The documentary feature “His Way” premiered on HBO this past Spring. “His Way” is based on  the autobiography “When I Stop Talking, You’ll Know I’m Dead,” which highlights the life and career of the great film producer/concert promoter/manager/philanthropist/entrepreneur Jerry Weintraub over seven decades.

Weintraub first managed musical acts ranging from The Four Seasons to The Moody Blues, then promoted artists such as Led Zeppelin, John Denver, Bob Marley, Bob Dylan, Kiss, Aerosmith and Queen. He also promoted the “comeback” tours for Elvis Presley, then Frank Sinatra. Weintraub’s movie producing credits include “Nashville,” “Oh God!,” “Diner,” “Cruising,” “The Karate Kid,” “National Lampoon’s Vegas Vacation,” “The Karate Kid” (2010), and the 2001 remake of “Ocean’s Eleven,” as well as “Ocean’s 12″ and “Ocean’s 13.” He appeared in all the “Ocean” films as well as “The Firm.”

“His Way” is the first documentary feature film directed by Douglas McGrath. McGrath is an actor/writer/director whose past directing credits include “Emma,” “Nicholas Nickleby,” “Infamous,” and “I Don’t Know How She Does It.” In my opinion, “His Way” is pound for pound and frame for frame the most entertaining and inspirational documentary of this past year. “His Way” was shot and edited for nearly ten months and culled from approximately seventy hours of interview footage.

KW: You took an autobiography and turned it into a documentary film. That doesn’t seem like it is usually done very often.

DM: It wasn’t quite as direct as that. Graydon Carter [Managing Editor, Vanity Fair] had called me and asked if I was interested in making a film about Jerry and Jerry’s book was not out at that point. So I read Rich Cohen’s piece that he had done for Vanity Fair and said, “Boy, this guy sounds like quite a character.” (more…)

Actor Robert Davi returned to his first love – music – this year with the celebrated disk “Davi Sings Sinatra: On the Road to Romance.”

Now, the star of “Die Hard” and “License to Kill” is using his pipes for a very good cause.

Davi’s newest song, a re-imagined version of the Christmas classic song, “Mistletoe and Holly,” will soon be available via iTunes and Amazon.com. All the profits from the song, which goes on sale Dec. 13 for $.99, will go to help The Salvation Army’s Red Kettle Campaign. The annual drive provides emergency assistance to millions of families in need around the holiday.

“Music has always been a big part of The Salvation Army, especially at Christmas, so partnering with a singer like Robert Davi is a great and natural fit,” said Major George Hood, national community relations and development secretary for The Salvation Army.

(more…)

Anyone who caught the delightful indie film “The Dukes” knows there’s more to Robert Davi than just the tough as nails actor seen in “The Living Daylights” and “The Goonies.”

Davi can sing, period. And he shows off his pipes in the new CD “Davi Sings Sinatra: On the Road to Romance.” The album is already getting raves from music critics. Now, Davi is sharing his songs and memories of Ol’ Blue Eyes on SiriusXM.

Davi recorded a program for the satellite radio network called “Playing Favorites with Robert Davi,” set for rebroadcast at 9 p.m. EST tonight, as well as 9 a.m. EST Thursday (Nov. 17) and 3 p.m. EST Saturday (Nov. 19).

Here’s the skinny on the hour-long program:

(more…)

An actor can put on makeup, a wig or a costume to get into character, but the performance ultimately comes down to the person underneath.

The same holds true for singing, says actor turned singer Robert Davi.

“I was either cursed or blessed with a blending of the masculine and feminine… it gives you a certain kind of interpretive swagger that you get over the years,” says Davi, whose recording debut, ‘Davi Sings Sinatra: On the Road to Romance,’ pays homage to the performing legend. “To sing these songs, you gotta live.”

And Davi has done just that for decades, forging a respected acting career in films like ‘Die Hard,’ ‘The Goonies,’ and ‘License to Kill’ while his considerable singing chops waited for the right time to be embraced.

