Attempting to produce an extensive documentary on such a well known figure as Frank Sinatra is a herculean task. Alex Gibney’s Sinatra: All or Nothing at All is an impressive effort. Divided into two parts and running just north of four hours—though it hardly feels like it—Gibney structures the film around the eleven-song set during his June 1971 ‘retirement’ concert in Los Angeles as benchmarks to focus on aspects of his life. While Sinatra died seventeen years ago, Sinatra is allowed to speak for himself through archival interviews, which adds a real authenticity to the project even as glittery list of famous names offer their thoughts and memories of Ol’ Blue Eyes.

In a wise move, interviewees remain off screen as the story and Frank Sinatra and his life stay center stage. The editing team does an excellent job of seamlessly blending new interviews with old, combining source material of varying quality into an understandable and interesting narrative. The first part of the documentary covers Sinatra’s somewhat hardscrabble beginnings in Hoboken, N.J. to his rise in Hollywood. With dreams of being as big as Bing Crosby, Sinatra started playing local clubs. In 1939, he sang with Harry James. Later that year, he joined Tommy Dorsey until 1942. As World War II raged on, he grabbed the attention of radio listeners and ascended up the pop charts.

It’s in the 1940’s that Frank Sinatra becomes a major pop idol. Concerts quickly sell out and girls fall at his feet. During all this success, Frank and his wife have three children: Nancy Jr., Frank Jr., and Tina. As quickly as Sinatra reaches the top, his career stalls; as most fans know, he makes a comeback with an Oscar winning role in To Here from Eternity. Despite the basic familiarity with those elements of Sinatra’s story, his early life is like a bit of an unknown for a lot of people and the first half of Sinatra: All or Nothing at All covers his youth rather well.

Perhaps it just because times changed, but part two of the documentary feels more gossipy in nature. His brief fling with Lauren Bacall among others, tempestuous marriage to Ava Gardner are discussed; and it seems to me that his relationship and very brief marriage to Mia Farrow gets more air time than I would have expected. There’s also lots of talk of mobsters and how they might have influenced his life and career. Unfortunately, some of the stories involving Sinatra’s womanizing ways and his ties to criminal activity are not explored with much depth, so it feels a bit salacious. If you wanted to make this documentary shorter, some of this material could have been cut.

There’s no doubt Frank Sinatra was a complex man. In an audio interview, Harry Belafonte marvels at the civil rights causes Sinatra championed, only to lament the racist comedy routines he and Dean Martin later roped Sammy Davis Jr. into. While it doesn’t make sense, it’s one of a handful of occasions where Frank is shown to have a very cruel streak. While it’s nearly impossible for any documentary to satisfy every curiosity regarding such a famous man, Alex Gibney deserves credit for attempting to deliver a balanced portrait of Frank Sinatra.

The 16 x 9 DVD looks as good as any documentary contain this type of material can. Much of the video footage shown is older, but it’s obviously been cleaned up as much as possible. Photos look quite good as, well, just expect footage to look different throughout.

The Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack serves this dialogue heavy film quite well. The voices of interview subjects are clear and based in the center speaker. Sinatra’s many songs from his ‘retirement’ concert and otherwise have nice clarity and mid-level bass.

English, German, Spanish, French and Italian subtitles are included.

The following extras are available:

Interviews: (13:30)

  • Jerry Weintraub: The concert promoter discusses a trip he took with Frank to see a prominent heart surgeon.
  • Emil Davidson: The director discusses filming Frank in concert.
  • Robert Wagner & Jill St. John: The two stars discuss how they initially met Sinatra.
  • Quincy Jones: The music producer discusses his long working relationship with Sinatra.
  • Jerry Lewis: The comedian discusses a benefit the two did for Dan Mitrione, a fireman killed just the day before.
  • Mia Farrow: Frank’s third wife discusses his proposal.

Color Booklet