Where've ya been for the past sixty years? If ya don't get it by now, ya probably never will. So let's assume ya understand the obsession.
'Cause it is an obsession.
It's more than just the music, or the movies, or the Rat Pack phenomenon, or the nightclubs. It's a style, the sort of style ya just can't find anymore.
As they sing in the wonderful mobster musical "Robin and the 7 Hoods," you've either got or you haven't got style. Frank Sinatra not only had style, he was style. That's all there is to it.
He could do anything--sing, act, dance, anything he put his mind to. He had arguably more impact on American popular culture in this century than anyone else in history. He was--and is--an undeniable, inescapable force.
Those who thought he could only do musicals were shocked back to reality by his Oscar-winning performance as tough, spirited soldier Angelo Maggio in "From Here To Eternity," a definite must-see for the aspiring Sinatra fan.
His portrayal of a cold-blooded would-be presidential assassin in "Suddenly" was simply chilling.
He sang and danced as the perfect foil for Gene Kelly in three different musicals: "Anchors Aweigh," "Take Me Out to the Ball Game," and "On the Town."
And let us not forget Ocean's 11. . .
And then there's the music. . . all the songs that are forever his. . . you know the ones I mean. No one else can touch them, no one else can do them justice, not the way he could.
Frank Sinatra movies I have and will be reviewing, once I have time:
Anchors Aweigh-- 1944 It Happened In Brooklyn-- 1947 The Kissing Bandit-- 1948 Take Me Out to the Ball Game-- 1949 On the Town-- 1949 Meet Danny Wilson-- 1952 From Here to Eternity-- 1953 Young At Heart-- 1954 Suddenly-- 1954 The Tender Trap-- 1955 Not As A Stranger-- 1955 Guys and Dolls-- 1955 High Society-- 1956 Around the World in 80 Days-- 1956 The Joker Is Wild-- 1957 The Pride and the Passion-- 1957 Some Came Running-- 1958 Kings Go Forth-- 1958 A Hole in the Head-- 1959 Can-Can-- 1960 Ocean's Eleven-- 1960 The Devil at 4 O'Clock-- 1961 The Manchurian Candidate-- 1962 Come Blow Your Horn-- 1963 4 For Texas-- 1963 Robin and the 7 Hoods-- 1964 None But the Brave-- 1965 Von Ryan's Express-- 1965 Cast a Giant Shadow-- 1966 The Naked Runner-- 1967 Dirty Dingus Magee-- 1970
