Prismark10 Director Alex Gibney has made a big documentary of this worldwide singing star from his humble beginnings in Hoboken.The documentary is recounted by archive narration from family and friends, interviews from Frank Sinatra as well as extensive use of his songs. The film is mainly archive footage, press cuttings and a few reconstructed scenes.Gibney has opted not to have any talking heads and specially shot interviews.The documentary displays a complex personality, generous, kind who did lot of work with underprivileged children and fought for the cause of anti-racism. One of the first major performers to publicly treat another black performer (Sammy Davis Jr) as an equal.Yet at times Sinatra could be mean, nasty tempered. This is shown by his treatment of his wives, the casually ruthless way he divorced Mia Farrow. The documentary deals with his links with organised crime and his burgeoning relationship with John F Kennedy.However as he got older and the counterculture started in the late 1960s, Sinatra changed party allegiances, supporting Ronald Reagan for Governor of California and Nixon for President. Maybe Sinatra had the need to be accepted and liked, he was eventually rejected by the Kennedys over his links with the mafia.Still what Sinatra had as a singer which he mastered in the 1950s was his phrasing and his sorrow filled songs with Capitol Records.

l_rawjalaurence SINATRA - ALL OR NOTHING AT ALL cannot be viewed as anything less than a highly comprehensive biography of the legendary actor/singer. Through four hour-long episodes, director Alex Gibney traces his life from his humble origins in Hoboken, New Jersey, to his radio and film stardom, his abrupt decline in the early Fifties, and his return to enduring stardom once he had signed for Capitol Records and started collaborating with the conductor Nelson Riddle.Although liberally illustrated with reminiscences from members of his family, coupled with archive recordings of "Ol' Blue Eyes" being interviewed on television on radio, and readings of printed autobiographies by Ava Gardner, there are no talking heads appearing on screen. Instead, director Gibney uses archive footage, photographs and specially-shot material, with the reminiscences in sound only. This gives the documentary a unique narrative fluidity that Gibney sustains throughout the lengthy running-time.The central conceit was a good one - using Sinatra's retirement concert in 1971 as a basis, where he sang a series of standards that chronicled his life up to then - Gibney traced the singer's life through the songs. Each one of them were heard once a particular period of his life had concluded. Hence we heard "My Way" right at he end when Sinatra had decided to "finally" retire, having ostensibly fulfilled everything he wanted. The fact that he made a comeback three years later was beside the point.Yet still we are left unsatisfied as to where the director's point of view actually lies. There are certain aspects of Sinatra's life that are either sketchily told or omitted altogether; we hear nothing of his nefarious antics in the early Sixties where JFK and Marilyn Monroe were concerned. Nor do we really discover much about his Mafia connections, except to learn that he enjoyed hob-nobbing with those in power. At one point the documentary refers to his ventures as an entrepreneur, as he founded his own airline (among other things), but that strand is subsequently ignored. We do not know how successful the singer was as a business person.Although the program justifiably makes much of Sinatra's god-given talent as a singer, he nonetheless comes across as a distinctly unsavory personality. He treated two of his four wives extremely badly - only Ava Gardner could really stand up to him; and he seems to have assumed that any woman he encountered would want to go to bed with him. An inveterate social climber, he spent much time and energy helping JFK win his presidential campaign of 1960; but when the Kennedys dropped him - on account of his connections with Mafia boss Sam Giancana - Sinatra transferred his loyalties to the Republican cause. In later life he came out as a supporter of Nixon and Reagan. He obviously did not like to be crossed; there were several instances of him replying to someone with a mouthful of abuse.The interviewees worked hard to foreground his qualities - his enduring commitment to the cause of anti-racism, his generosity with underprivileged children - but we still got the sense that he was not undertaking them out of altruism. So long as he obtained a good press as a result, then he was prepared to continue. Perhaps it's best sometimes that we do not know the intimate details of an icon's personality, as it tends to knock them down from the imaginative pedestal on which we place them.

fearthebowlink This documentary was absolutely fabulous. Sinatra has always been my favorite, as his music is what I was raised on. I can openly admit though, that I only knew bits and pieces about his life before watching the documentary. I feel so informed after having watched hours about the man's life, and I greatly appreciate that the documentary included high points as well as low points. To know a person, you have to know all aspects of his/her personality, and I think that this documentary did a wonderful job of trying to cover so much material in only a few hours.I would definitely recommend watching this documentary if you want to learn a little bit more about Ol' Blue Eyes and the fantastic work that he accomplished in his lifetime!

MovieHoliks I just saw this off HBO GO the other day, and thoroughly enjoyed. It goes through Sinatra's entire life and career- from his humble beginnings with immigrant parents; to his fame and fortune, and countless affairs; plus tie-ins with the mob, relationships with presidents, etc... So much is covered here, they had to do this as a two-part, over four-hour documentary. But no matter; the time just flies by. The music is great; the performances are mesmerizing, and this doc. is quite a lot of fun actually. Look for interviews with Mia Farrow (damn!-was she cute), producer Robert Evans, Frank Sinatra Jr. (who refers to his father as Sinatra in professional references), Tony Bennett, Harry Belafonte, the list goes on and on...