Sinatra: All or Nothing at All (2015) **** (out of 4)Highly ambitious documentary that takes a look at the rise of Frank Sinatra from his way out of New Jersey to the rise in the charts and eventually conqurering Hollywood, Las Vegas and anything else that he wanted to.Not too many people could have their life story take up four hours but that's exactly what we get here with SINATRA: ALL OR NOTHING AT ALL, which is certainly the perfect title for this. The documentary covers the life of Sinatra as we get to hear his story in his own words. Hours and hours worth of interview footage was used to come up with the story structure here, which is also done according to the eleven songs that the singer would do at his 1971 retirement concert.There's no question that this is a highly entertaining documentary that works on many levels. The greatest thing about it is that there are some terrific video footage of various concerts, radio specials, television specials and other items. There's no doubt that a lot of this footage hasn't been seen before and that's the greatest thing this documentary offers. Plus, you've also got the interview footage with Sinatra, which is great fun and especially since it is used to tell his own story.Several others are also interviewed and we get to hear their voices including Sinatra's children, his first wife and even Mia Farrow. The various high points of his life are discussed including him breaking onto the radio, taking Hollywood by storm and winning an Oscar, his continued rise on the music charts, his various women, The Rat Pack and his connection to JFK. His mob association is also discussed throughout the four hours.I will say that there were some problems with the film including the fact that the last twenty-five plus years of his life are discussed during an "encore" that only lasts around ten or so minutes. It's really too bad they just didn't extend the running time to take a look at his later years since it's doubtful another documentary is going to come along like this one. I'd also argue that the documentary took it rarther light on Sinatra and really didn't dig into any of the darker stuff around him.With all of that said, at four hours the film really does seem to be too short, which says a lot about the film as well as the man himself.

SINATRA - ALL OR NOTHING AT ALL cannot be viewed as anything less than a highly comprehensive biography of the legendary actor/singer. Through four hour-long episodes, director Alex Gibney traces his life from his humble origins in Hoboken, New Jersey, to his radio and film stardom, his abrupt decline in the early Fifties, and his return to enduring stardom once he had signed for Capitol Records and started collaborating with the conductor Nelson Riddle.Although liberally illustrated with reminiscences from members of his family, coupled with archive recordings of "Ol' Blue Eyes" being interviewed on television on radio, and readings of printed autobiographies by Ava Gardner, there are no talking heads appearing on screen. Instead, director Gibney uses archive footage, photographs and specially-shot material, with the reminiscences in sound only. This gives the documentary a unique narrative fluidity that Gibney sustains throughout the lengthy running-time.The central conceit was a good one - using Sinatra's retirement concert in 1971 as a basis, where he sang a series of standards that chronicled his life up to then - Gibney traced the singer's life through the songs. Each one of them were heard once a particular period of his life had concluded. Hence we heard "My Way" right at he end when Sinatra had decided to "finally" retire, having ostensibly fulfilled everything he wanted. The fact that he made a comeback three years later was beside the point.Yet still we are left unsatisfied as to where the director's point of view actually lies. There are certain aspects of Sinatra's life that are either sketchily told or omitted altogether; we hear nothing of his nefarious antics in the early Sixties where JFK and Marilyn Monroe were concerned. Nor do we really discover much about his Mafia connections, except to learn that he enjoyed hob-nobbing with those in power. At one point the documentary refers to his ventures as an entrepreneur, as he founded his own airline (among other things), but that strand is subsequently ignored. We do not know how successful the singer was as a business person.Although the program justifiably makes much of Sinatra's god-given talent as a singer, he nonetheless comes across as a distinctly unsavory personality. He treated two of his four wives extremely badly - only Ava Gardner could really stand up to him; and he seems to have assumed that any woman he encountered would want to go to bed with him. An inveterate social climber, he spent much time and energy helping JFK win his presidential campaign of 1960; but when the Kennedys dropped him - on account of his connections with Mafia boss Sam Giancana - Sinatra transferred his loyalties to the Republican cause. In later life he came out as a supporter of Nixon and Reagan. He obviously did not like to be crossed; there were several instances of him replying to someone with a mouthful of abuse.The interviewees worked hard to foreground his qualities - his enduring commitment to the cause of anti-racism, his generosity with underprivileged children - but we still got the sense that he was not undertaking them out of altruism. So long as he obtained a good press as a result, then he was prepared to continue. Perhaps it's best sometimes that we do not know the intimate details of an icon's personality, as it tends to knock them down from the imaginative pedestal on which we place them.

I didn't like Sinatra as a kid of the sixties, he was my parents' star. I never appreciated his style of acting, it seemed too damn smug. I never understood the folks my age who would listen to Sinatra for hours. I always thought The Chairman was vaguely scary. All that said, this is just about the best damn documentary I have ever seen. Framed by songs from Frank's first "retirement" in 1971, it combines voice-overs by friends and family with fantastic film clips and pictures from the 60'a and 70's and beyond. For somebody who lived through this era, even if you never liked the guy this is a great walk down memory lane. And love, like or hate him, Frank led one driven, distinctive and fascinating life from beginning to end. Very highly recommended.

Expansive, lengthy, epic documentary of Frank Sinatra is an obvious loving if at times honest (in a way that doesn't dismiss or demean him) portrait of an iconic music and cultural celebrity. His affair with Ava Gardner while married with children, his relationship with the mob, his Rat Pack era, coming up against ups and downs in the music industry, fight to get cast in To Here from Eternity and the subsequent success because of it (I wish "Some Came Calling" had gotten some love, though), his relationship with JFK, his being accused of supporting communism, his antagonistic relationship with the scathing press, his romance with the much younger Mia Farrow, dealing with the changing times of the mid-to-late 60s and early 70s, declining music sales towards the beginning and certainly the end of his music career, the retirement and return from retirement, and his vocal support of civil rights (although his and Dean Martin's treatment of Sammy Davis, Jr. as a buffoon and/or object of comedy with racist jokes is critically held accountable by Harry Belafonte) are all covered. Various figures in his life (and admirers) add narrative voice to the images of Sinatra's life and career. If you are a fan or just interested in the life of Sinatra, then this documentary, All or Nothing at All, could very well be exactly what the doctor ordered. Performances and use of his songs/music are a constant so if you are not one of those who enjoys his vocal arrangements and crooning, then this is definitely something you might want to avoid. But if you are curious about the life and career of Ole Blue Eyes, this documentary will teach you aplenty.