fiction No. 11 |journal= [[The Paris Review]] |issue= 11 |year= 1955 |access-date= 13 July 2011}}</ref> this became the singular focus of the film. In the novel, Frankie served in [[World War II]] and became addicted to morphine following treatment for a war injury. There is little mention of Frankie's film counterpart serving in the war, and he tells Molly that he started drugs "for kicks."

In Algren's novel, Frankie is a blond-haired man in his late 20s, and as a poor veteran he often wears a torn Army jacket and [[brogan (shoes)|brogans]]. Played by Sinatra (who was nearly 40 years old at the time), the film's protagonist has dark hair and normally wears slacks and a dress shirt. In the film he is given a drum set and almost lands a job as a [[big band]] drummer, but in the novel he only has a [[practice pad]], and his dream of being a drummer is only a fleeting aspiration.

The novel implies that Zosh's paralysis is a [[Wiktionary:psychosomatic|psychosomatic]] symptom of her mental illness, but in the film she is deliberately deceiving Frankie and is fully able to walk.

The novel's version of Violet ("Vi") is an attractive young woman and Sparrow's love interest. In the film, she is played by [[Doro Merande]], who was in her 60s at the time. The movie combines the character of her spouse, "Old Husband" Koskozka, with that of the landlord, "Jailer" Schwabatski.

Frankie's employer, Schwiefka, is a relatively neutral character in the novel, but in the film he is a villain and Nifty Louie's partner.

In the novel, Frankie inadvertently kills Nifty Louie during a fight, while in the film, a walking Zosh pushes Louie to his death.

Algren's novel ends with a cornered and hopeless Frankie committing suicide, but in the film Zosh is the one who dies, while Sinatra's Frankie and Novak's Molly survive the end of the film together.

In April 1956, Preminger and others were sued by Algren, who was seeking an injunction to keep him from claiming ownership of the property as "An Otto Preminger Film". Algren's suit said the original agreement in 1949 for the film rights had promised him a percentage of the gross for the screen rights. However, he had to drop the suit because he could not afford the legal fees.<ref name=afi /><ref name="TCM" /><ref name=fuji194>Fujiwara, [https://books.google.com/books?id=z-2-CQAAQBAJ&pg=PA194 p. 194].</ref>