‘Davi Sings Sinatra,’ produced by the legendary Phil Ramone and mixed by engineer Al Schmitt, marks just such an occasion. The album’s 12 tracks, including Sinatra staples like ‘The Best is Yet to Come’ and ‘Summer Wind,’ reveal Davi as a serious musician with a voice well suited for Sinatra’s romantic ballads. Even critics who might otherwise carp on an actor attempting a musical career are singing the album’s praises.

The actor isn’t simply attempting a career change. He studied music long before becoming one of Hollywood’s more respected performers.

Davi always envisioned himself forging a dual career like his idol, New Jersey’s own Francis Albert Sinatra. Davi studied opera as a young man, but his acting career took off first, eventually landing him parts in blockbuster feature films, working with the likes of Bruce Willis, Clint Eastwood and Marlon Brando.

But the urge to sing never really went away.

(more…)

The press loves to smack down actors who break into song.

Don Johnson, Eddie Murphy, and William Shatner are just a few big name stars stung by reporters for daring to add the word “singer” to their résumés. But music critics are lining up to sing the praises of actor Robert Davi’s new disc, ‘Davi Sings Sinatra: On the Road to Romance.’

The actor, whose impressive career includes roles in ‘Die Hard,’ ‘Goonies,’ and ‘License to Kill,’ started out as a trained singer before Hollywood came calling. Now, he’s reclaimed his musical legacy, and several major publications like USA Today appear glad he did. Here’s another rave, the kind that must make the Sinatra fan in Davi light up:

“Listening to it, you just know Sinatra would have smiled, given Davi a light tap on the cheek, and said, ‘Nice job, kid.’”

JazzTimes.com fell for Davi’s decision to find inspiration from Sinatra without resorting to an unwise imitation:

(more…)

Robert Davi won’t be getting one-on-one time with President Barack Obama any time soon.

After all, the respected character actor turned crooner’s politics don’t exactly align with those of the Commander in Chief. But Davi still has a few practical thoughts he’d love to share with the president. He recently spoke with The Creative Coalition’s Robin Bronk on what he’d say to Obama if given the chance:

ROBIN BRONK: If you had five minutes in the Oval Office with President Obama, what would you discuss with him? What issue would you like him to know about?

(more…)

Prepare to be horribly disappointed.

One comment I read put it best: Too bad Frank Sinatra isn’t alive to kick his ass.

ABC News:

[On his radio show, Howard] Stern then asked Bennett about how America should deal with terrorists, specifically those responsible for the 2001 attack on the World Trade Center.

“But who are the terrorists? Are we the terrorists or are they the terrorists? Two wrongs don’t make a right,” Bennett said.

In a soft-spoken voice, the singer disagreed with Stern’s premise that 9/11 terrorists’ actions led to U.S. military involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“They flew the plane in, but we caused it,” Bennett responded. “Because we were bombing them and they told us to stop.”

Following seconds of silence, Stern said that his guest was “making some good points.”

Before leaving, Bennett recalled an evening in 2005 when he was honored at the Kennedy Center. Meeting President George W. Bush at the event, the singer said that the commander-in-chief shared his opinion about the Iraq War.

“He told me personally that night that, he said, ‘I think I made a mistake,’” Bennett said.

Bennett believed that the president made this revelation because “he had a special liking to me.”

Bush told a lib crooner he made a mistake in Iraq?

Looks like Bennett also left his credibility in San Francisco.

Yeah, this will sell albums.

Nothing so reinforces the essential integrity of the American character than another viewing of the American Classic, “From Here To Eternity.” Seen through contemporary eyes, it looks like an extended examination of Lt. Col Allen West’s entire experience with the Third Millennium American military.

The American rebels with a cause in “From Here To Eternity,” the heroes of that 1941, Pearl Harbor drama, are all, in some sense, a replica of Lt. Col. West. The Colonel’s individual freedom and individual integrity, his truth to himself and responsibility to his enlisted men were fulfilled in the clearest and most unswerving manner.

—–

In my opinion, he saved the lives of American servicemen and drew a line in the sand before the likes of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, homicidal bully of Iran.

