Sinatra Mini Series

Every music legend deserves at least one major network TV mini-series. Sinatra is the aptly titled recreation of the life of arguably the most popular singer of the 20th century: Frank Sinatra. Made in 1992, with the cooperation of ol’ blue eyes himself, Sinatra is a four-hour biography chronicling both the highs and the lows of the early years of Frank’s long career. Philip Casnoff stars as Frank, though his singing is supplied by Sinatra, which makes for some awkward lip-synching scenes. Casnoff isn’t an especially good actor, nor does he look terribly like the chairman of the board, which begs the question: why was he cast? Fortunately he’s surrounded by strong supporting actors, including Olympia Dukakis as Sinatra’s mother and Marcia Gay Harden as Ava Gardner. The series begins with Frank as a precocious young Hoboken youth with a knack for song, and along the way it hits the salient plot points one would expect: Frank’s womanising, mafia ties, consorting with the Kennedys and the formation of the Rat Pack (though the actor playing Dean Martin is unrecognisable). Unfortunately, the making of Cannonball Run 2 didn’t make the cut. The series succeeds best at recreating the eras and settings it portrays — the fashions, the music and the architecture are all exquisitely reproduced. This sense of authenticity helps distract from aberrations in the casting of cultural icons and Casnoff’s inability to hold the story together. His portrayal of Sinatra is basically superficial, though less convincing than Joe Piscopo’s or Phil Hartman’s imitations on Saturday Night Live. Still, the story of Sinatra is an engaging one and the series is consistently compelling, entertaining and at times, enlightening.