Frank Sinatra's Big Comeback

sinatra dvd.jpg All of a sudden, the late singing and acting legend is everywhere: Starring on his own new 42-cent U.S. stamp, and popping up as the subject of a rumored Martin Scorsese-directed biopic.

 

The flurry of activity coincides with the 10th anniversary of the Oscar and Golden Globe winner's death, which Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has marked in a big way with five Sinatra DVD box sets, featuring 22 flicks, 11 of which are hitting DVD for the first time. Among the goodies:

-      Frank Sinatra: The Rat Pack Ultimate Collector's Edition - Via George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon and the Ocean's Eleven remake gang, a whole new generation of moviegoers has seen how far-reaching the swanky cool influence of the original Rat Pack is. But there's nothing like seeing the real thing in action, and this box set's got it, with the original, 1960 Ocean's 11, starring Sinatra as Danny Ocean, with Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford, Cesar Romero, Joey Bishop and the scorching Angie Dickinson as Danny's wife; 4 For Texas; Sergeants 3; and Robin and the Seven Hoods, a 1964 crime/comedy/musical in which Frank and the boys sing and dance their way through Prohibition-era Chicago.

 

-      Frank Sinatra: The Early Years – Includes Sinatra's acting debut in Higher and Higher; Step Lively, a musical remake of the Marx Brothers classic Room Service; It Happened in Brooklyn; The Kissing Bandit; and Double Dynamite, a comedy with Sinatra sharing the screen with Jane Russell and, after remaking one of his flicks, Groucho Marx.

 

-      Frank Sinatra: The Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly Collection – The gem-packed set includes song-and-dance classics Anchors Aweigh, Take Me Out to the Ball Game and On the Town.

 

-      Frank Sinatra: The Golden Years Collection – Includes None But the Brave, Some Came Running, The Tender Trap, Marriage on the Rocks and The Man With the Golden Arm, the Oscar-nominated drama with Sinatra as a heroin addict who gets clean while in prison, but then faces old temptations when he's released (it's one of Sinatra's greatest performances, even if he did lose the Best Actor Oscar to Ernest Borgnine).

 

-      And <i>Sinatra</i>, a 1992 made-for-TV biopic produced by Ol' Blue Eyes' daughter Tina.

 

My faves: The Sinatra/Kelly and Rat Pack sets, which cover Sinatra both when he was at the top of his acting game and when he was obviously having fun making movies with his real-life pals.

 

PS – Father's Day … right around the corner. The Sinatra sets are very gift-able, no?

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