In the eyes of Col. West’s military superiors, he was considered the villain in “From Here To Eternity.”

To the contrary, he belongs with the characters played by Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, and Frank Sinatra. Three distinctively American integrities.

Why was the Colonel singled out for an enforced “resignation”?

The collective bargaining and cronyism of the Third Millennium, American Army-at-War was seen spitting on its own best soldiers because of the New World Order’s increasingly Marxist agenda. (more…)

This is the most recent installment of exclusive interviews with Dr. Paul Kengor, professor of political science at Grove City College, on his book revealing how communists, from Moscow to New York to Chicago, have long manipulated America’s liberals/progressives. Dupes: How America’s Adversaries Have Manipulated Progressives for a Century is based on an unprecedented volume of declassified materials from Soviet archives, FBI files, and more.

Big Peace: Professor Kengor, Hollywood is celebrating its Academy Awards, a look back at great actors and actresses and films.

Kengor: For me, it’s a moment to look back at Hollywood’s worst communists, communist sympathizers, Stalinists, and duped liberals and progressives—as well as the good guys (and gals) that fit none of those categories.

Big Peace: Fair enough. This should be fun. Let’s start with communists.

Charlie Chaplin comment, “Thank God for
communism!” will make you see (him) red.

Kengor: How about the Hollywood screenwriters who liberals still insist were innocent lambs? Dalton Trumbo, Communist Party code “Dalt T;” Albert Maltz, party no. 47196; Alvah Bessie, no. 46836; John Howard Lawson, no. 47275. Or, if you turn to page 191 of my book—if you don’t have a copy yet, shame on you—you can view Arthur Miller’s party application. Miller wrote The Crucible, about how Joe McCarthy pursued “liberals” unfairly suspected of being communists—“liberals” like Miller, Trumbo, Maltz, Bessie, Lawson.

Big Peace: As you say in Dupes, Hollywood produced “quite a cast.” Let’s narrow the focus to the Academy Awards. (more…)

There’s been a dearth of Yuletide material here at Big Hollywood this month, so as The Most Wonderful Day of the Year draws nigh, let’s spend some time saluting the five men whose voices echo most strongly through the Christmas chapters of the Great American songbook.

_____________________

5. Johnny Mathis (b. 1935)

A host of other crooners fought tooth and nail for this fifth slot — Dean Martin, Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Andy Williams, Jim Reeves, Gene Autry, Nat King Cole — but Mathis wins the day via an impressive five Christmas-themed albums, the best of which are immeasurably improved by the melodic mastery of maestro Percy Faith (1908-1976), whose inventive yet unashamedly unambiguous orchestrations make him my favorite instrumental interpreter of Christmas tunes.

The only one of our Top 5 who is still alive, Mathis made his Xmas bones by singing what is, for my money, the single most beautiful rendition of “Ave Maria” ever recorded — a feat accomplished when he was just twenty-two. Fifty years on, no one has matched the infectious, jingling energy Mathis and Faith brought to “Sleigh Ride.” And despite a good showing by Andy Williams, I daresay he takes the prize for “It’s The Most Wonderful Time of the Year” and “Winter Wonderland” as well. (more…)

Yesterday I walked into my local supermarket to find they already had a massive Christmas tree up ornamented with gift cards. Yes, it’s quickly approaching “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year,” and that means gifts to buy, preferably before you find yourself scrambling from store to store in a panic on Christmas Eve.

With that in mind, here are five drool-worthy stocking stuffers for the cinemaphiles in your family, all of them due to be released in the next few weeks.

__________

1. Frank Sinatra: Concert Collection (November 2, 2010, $54.99 at Amazon)

Get hep to this, man: seven discs containing fourteen hours of TV specials and filmed concerts, with Ol’ Blue Eyes joined by Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie, Gene Kelly, Antonio Carlos Jobim, John Denver, Bing Crosby, and of course Dino. Four of the specials have never been released, and a host of isolated TV clips are thrown in for good measure. Top it all off with a 44-page booklet chock full of rare photos and scholarly commentary, and the Chairman of the Board is truly back in all his scotch-soaked glory.

