Tony Bennett accepted the boundaries of his universe.
In the last few decades of his life, the period of his greatest success, he never tried to do a Rick Rubin/Johnny Cash-style album of recent pop and rock hits tweaked to suit his voice. Instead, he transported the contemporary artists he worked with — Lady Gaga especially — to his preferred musical arena: the Great American Songbook classics of Johnny Mercer, Irving Berlin, Rodgers and Hart, the Gershwins, Harold Arlen, and so many more. Without seeing the cover, you’d never even know his “MTV Unplugged” album was an “MTV Unplugged” album just by listening to it. His last studio album, “The Silver Lining: The Songs of Jerome Kern,” speaks to his appreciation of the craft of songwriting embodied by the entire Great American Songbook era, and how a singer can work in dialogue with that songwriter even decades after their death to create meaning.
In the last few decades of his life, the period of his greatest success, he never tried to do a Rick Rubin/Johnny Cash-style album of recent pop and rock hits tweaked to suit his voice. Instead, he transported the contemporary artists he worked with — Lady Gaga especially — to his preferred musical arena: the Great American Songbook classics of Johnny Mercer, Irving Berlin, Rodgers and Hart, the Gershwins, Harold Arlen, and so many more. Without seeing the cover, you’d never even know his “MTV Unplugged” album was an “MTV Unplugged” album just by listening to it. His last studio album, “The Silver Lining: The Songs of Jerome Kern,” speaks to his appreciation of the craft of songwriting embodied by the entire Great American Songbook era, and how a singer can work in dialogue with that songwriter even decades after their death to create meaning.
- 7/23/2023
- by Christian Blauvelt
- Indiewire
Snow is beginning to fall, and lights have gone up all over the place to celebrate the holiday season. Families are watching their favorite old movies like 1954's "White Christmas" to get in the mood. Unfortunately, if you want the full, official soundtrack to that particular film, you are out of luck. Even Santa can't fix record contract issues. He really should leave coal in a few record executives' stockings.
If you've never seen Michal Curtiz's "White Christmas," it's the story of Bob (Bing Crosby) and Phil (Danny Kaye), old WWII war buddies who have gone into show business and had great success. They meet sisters Judy (Vera-Ellen) and Betty (Rosemary Clooney), a performing duo dealing with some hard times. They all end up in Vermont at a failing resort owned by the guys' disgraced Major General (Dean Jagger), putting on a show to save the place and restore some holiday cheer.
If you've never seen Michal Curtiz's "White Christmas," it's the story of Bob (Bing Crosby) and Phil (Danny Kaye), old WWII war buddies who have gone into show business and had great success. They meet sisters Judy (Vera-Ellen) and Betty (Rosemary Clooney), a performing duo dealing with some hard times. They all end up in Vermont at a failing resort owned by the guys' disgraced Major General (Dean Jagger), putting on a show to save the place and restore some holiday cheer.
- 12/1/2022
- by Jenna Busch
- Slash Film
The Oscar
Blu ray
Kino Lorber
1966/ 1:66:1 / 120 min.
Starring Stephen Boyd, Tony Bennett, Elke Sommer
Written by Harlan Ellison
Directed by Russell Rouse
Alexander Mackendrick’s Sweet Smell of Success is a great movie with two career-best performances from Burt Lancaster as a malignant gossip columnist named J. J. Hunsecker and Tony Curtis as press agent Sidney Falco – “a real louse.” The third star of the show is surely the screenplay by Ernest Lehman and Clifford Odets – a lyrical pastiche of streetwise slang that sizzles like “a pocketful of firecrackers.”
Hunsecker – What’s this boy got that Susie likes?
Falco – Integrity – acute, like indigestion.
Hunsecker – I’d hate to take a bite outta you. You’re a cookie full of arsenic.
And so on. Mackendrick’s Broadway melodrama is a tale of bright lights and the big city so some hyperbole is expected. But Lehman and Odets were performing...
Blu ray
Kino Lorber
1966/ 1:66:1 / 120 min.
