Sinatra
Genre: Biography/Drama
Director: Martin Scorsese
Writer: Lon Charles
Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Gemma Arterton, Lorraine Bracco, Bobby Cannavale, Tony Danza, Emilio Estevez, Jon Favreau, Seth Gilliam, Emmy Rossum, Eliza Scanlen, David Schwimmer, Alan Tudyk, Dominic West, Patrick Wilson
Plot: The 1940s...
Tommy Dorsey (Alan Tudyk) and his band are performing a concert in New York City, 1942. As they perform "Polka Dots and Moonbeams" the audience goes crazy for singer Frank Sinatra (Leonardo DiCaprio). When they end the song, the young women in the audience are all cheering Frank’s name. He soaks up the adulation and flashes his signature smile to the crowd as the band begins the next song of the set.
Frank is drawing attention for his singing voice as the singer for Tommy Dorsey's band. He talks to his wife Nancy (Emmy Rossum) about striking out on his own instead of being second fiddle to Tommy. Nancy is against the idea, saying he should never throw away a good thing. Frank bristles at her argument, saying it's not a bad thing to throw a good thing away if there's something better on the other side.
When Frank breaks the news of his decision to go solo to Dorsey, Dorsey refuses to let Sinatra out of his contract. To help make his break, Sinatra contacts his friend, local New Jersey mobster Willie Moretti (Jon Favreau). Sinatra goes back to visit Dorsey again, this time with Moretti. Dorsey says that if Sinatra wants out of the band, he is entitled to 40% of Frank's future show business income for making him a name. Willie rips that contract up and puts a gun in Dorsey's mouth. Frank then offers to buy out the contract for a reasonable sum - if Dorsey doesn't like that then he's going to leave Willie up to his own devices and leave the room. With Willie’s gun in his mouth, Dorsey finally relents and angrily signs a buy-out agreement. As Frank and Willie are leaving, Dorsey yells back that he hopes Frank chokes on that contract. Willie is about to attack him, but Frank tells him to keep moving with a smile.
Over a family dinner with his parents, Dolly (Lorraine Bracco) and Anthony (Tony Danza), Frank excitedly tells the family that he has been talking with Columbia Records about signing on to record a solo album for them. Anthony congratulates his son, but Dolly brings up that it's not too late for Frank to go back to business school. Frank rolls his eyes and reminds his mother that he is a singer, not a businessman, and he’ll keep it that way as long as he can.
After Frank signs on with Columbia, he is informed that they are planning on releasing back catalog work he did with other bands in order to test the waters before putting him in the studio to record new material. Frank is angered by this and begins yelling at the executives for misleading him. After knocking over a few objects, Frank manages to calm down enough to sign the contract. Columbia quickly re-releases a recording of Frank Sinatra and Harry James' rendition of "All or Nothing at All" to immediate fanfare. After the hit of that single, Columbia immediately sends Frank on tour for nearly a year straight, physically exhausting him and straining his marriage with Nancy. When the tour finally ends, Frank is mobbed at the airport by teenage girls in New Jersey. Nancy is not happy about the attention her husband is now receiving, but keeps it to herself as she doesn’t want to rain on his parade.
As his songs continue to sit at the top of the charts, Frank gets a call from Hollywood. After hearing the pitch for the upcoming musical film Higher and Higher, Frank accepts the offer as it is a leading role. He then tells Nancy that the family is moving to California. Nancy is upset that he didn't consult her before accepting the offer. Frank tells her that she can question his career choices when she has one of her own.
Frank is the star of the premiere of Higher and Higher. The Hollywood press eats up his East Coast tough guy act. The morning after the premiere, Frank's phone is blowing up with more movie offers. Nancy throws a gossip magazine down on the table in front of Frank, which alleges Frank had an affair with one of his co-stars. Frank brushes the accusation aside, and goes back to his phone call with the studio.
Frank meets Ava Gardner at a premiere party for another of his films and is immediately smitten with her. He lays on all of his charm, ignoring the stars and cameras around them. He offers to take her out on the town. Instead though, she offers to take him to her favorite bar. Inside, they drink and laugh until closing time. Once they're kicked out of the bar, they have sex in his car.
Finding out the film is a bomb, he goes back to the same bar to drown his sorrows and finds Ava is there as well. As they cozy up in a corner booth, a photographer rushes up to them and takes a picture of them together. Frank gets up and chases after the photographer, but stumbles over a chair in his drunken state. He sits back down next to Ava, who laughs off the situation. Frank becomes emotional, confessing that his latest album isn't selling and nobody gives a shit about his movie roles of late. Ava tells Frank that Hollywood is fickle, but the cream always rises to the top.
The 1950s...