The seventh “Bonus Disc” sounds like the perfect thing to have playing in the background while you are decorating your tree: a “Happy Holidays with Bing and Frank” color TV special. (more…)

Last Saturday I drove to Long Island, NY to see my friend’s long-awaited performance from the Sinatra songbook at Hofstra University. There were several times during this seven hour drive that I wanted to just turn around and go home. Traffic was terrible, I wasn’t familiar with the area and the friends I was planning to go with had canceled. Still, I didn’t want to miss the show.

When the curtain went up, the 30-piece orchestra came alive. A man with his back to the audience stood at the top of the stairs. The stage was awash in light blue and a clear voice sang out:

I’ve got the world on a string,
Sittin’ on a rainbow
Got the string around my finger,
What a world, what a life, I’m in love!

His performance sounded beautiful and effortless. When veteran actor Robert Davi turned around to face the audience, I couldn’t help but smile. He was in his element and could have no greater inspiration than Frank Sinatra. The show, “Davi Sings Sinatra: A Tribute to Sinatra, the Great American Songbook and America” packed Hofstra’s famous John Cranford Adams Playhouse for two evening shows and one matinee. The opening act, Tommy Dressen, is a top-notch, “old school” comedian that toured with Sinatra for more than a decade and has made hundreds of television appearances. It was the perfect opening act for passing the torch from Sinatra to Davi. (more…)

The Manchurian Candidate (1962): Director John Frankenheimer’s chilling film-noir Cold War thriller was remade in 2004 and updated with a Gulf War theme but the original, which opens in 1952 Korea, is the masterpiece. It has a complex plot but the gist of it is that an American platoon was captured and sent to Manchuria where they were subsequently brainwashed before being released back to their units under a phony story and unaware of their ordeal. After the war it is gradually revealed that Staff Sgt. Raymond Shaw (Laurence Harvey) has been trained to be an unwitting assassin – to be activated by his own domineering mother (Angela Lansbury) who is also a communist agent.

—– 

Shaw’s bombastic stepfather, Senator John Iselin (James Gregory), is a politician on the rise – and also a communist agent – who is a part of a plot that will take him all the way to the White House. At a crucial moment Shaw is to be activated by his mother to kill her husband’s rival, thereby initiating a series of chaotic events that will ultimately install the “Manchurian Candidate” into power.

But all along another former platoon member, Maj. Bennett Marco (Frank Sinatra), suffers recurring flashbacks and dreams about the time they all spent as prisoners in Manchuria and comes to suspect that he and the others were in fact brainwashed. Eventually he uncovers the plot, finds Shaw, and discovers just how far it goes. Shaw, clueless throughout, is a tragic figure as he comes to realize his condition and moves to act accordingly. (more…)

CBS won’t comment, but the NY Times reports that on Tuesday night’s episode of the ”The Good Wife” the story revolved around an artist killed by a bomb after he drew a cartoon featuring Muhammad. It looks as though the episode used a number of camera dodges to ensure no one got a good clean look at Islam’s founder:

In a plot line on Tuesday’s episode of “The Good Wife,” the show’s law firm deals with a suit brought by the widow of a newspaper editor who was killed by a bomb after he published an editorial cartoon showing the Prophet Muhammad being searched by airport security officers. In scenes like the one above, the editorial cartoon is depicted only in small portions, obscured by shadows or pieces of paper, and never revealed in its entirety.

If you combine this with Comedy Central’s over-the-top censoring of a recent “South Park” episode, we’re really only left with two explanations, right? Either Hollywood’s had a massive change of heart and has suddenly decided to treat religion with respect or they’re terrified of becoming the next Theo Van Gogh.

Right?

We should all be rippling with anticipation over how one or both of these moral revelations will alter upcoming Tinseltown product. If The Former Religious Bigots Known As Hollywood have finally come around and changed their ways when it comes to insulting people of faith — just for starters, who will the new bad guys be on all four of those “Law & Order” series? Who will be the new whipping boys in the independent film world?  (more…)

You can find today’s Gregalogue, “People Died, WaPo Lied,” over at BigJournalism.com!