Starring Stephen Boyd, Tony Bennett, Elke Sommer
Written by Harlan Ellison
Directed by Russell Rouse
Alexander Mackendrick’s Sweet Smell of Success is a great movie with two career-best performances from Burt Lancaster as a malignant gossip columnist named J. J. Hunsecker and Tony Curtis as press agent Sidney Falco – “a real louse.” The third star of the show is surely the screenplay by Ernest Lehman and Clifford Odets – a lyrical pastiche of streetwise slang that sizzles like “a pocketful of firecrackers.”
Hunsecker – What’s this boy got that Susie likes?
Falco – Integrity – acute, like indigestion.
Hunsecker – I’d hate to take a bite outta you. You’re a cookie full of arsenic.
And so on. Mackendrick’s Broadway melodrama is a tale of bright lights and the big city so some hyperbole is expected. But Lehman and Odets were performing...
- 1/25/2020
- by Charlie Largent
- Trailers from Hell
A new song from Robbie Robertson will sit alongside classics by Fats Domino, Jackie Gleason and Marty Robbins on the soundtrack for Martin Scorsese’s next film, The Irishman. The film opens in theaters today, November 1st, before hitting Netflix November 27th, while the soundtrack will arrive November 8th.
Robertson wrote the score for The Irishman, although only his theme song for the film will appear on the soundtrack. The track has a captivating aura that’s somewhat reminiscent of a Spaghetti Western song, with Robertson lacing an ominous acoustic...
Robertson wrote the score for The Irishman, although only his theme song for the film will appear on the soundtrack. The track has a captivating aura that’s somewhat reminiscent of a Spaghetti Western song, with Robertson lacing an ominous acoustic...
- 11/1/2019
- by Jon Blistein
- Rollingstone.com
MGM's show is a surprising powerhouse musical bio about the personality clash between an ambitious singer and the powerful enabler who wants her in his bed. Doris Day and James Cagney are at their best in an only slightly compromised telling of the real-life showbiz relationship of 'twenties star Ruth Etting and the domineering mobster Martin Snyder. Love Me or Leave Me Blu-ray Warner Archive Collection 1955 / Color / 2:55 widescreen / 122 min. / Street Date September 13, 2016 / available through the WBshop / 21.99 Starring Doris Day, James Cagney, Cameron Mitchell, Robert Keith, Tom Tully, Harry Bellaver, Richard Gaines, Peter Leeds, Claude Stroud, Audrey Wilder, John Harding. Cinematography Arthur E. Arling Art Direction Urie McCleary, Cedric Gibbons Film Editor Ralph Winters Original Music Nicholas Brodszky, Percy Faith, George E. Stoll Written by Daniel Fuchs and Isobel Lennart Produced by Joe Pasternak Directed by Charles Vidor
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
MGM's early CinemaScope musical bio holds up extremely well,...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
MGM's early CinemaScope musical bio holds up extremely well,...
- 8/20/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
With its win for Record of the Year at the 58th Grammy Awards on Monday, "Uptown Funk" by Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars has become the tenth year-end #1 single to claim this top honor from the recording academy. It joins these nine best-selling tracks to take this prize: -Break- Subscribe to Gold Derby Breaking News Alerts & Experts’ Latest Oscar Predictions 1958 "Nel Blu Depinto Di Blu (Volare) " by Domenico Modugno 1960 "Theme from 'A Summer Place'" by Percy Faith 1970 "Bridge Over Troubled Water" by Simon & Garfunkel 1972 "The First Time I Ever Saw Your Face" by Roberta Flack 1976 "Love Will Keep Us Together" by Captain & Tennille 1981 "Bette Davis Eyes" by Kim Carnes 1993 "I Will Always Love You" by Whitney Houston 2011 "Rolling in the Deep" by Adele 2012 "Somebody That I Used to Know" ...
- 2/16/2016
- Gold Derby
The Grammys! They’re this coming Sunday and I almost forgot! To celebrate, here are all 55 winners of the Record of the Year Grammy ranked for your consideration. Now beat it.
55. “Don’t Worry Be Happy,” Bobby McFerrin
Finger-snapping never sounded so un-snappy.
54. “Rosanna,” Toto
You know, a Grammy windfall was bound to happen one of those exactly 1982 bands (Air Supply, Foreigner, Reo Speedwagon, etc), and Toto was the big winner. “Rosanna” is fun, but Grammy-worthy?