Frank and Nancy have Frank's parents out to visit them in California for Christmas. Anthony and Dolly spoil the grandchildren: 10 year-old Nancy, 6 year-old Frank Jr. and 2 year-old Tina. Nancy becomes upset when she looks in the newspaper and sees pictures of Frank cozying up with Ava Gardner. Frank tells his wife not to throw a fuss in front of the kids and his parents. Nancy tells Frank that as soon as Anthony and Dolly are on the plane, she wants him out of the house.
After Frank's parents leave and the kids have been put to bed, Nancy asks Frank point blank if he's cheating on her with Ava Gardner. Frank nods his head. Nancy promptly throws Frank out of the house. Frank stands out in the driveway, realizing he doesn't have his car keys. He breaks a window to get back into the house, frightening Nancy and waking up the children. He glares at Nancy and tells her that he forgot his keys. He then grabs the keys and drives away from the house. The children ask Nancy where their father is going. She tells them that their father is going to stay somewhere else.
Frank shows up at the door of Ava Gardner unannounced. When she opens the door, he tells her that his wife threw him out. Ava invites him in. As they lay in bed, Frank confesses to Ava that the first time he saw her, he thought to himself that he would marry her.
Frank realizes that his singing career is truly on the skids when he performs a concert at Chez Paree in Chicago. When the lights go on, he sees a sparsely populated nightclub with only 150 of the 1200 seats filled. On the flight back to California, he reads the novel From Here to Eternity by James Jones. As soon as he gets off the plane, he rushes over to Ava's house. He asks her if she is still friends with the wife of studio head Harry Cohn. Ava confirms, and Frank pleads with her to get him a meeting to be in the upcoming film adaptation of the novel. She asks him what he'll do for her in return. He pulls a diamond ring out of his pocket and tells her he'll marry her if she can help him get a part in the film. Ava puts the ring on her finger and agrees to help him.
From Here to Eternity is an immediate sensation, putting Frank back into the public eye. He is nominated for an Academy Award for the performance and his records start selling off the shelves of music stores again. The returned star status of Frank puts a strain on the relationship between he and Ava. When they attend the Academy Awards ceremony together, Ava quickly becomes annoyed that Frank is the center of attention between the two of them even though she is also nominated for an award that evening.
Frank and Ava sit silently at the dinner table one night. As they pick at their food, Ava announces that she even though she is sure that Frank is the love of her life, she has started to hate being married to him. Frank ponders the statement for a moment, then asks her if she wants to get a divorce. Ava nods her head. Frank takes a bite of steak before agreeing to get a divorce as he too would rather end things than grow to hate her.
After his divorce from Ava Gardner, Frank begins playing shows in Las Vegas regularly, where he befriends Dean Martin (Bobby Cannavale) after witnessing one of his nightclub acts on the Strip. After the show, Frank calls Dean over to his table and they get drunk together. While drinking, Frank talks about how much he loves all the Martin and Lewis flicks and asks why they broke up as a comedic duo. Dean says that Jerry Lewis was nothing but a fucking dollar sign to him and wanted to control everything about the act. Frank pours them another drink and says that one day he'd like to see them perform together again.
The next day, Dean takes Frank around town where they meet up with comedian Joey Bishop (David Schwimmer), actor Peter Lawford (Dominic West) and all-around entertainer Sammy Davis Jr (Seth Gilliam). Frank invites them all to his hotel suite to play poker that night. The group quickly becomes known as the Rat Pack as they perform comedy and concert acts at major casinos in Las Vegas.
The 1960s...
Presidential candidate John F. Kennedy (Emilio Estevez) goes on a trip to Las Vegas during his campaign to visit his brother-in-law Peter Lawford and catch a Rat Pack performance. After the show, John invites the group to perform at the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles. At the event, Frank schmoozes John, but John's brother Robert Kennedy (Patrick Wilson) doesn't think the friendship will be good for the campaign as some voters and constituents may have a problem with John publicly paling around with someone like Sinatra with rumored mafia connections. John tells Robert to relax and enjoy the party.
When the election is well underway and John is having trouble swaying the unions in New Jersey toward supporting him over Republican Richard Nixon, John talks to Robert about calling in Frank for help since he's from New Jersey. Robert is vehemently against the idea as his brother's campaign manager. John ignores Robert's advice and calls up Frank and asks if he can use some of his mob connections back in New Jersey to help convince the unions there to back his bid for President. Frank excited by the prospect of helping a possible future president get elected promises to call some of his old friends from the neighborhood and have them spread word that the next President of the United States better be a good Catholic boy like Kennedy.
Not soon after, John F. Kennedy is named as the next President of the United States by a razor thin margin over Richard Nixon. Frank proudly boasts to his Rat Pack pals that he helped make it happen. Peter laughs about the idea and suggests he was more help since he's part of the Kennedy family. Frank clearly isn't happy about Peter's response, but the rest of the clan laugh off Frank's anger and tell him to lighten up.
