Long-awaited Frank Sinatra documentary to air on HBO, April 5–6, 2015 (Updates: dvd/blu-ray)*

The show does mention that post-"Main Event" and "NY, NY" he did shows around the world in unusual venues - there's a brief shot of the Concert For The Americas, for example.

 

I need to stop reading this thread I'm well jel.

 

I felt the same way. As I said before a Ken Burns doc that was much longer and more detailed would be great. Discussions about his albums were very brief. Wasn't there like one sentence about Strangers In the Night and that was it which was his last gigantic hit? From 1971-on it was pretty much he toured a lot and did LA Is My Lady and New York New York and then that's it. Nothing about Duets which were his last hit albums. They didn't want to show the Grammys either where he got an achievement award and got cutoff. Nothing about his final years? He had such a long career it's impossible to squeeze everything in I know but they really whizzed by the final 25 years.
Overall it was really enjoyable though.

 

I actually thought that was pretty tacky. She was married to Sinatra longer than all of his previous wives combined. Essentially ignoring that marriage in a documentary that seemed to be devoted to his wives half of the time was a cheap shot.

 

Totally agree. They said nothing about their relationship. Obviously she was good for him in his later years. I never heard of anything negative about their relationship.

 

You haven't read Tina Sinatra's book? It will change your opinion.

 

yea, Bob is right. You need to read Tina's book. After it came out, no one spoke up to defend her, the silence was telling. Finally, IIRC, the producer of Laugh In came on Today and gave a standard 'she's my friend, so I know this stuff isn't right' schtick. It didn't play at all.

 

I've read Tina's book and I still think how the documentary essentially overlooked his last marriage was tacky.

Sinatra was obviously good at divorcing and could have done that with Barbara whenever he wanted.

 

Unfortunately, he realized he would be losing his shirt if he divorced her. It was seriously considered more than once. The big thing is that non one expected Mr. S to grow old and become frail an ill-minded. Everyone thought he would die earlier than he did and while still in command of himself. It did not turn out that way and his 4th wife made damn sure she was well-taken care of! Their marriage was very much two-sided/faced. They put on a great face publicly (95% of the time) but it was hell-on-wheels otherwise. When I think of their marriage I think of the scene in "Some Came Running" where Mr. S's character comes home and is invited to his brother's home for dinner. His sister-in-law cannot stand him and the couple fight like cats and dogs while in the kitchen mixing cocktails. As soon as they enter the living room with the drinks, they are syrupy sweet and sickeningly "lovey-dovey" to each other. That to me mirror images the Sinatra-Marx marriage.

 

I watched the first hour and liked it a lot, going to watch some more tonight. For anyone without HBO, get an HBO Go password from a friend and watch it that way. I have a feeling that HBO Go might start cracking down on password sharing when HBO Now becomes available, but at this time the HBO position is that they don't care about password sharing, so have at it.

 

Wow, I'm not even a Sinatra fan but I really, really liked the first two hours of the documentary. The filmmakers (including producer Frank Marshall) did a fantastic job at assembling together miles of footage, and the sound mix was phenomenally good. The story of his several rises and falls was very compelling, and I was impressed that the documentary didn't shy away from Frank's many dalliances and conquests. A first-class effort, really entertaining.

 

This is the first show that has kept me glued to my TV for a long, long time. I really hope when/if released on DVD & bluray that there will be an extended cut ala Beatles Anthology. Not several discs long but additional scenes and a bit longer coverage on the final years. For bonus features I would love to see discussions and what people say about pivotal albums and songs in his career.

Regardless I was not disappointed and yes, I want more. To me that is a good sign ... always leave them wanting more.

 

I got excited when I saw how many cable providers had the free HBO weekend until I finished scrolling and saw no Dish. Grrrr.
Oh, well. This is obviously a doc which I will be buying on Blu eventually anyway, so I'll have something to look forward to. I'm glad to read so many great reviews and reactions about it.

 

I'm confused by some of the comments in this thread regarding the documentary's treatment of Frank's marriage to Barbara. Since the retirement concert was the framework for the documentary, anything after 1971 is really outside the scope of its narrative, which focuses on his long pop culture relevancy and the political and social influence that his superstardom afforded him.

 

Two others who went unidentified in clips were Germany's Kessler Sisters(But who cares?).Why did they film the retirement concert. Was it intended to be shown originally?

 

I wonder if the eventual Blu-ray version will be an extended cut of the film. I wouldn't mind an expansion similar to The Beatles Anthology when that hit home video.

 

That would be nice but I'm really hoping the entire concert, uncut, will be included as an extra. Having been shot on 16mm it should look fantastic on blu-ray. And other than the audio drop-out during the first two songs, it sounded great, too!

 

I actually applauded after "Ol' Man River." Astonishing!

 

My bet is that the blu has the broadcast version plus extras like more (all?) of the Cronkite interview and the full retirement show.

 

Sincere apologies to any who were so incensed that you had to REPORT any of my posts with that individual. Moving on...

 

Yeah! Let's keep it classy !!

 

Good news for both you and I. Starting this morning (Thursday) Dish is giving us all HBO/Cinemax
channels through the weekend. I've already set my DVR to record the Sinatra doc, both parts.