bkoganbing After a short lived retirement in which he was bored out of his skull for two years Frank Sinatra returned to the entertainment world with this TV special. A few old standards of his are sung and some new songs like Send In The Clowns are featured. It's always a treat to hear the man sing, that goes without saying.But he had as a special guest Gene Kelly and they did a couple of songs together reminding themselves We Can't Do That Any More. Time ages all of us and they may move a bit slower when they were sailors in Anchors Aweigh and On The Town and baseball players in Take Me Out To The Ballgame. But they haven't slowed down all that much.It was like he was never away.

Bruce Corneil Unquestionably one of the finest TV music specials ever produced, this top shelf presentation marked the beginning of what could be called the "Third Age" of Sinatra's career.The two previous stages had been followed by extended periods of inactivity. The first, in the early 1950s, was due to a sudden and dramatic decline in his popularity - the inevitable fall out, perhaps, of extreme over exposure (along with other factors). But the second break, some twenty years later,was very much a self imposed 'retirement',all be it a fairly brief one as it turned out.The story of Sinatra's phoenix-like rise from the ashes is now a celebrated part of show business history.After surviving the collapse of his career, major personal and health problems, he went on to make a spectacular comeback with his Oscar-winning performance in the war movie "From Here to Eternity" (1954?). With that success, his status was restored almost overnight and his career rapidly soared to stratospheric new heights. Throughout the '60s and beyond, he reigned supreme as the world's leading concert performer, most accomplished recording artist and Hollywood power broker. The pace was frenetic.In 1971, however, he decided to retire, saying that he needed time to reflect upon his life in general. He played golf and prepared lots of home-cooked meals for members of his inner-circle. But the fans grew restless. And some of those admirers were not without influence.In 1973, U.S. President Richard Nixon put a call through to Sinatra's Palm Springs compound. Nixon was about to play host to Italy's Presient, Mr Andreotti, and both heads of state were hoping that the world's most famous Italian American could be cajoled into singing a few songs at the official banquet.It seems that Frankie needed very little persuading. His private show at the White House had the small but very select audience pounding their well manicured hands red raw with enthusiasm. Sinatra's chums in the media ran glowing reports of his triumphant 'return' and, later in the same year, Reprise issued "Ol' Blue Eyes is Back", the album that marked the official end of his retirement.Although a somewhat uneven collection of ballads, it was a generally impressive release. The mood was low key but the album contained some fine songs such as "Let me Try Again", "You Will be my Music" and the inspirational "Winners". But the standout track was Sinatra's extraordinary version of "Send in the Clowns", the show-stopper from the smash Broadway production "A Little Night Music".Conceived as a dual purpose promotional vehicle to launch both the album of the same name and the "Third Age" of Sinatra's career, the TV special "Ol Blues Eyes is Back" was based around a theme of 'yesterday and today'.The first part of the show featured the star taking a musical 'look back' at some of his choice cuts from the golden years. Turning on a massive revolving stage, and working with obvious relish to a packed house of Hollywood celebrities and other special guests, Sinatra punches his way through such favorites as "I Get a Kick out of You", "I've Got the World on a String" and "Street of Dreams".A change of pace then finds him alone in a sprawling bar room set where he presents the wistful ballads "Last Night when We Young" and "Violets for your Fur". The segment also reveals the first signs of rust being scraped away from the famous 'reed' with the usually seamless flow of sound momentarily cracking up in a minor way.Back with the audience, Sinatra shares some decidedly tongue in cheek memories of the high and low points of his "other" career in the movies. After introducing a brief montage of film clips featuring himself and Gene Kelly in such classics as "Anchors Aweigh" and "Take me out to the Ball Game", the pair are reunited in the studio to do a couple of outstanding songs together. One in particular, "You Can't do that Anymore" brings the house down.The hour concludes with Sinatra working before the orchestra (led alternatively throughout the program by Nelson Riddle and Don Costa) showcasing a selection of songs from his new album.All in all, the show was a huge success. Well conceived and presented, it was tight, entertaining and attractively staged.Although television was never Sinatra's strong point, he really seemed to enjoy doing this one. A fine production, it will probably be remembered as his best effort on the small screen.Oh, how I miss '70s TV !

Michael_Elliott Ol' Blue Eyes is Back (1973) *** (out of 4) Frank Sinatra came back from his brief retirement with this concert special that mixes several classics with some of his newer songs. As with the A Man and His Music specials, this film here gets most of its charm from Sinatra poking fun at himself and having that charm on overdrive as he talks about himself. "I Get a Kick Out of You", "I've Got the World on a String", "I've Got You Under My Skin" and "Send in the Clowns". The highlight of the show is when Sinatra takes a seat and makes a few jokes about some of his earlier roles and then we see clips from a "singing sailor" movie, which is when Gene Kelly comes out for a duet on "We Can't Do That Anymore", which is certainly the highlight of the concert. Kelly dances around to "Free and Easy" as Sinatra does his thing. The entire film is certainly worth watching if you're a fan of the two men.

Neil Doyle Sinatra came out after retirement, at age 57, to do another of his concerts, this time backed by the wonderful Gordon Jenkins and Dan Costa and with guest star GENE KELLY, at age 61.Frankie starts off with a standard called YOU WILL BE MY MUSIC before getting into some oldies like I GET NO KICK FROM CHAMPAGNE, STREET OF DREAMS, I'VE GOT YOU UNDER MY SKIN, I'VE GOT THE WORLD ON A STRING and LAST NIGHT WHEN WE WERE YOUNG. His voice is not quite as mellow as it was in the past and he doesn't hold onto the end notes the way he used to, but he's still in good form and the band sounds great. You can spot some celebrities in the audience, including Richard Conte and Lucille Ball.He talks briefly about films he'd rather forget--like HIGHER AND HIGHER, JOHNNY CONCHO, THE KISSING BANDIT (that one got lots of laughs), and the "one about the cannon"--you know, THE PRIDE AND THE PASSION with Cary Grant and Sophia Loren.Then comes the best part of the program--his easiness and charm comes through as he greets his guest, GENE KELLY, after clips from "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" and "Anchors Aweigh" are shown. They both start to talk about the old days at MGM and sing a little ditty called "We Can't Do That Any More", but little by little they ease into some dance steps and before you know it, Gene Kelly is doing some good taps (without getting too strenuous) and so is Frank.Another great moment comes when Frank sings "Nice and Easy Does It" while Gene goes into his dance, up and down steps, but mostly taking it easy. At the end of this number, they both get huge applause.Frankie ends his show with "Let Me Try Again" and the beautiful ballad, "Send in the Clowns" (which I myself performed publicly a few times).For the finale, a reprise, this time the complete song of YOU WILL BE MY MUSIC and the show ends.Summing up: Nice work by Frank and Gene, and especially the skillful and scintillating sounds of that orchestra on all of the music.