John calls Frank to thank him again for all his help with the boys in New Jersey and says they should get together when he visits the West Coast in the next month. Frank insists that John stay with him at his place in Palm Springs. John accepts the offer. Frank then immediately calls some contractors to build an entire new guest compound on the Palm Springs property, paying a hefty premium to have it all ready in time for President Kennedy's visit.
When Frank's mob ties are made more public following him being photographed with mob boss Sam Giancana, rumors begin swirling around Washington that the mob helped John win the election. Robert tells John that this is not a good thing to be hitting the press as the Republicans could potentially use it as means to contest the election. John asks Robert what he's supposed to do, and Robert insists that John distance himself from Frank - at least for a while. John calls up Peter and asks him to break the news to Frank. Peter shows up at Frank's house, assuming it would be better to break the news in person. When he tells Frank that President Kennedy will not be staying with him after all, Frank becomes furious and physically throws Peter out of his house.
Frank hears word of JFK's assassination on TV. He cries as he watches. Once he collects himself, he calls up some of his mafia friends and demands to know if the mob was involved in the assassination. They deny any involvement, saying they heard the Cubans did it.
Frank and the Rat Pack are in Hollywood shooting a movie when he gets a call from men who have kidnapped his son, Frank Sinatra Jr. who was performing a concert of Frank's songs in Lake Tahoe. Frank offers $1 million for his son back, but the kidnappers instead ask for $240,000. Frank asks how he will get them the money. They give him the location of a payphone and tell him to get there and answer the phone for further directions. Frank agrees to pay and follow all of their instructions, putting the film project on hold until he has dealt with everything. He calls up Willie Moretti and tells him to get to California immediately. After dropping off the money for the kidnappers, they release Frank Jr. into FBI custody. When Frank goes to pick up his son from the feds, he tells them that if they don't find his son's kidnappers soon, he'll have some people find the kidnappers who don't believe in due process.
Frank Sinatra is in the recording studio trying to work out a new song, "Strangers in the Night". He makes it known that he thinks it is "the worst fucking song he's ever heard". The producers insist it will be a hit, so Frank agrees to finish recording the song. Sure enough, the song shoots up to number one on the Billboard charts. Frank is baffled by the success of the song, but shrugs it off.
Frank, now 50 years old, meets a young Mia Farrow (Eliza Scanlen) on the set of a film. They quickly strike up a whirlwind romance where she is impressed by his charisma and power, while he is stricken by her youthful beauty. Their relationship quickly becomes tabloid fodder. They get married in Las Vegas. Soon after the wedding, Frank receives a phone call from his ex-wife Nancy. She is bothered by Frank getting married to someone younger than their daughter. Frank admits that the thought never really occurred to him. He laughs about it and assures Nancy he meant no harm, he's trying to be happy while he can. Frank convinces her to give up her acting career except for doing one more movie with him, The Detective, that he's been eager to star in for some time. When she is cast in Rosemary's Baby, Frank makes his displeasure very clear. Mia apologizes, confessing that she has been getting bored not working. She then promises him once again that she will appear in The Detective with him. When Mia doesn't show up to shoot The Detective, due to Rosemary's Baby going over schedule, Frank flies into a rage. He trashes his trailer on the set. Once he is able to compose himself, he calls his lawyer and orders him to have divorce papers sent to Mia on the set of Rosemary's Baby.
1970...
Frank releases a new, ambitious album, Watertown. Frank eagerly awaits the release date to hear how many copies it sold. When the record company doesn't call him, he calls them and finds out the album is a bomb, with sales among the lowest of his entire career.
Frank performs a show at Caesars Palace, but is noticeably bored by the end of the show of singing the same old songs from decades prior. He announces at the end of the show that his upcoming concert at the Hollywood Bowl in California will be his last and he retire immediately after the performance.
The media is a buzz leading up to Frank's concert in Hollywood. He becomes annoyed with the press and lashes out at them during a press conference for aggressively pursuing his every move over the years. He finally angrily excuses himself, telling them all he has a "fucking show to get going". At the end of the concert, Frank performs "Angel Eyes". When he reaches the end of the song, he sings the line "Excuse me while I disappear." The spotlight then goes dark. Frank then quietly leaves the stage.
- Frank Sinatra's retirement was short-lived and he returned to recording and performing music four years later, continuing until the mid-1990s. Frank even managed to reunite Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis in 1976 on Lewis' annual Muscular Dystrophy telethon, reigniting the duo's friendship.
- When Frank Sinatra died following a heart attack in 1998, the lights on the Empire State Building were turned blue and all of the casinos in Las Vegas dimmed their lights and stopped spinning for a moment of remembrance.
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