Tonight, we’ve got Chris Cotter, Imogen Lloyd Webber, Tom Shillue, and my mom! Also a very special Joshua McCarroll segment!

In 1981, there was a film called Chariots of Fire. The movie is based on the true story of two British athletes competing in the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris. Englishman Harold Abrahams (Ben Cross), who is Jewish, overcomes anti-Semitism and class prejudice in order to compete against the “Flying Scotsman,” Eric Liddell (Ian Charleson), in the 100 meter. Abraham wins and Eric then goes on to win the 400 meter.

I was deeply moved and inspired by this Best Picture winner. The soundtrack by Vangelis was beautifully stirring. It haunted me and I started to vocalize the main theme which eventually led me to put words to the music. Now indulge me, and remember the theme to the film as you read the lyrics:

I speak to the children, the ones who are pure, for they are the future, the key to it all

Our vision has darkened, our way has been lost, it’s they who must lead us, back on the course

Imagine a world of love and hope, a world without hate

A world where nothing separates the spirit of man

No national boundaries, invented by greed

The world is awaiting, for love as the creed

I speak to the children, I speak to you all, join hearts and your voices, let love rule us all

I take the lyrics, go into a recording studio and sing the song in Italian and English. It was a moving and rousing experience, and I then come up with the idea for a world movement called “An Evening in the Celebration For The Spirit of Man.” I get a small group of followers going — about 30 people or so that are on fire with the idea. One was a writer, Vanna Bonta, who translated the lyrics into Italian for me. She’s the granddaughter of Luigi Ugolino, an Italian poet. (more…)

Not sure which is more revolting, Scorsese’s determination to cast Leonardo DiCaprio as Frank Sinatra or his determination to do to The Voice what he and Leo did to Howard Hughes: reduce and distill a great man who accomplished great things down to his worst elements; focus on the flaws instead of the many, many accomplishments…

Like anyone who lives to see his 82nd birthday, Sinatra the man is defined by more than just wherever some storyteller decides to point his soda straw focus. Sinatra the man was also a “man,” a virile, strong, fiercely independent, two-fisted scrapper who fought for everything he achieved. Regardless of his gifts as an actor, there is no way the eternal boy-faced DiCaprio can fill those shoes convincingly — especially if Scorsese wins the day and tells the story of the sixties, which began with the singer’s 45th birthday. (more…)

Compared to the generic twerps the Hollywood machine pumps out today and labels as “stars,” at 92, Ernest Borgnine remains the real deal. He is to the genetically-engineered robots like the Zac Effrons and Robert Pattinsons of the world what a shot of straight-up Jack Daniels is to a watered down cosmopolitan served with a straw. Borgnine has lived a real life, full of ups and down, and his face shows it. In contrast, today’s stars look like they were raised in protective cocoons after being genetically engineered to perfect their bone structure, dark eyebrows and pouting lips. And that’s just the guys.

Look at his life. Borgnine was born to Italian immigrant parents in 1917, spent 10 years in the Navy, including all of World War II, then bummed around as a second string character actor for another decade before snagging an Oscar in his first major role. The closest thing to life experience one of today’s stars has is a three week stint at $5,000-a-day rehab resort getting seaweed facials and talking about how his daddy never told him he loved him during group therapy while secretly gobbling the vicodins he smuggled in inside the liner of his Louis Vuitton cosmetics case. (more…)

Ava Gardner, publicity photo for The Killers

The love affair—and I’m using that term loosely—between Ava Gardner and Frank Sinatra was doomed from the start. Both stars were emotionally immature with little impulse control. Both were alcoholics, and both had a history of affairs with equally unstable partners.

And so The Voice and The Shape plunged into a tsunami of a relationship and a six-year marriage (1951 – 1957) punctuated by unbridled passion, threats of suicide, and metronomic doses of violence.

In Autumn of 1949 Gardner and Sinatra, not yet lovers, were both guests at the Palm Springs home of producer Darryl F. Zanuck. The liquor flowed, and the two stars locked in on each other like lethal missiles.

(more…)