53. “Sunny Came Home,” Shawn Colvin
You know, a Grammy windfall was bound to happen to one of those exactly 1998 female singer-songwriters (Meredith Brooks, Natalie Imbruglia, Paula Cole, etc.), and Shawn Colvin was the big winner. “Sunny Came Home” is contemplative, but Grammy-worthy?
52. “Change the World,” Eric Clapton
Sort of annoying when a legendary artist wins for his most palatable and forgettable material. “Change the World” is merely radio-friendly, not an artistic breakthrough.
51. “We are the World,...
55. “Don’t Worry Be Happy,” Bobby McFerrin
Finger-snapping never sounded so un-snappy.
54. “Rosanna,” Toto
You know, a Grammy windfall was bound to happen one of those exactly 1982 bands (Air Supply, Foreigner, Reo Speedwagon, etc), and Toto was the big winner. “Rosanna” is fun, but Grammy-worthy?
53. “Sunny Came Home,” Shawn Colvin
You know, a Grammy windfall was bound to happen to one of those exactly 1998 female singer-songwriters (Meredith Brooks, Natalie Imbruglia, Paula Cole, etc.), and Shawn Colvin was the big winner. “Sunny Came Home” is contemplative, but Grammy-worthy?
52. “Change the World,” Eric Clapton
Sort of annoying when a legendary artist wins for his most palatable and forgettable material. “Change the World” is merely radio-friendly, not an artistic breakthrough.
51. “We are the World,...
- 1/21/2014
- by Louis Virtel
- The Backlot
Beyond loving Mad Men for the excellent writing and acting, a whole lot of devotees love the show for its slavish, uber-geeky dedication to accurately recreating the era in which its set. You'll never see a bottle of Grey Goose, or hear a character call someone "Dude," or see wide ties and bell-bottoms in the office (at least not yet). My father worked in advertising on Madison Ave. during the Mad Men era, and the only quibble he has with the show is the amount of in-office drinking -- "We'd rarely drink in the office. We went out to lunch and got bombed, and that usually held us over until dinner."
The Drapers and the Sterlings and the Campbells may not be the happiest folks in the world, but the way they dress, smoke and drink looks like the epitome of retro-cool. That is, until you scratch the surface. There's...
The Drapers and the Sterlings and the Campbells may not be the happiest folks in the world, but the way they dress, smoke and drink looks like the epitome of retro-cool. That is, until you scratch the surface. There's...
- 3/23/2012
- by Tony Sachs
- Aol TV.
With no trailer unveiled a mere two months out from its planned release, the marketing department for Tim Burton's "Dark Shadows" looks to be making up for lost time, unveiling a host of images this week from the gothic soap-opera adaptation.
We now have a few more images to peruse with new glimpses of Michelle Pfeiffer as Elizbaeth Stoddard, the family matriarch; Chloe Moretz as Carolyn Stoddard, her daughter; Johnny Depp as Barnabas Collins and Eva Green as Barnabas' tortured lover Angelique Bouchard. The quartet feature prominently in the story of a young playboy (Depp) who breaks the heart of a witch (Green) in 1752, for which she turns him into a vampire and buries him alive. When he reawakens in 1972, he returns to Collinwood Manor to find his estate and family in ruins.
The images' source, Portugese website CineMarcada, also report a rumor that the film will be shifted to a June release.
We now have a few more images to peruse with new glimpses of Michelle Pfeiffer as Elizbaeth Stoddard, the family matriarch; Chloe Moretz as Carolyn Stoddard, her daughter; Johnny Depp as Barnabas Collins and Eva Green as Barnabas' tortured lover Angelique Bouchard. The quartet feature prominently in the story of a young playboy (Depp) who breaks the heart of a witch (Green) in 1752, for which she turns him into a vampire and buries him alive. When he reawakens in 1972, he returns to Collinwood Manor to find his estate and family in ruins.
The images' source, Portugese website CineMarcada, also report a rumor that the film will be shifted to a June release.
- 3/8/2012
- by Simon Dang
- The Playlist
The biggest question regarding Tim Burton's upcoming "Dark Shadows" right now isn't if it will be any good, it's when we're going to get a trailer. With the film just over two months away from hitting theaters, except for a handful of stills, Warner Bros. haven't even presented a brief teaser for the pic. There has been very little so far, but it seems the wait may soon be over.
