Good start, but then it gets ruined

Best movie ever!

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

After a short lived retirement in which he was bored out of his skull for two years Frank Sinatra returned to the entertainment world with this TV special. A few old standards of his are sung and some new songs like Send In The Clowns are featured. It's always a treat to hear the man sing, that goes without saying.But he had as a special guest Gene Kelly and they did a couple of songs together reminding themselves We Can't Do That Any More. Time ages all of us and they may move a bit slower when they were sailors in Anchors Aweigh and On The Town and baseball players in Take Me Out To The Ballgame. But they haven't slowed down all that much.It was like he was never away.

Ol' Blue Eyes is Back (1973) *** (out of 4) Frank Sinatra came back from his brief retirement with this concert special that mixes several classics with some of his newer songs. As with the A Man and His Music specials, this film here gets most of its charm from Sinatra poking fun at himself and having that charm on overdrive as he talks about himself. "I Get a Kick Out of You", "I've Got the World on a String", "I've Got You Under My Skin" and "Send in the Clowns". The highlight of the show is when Sinatra takes a seat and makes a few jokes about some of his earlier roles and then we see clips from a "singing sailor" movie, which is when Gene Kelly comes out for a duet on "We Can't Do That Anymore", which is certainly the highlight of the concert. Kelly dances around to "Free and Easy" as Sinatra does his thing. The entire film is certainly worth watching if you're a fan of the two men.

Sinatra came out after retirement, at age 57, to do another of his concerts, this time backed by the wonderful Gordon Jenkins and Dan Costa and with guest star GENE KELLY, at age 61.Frankie starts off with a standard called YOU WILL BE MY MUSIC before getting into some oldies like I GET NO KICK FROM CHAMPAGNE, STREET OF DREAMS, I'VE GOT YOU UNDER MY SKIN, I'VE GOT THE WORLD ON A STRING and LAST NIGHT WHEN WE WERE YOUNG. His voice is not quite as mellow as it was in the past and he doesn't hold onto the end notes the way he used to, but he's still in good form and the band sounds great. You can spot some celebrities in the audience, including Richard Conte and Lucille Ball.He talks briefly about films he'd rather forget--like HIGHER AND HIGHER, JOHNNY CONCHO, THE KISSING BANDIT (that one got lots of laughs), and the "one about the cannon"--you know, THE PRIDE AND THE PASSION with Cary Grant and Sophia Loren.Then comes the best part of the program--his easiness and charm comes through as he greets his guest, GENE KELLY, after clips from "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" and "Anchors Aweigh" are shown. They both start to talk about the old days at MGM and sing a little ditty called "We Can't Do That Any More", but little by little they ease into some dance steps and before you know it, Gene Kelly is doing some good taps (without getting too strenuous) and so is Frank.Another great moment comes when Frank sings "Nice and Easy Does It" while Gene goes into his dance, up and down steps, but mostly taking it easy. At the end of this number, they both get huge applause.Frankie ends his show with "Let Me Try Again" and the beautiful ballad, "Send in the Clowns" (which I myself performed publicly a few times).For the finale, a reprise, this time the complete song of YOU WILL BE MY MUSIC and the show ends.Summing up: Nice work by Frank and Gene, and especially the skillful and scintillating sounds of that orchestra on all of the music.

Highest rating to this Frank Sinatra special. Frank was 57 when he made this show in 1973. Guest star was his often movie co-star, Gene Kelly, who at 61, could still hoof it when it came to dancing. His display of it with Sinatra were great.Sinatra came out of retirement to do this show. After viewing it, you have to wonder why he retired to begin with. He first sings "You Will Be My Music" which essentially becomes the theme of the show.Frank was never better when it came to one liners explaining that a telephone operator didn't know who he was, couldn't spell his name and hung up on him when he sang.His rendition of Send in the Clowns was phenomenal. Nice to have seen Lucille Ball and Sammy Davis Jr. in the audience cheering The Chairman of the Board on. They had plenty to cheer about.