First up, a couple new images have landed online of Johnny Depp and Michelle Pfeiffer (and in the background Jackie Earle Haley) from the film (via Collider), looking perfectly Burton-y and spooky. But according to ComicBookMovie (insert grain of salt), there have been two different cuts of a trailer being played to test audiences to figure out which one to roll with. You can jump over there to read the full breakdown in case you want to spoil things for yourself,...
First up, a couple new images have landed online of Johnny Depp and Michelle Pfeiffer (and in the background Jackie Earle Haley) from the film (via Collider), looking perfectly Burton-y and spooky. But according to ComicBookMovie (insert grain of salt), there have been two different cuts of a trailer being played to test audiences to figure out which one to roll with. You can jump over there to read the full breakdown in case you want to spoil things for yourself,...
- 3/5/2012
- by Kevin Jagernauth
- The Playlist
Ross2287 of Shh is claiming that he too has participated in a consumer survey that allowed him to watch not one, but two potential trailers for Dark Shadows. He concurs with past descriptions that The Doors "People are Strange" song is used, but also added that with the last description that Percy Faith's "Theme from a Summer Place" begins the trailer. A note was attached to the watermarked footage that the music was not final. The first time we see Depp, his mouth is literally soaked with blood but it's definitely being marketed as a kind of comedy--after we see Depp for the first time, we hear a car and Depp shouts to it, "Show yourself Satan!" Some other funny moments in the trailer are when Depp tells Green "You may strategically place your wonderful lips upon my posterior and kiss it repeatedly". Depp's delivery was great. Another fantastic...
- 2/21/2012
- ComicBookMovie.com
Mitch Miller, the musical maven of middle-of-the-road pop who died in Manhattan Saturday at 99, became a household name via his early-'60s TV show Sing Along With Mitch. Long before that, he -- along with Frank Sinatra and a guy named Al Cernick -- provided my dad, songwriter Carl Sigman, with the flukiest hit of his career. in 1950, Carl and composer/orchestra leader Percy Faith -- perhaps most famous for his1960 recording of Theme From a Summer Place -- were good friends and often went to the racetrack ("the trotters") at Long Island's Roosevelt Field to blow off some steam. An old French tune that played repeatedly on the track's Pa haunted Percy. One day, he jokingly asked Carl if he thought they could write a hit song in 10 minutes using that melodic phrase. They did just that, and...
- 8/3/2010
- by Michael Sigman
- Huffington Post
Carey Mulligan, remember the name.
Carey Mulligan in "An Education"
Photo: BBC Films
London, 1961. A generation of British moms and pops are still stuck in the battered mental postures of postwar austerity, but their kids are restless, longing for something they can't put a name to yet. "An Education," the new film by director Lone Scherfig, gets this moment of flux just right: the clothes, the cars, the eternally stifling class interactions. Even the movie's soundtrack speaks of impending change, with the imported '50s pop of Brenda Lee and Percy Faith being insistently subverted by the soul-charged R&B of American stars like Ray Charles, whose music will soon help launch the British beat boom that will eventually change the world.
The angel-faced English actress Carey Mulligan, in a performance of complete, star-quality confidence, plays 16-year-old Jenny, who's chafing under the pressure from her father (Alfred Molina) to buckle...
Carey Mulligan in "An Education"
Photo: BBC Films
London, 1961. A generation of British moms and pops are still stuck in the battered mental postures of postwar austerity, but their kids are restless, longing for something they can't put a name to yet. "An Education," the new film by director Lone Scherfig, gets this moment of flux just right: the clothes, the cars, the eternally stifling class interactions. Even the movie's soundtrack speaks of impending change, with the imported '50s pop of Brenda Lee and Percy Faith being insistently subverted by the soul-charged R&B of American stars like Ray Charles, whose music will soon help launch the British beat boom that will eventually change the world.
The angel-faced English actress Carey Mulligan, in a performance of complete, star-quality confidence, plays 16-year-old Jenny, who's chafing under the pressure from her father (Alfred Molina) to buckle...
- 10/9/2009
- MTV Movie News
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