Features:
Description:
His heart may be in San Francisco and his act in Atlantic City (at least for the purposes of this program), but singer Tony Bennett, the son of an Italian immigrant grocer born in Astoria, Queens, is a New Yorker through and through, a point this documentary-cum-performance DVD makes abundantly clear. With writer-coproducer Reggie Nadelson providing narration (she's not exactly James Earl Jones, to put it charitably, but she clearly knows and loves her subject) and such quintessential New Yorkers as writer Jimmy Breslin and ex-governor Mario Cuomo offering insight, the highlights and lowlights of Bennett's life and career are all covered: the influence of Louis Armstrong, Fred Astaire, Bing Crosby, and others; his early days as a heartthrob pop crooner through his '60s civil rights activism, '70s career doldrums, and '80s renaissance as the urbane and elegant epitome of cool, thanks to MTV; his sideline as a painter of considerable merit; and more. There's plenty of music too, with Bennett leading his crack trio through what he calls "the best folk songs in the world," including standards like "A Foggy Day," "I Got Rhythm," and "I Wanna Be Around"--and, natch, "I Left My Heart in San Francisco," preceded here by a medley of endearingly awful karaoke performances of the signature Bennett tune. All right, so Tony Bennett may not be a giant on the order of Sinatra, Crosby, or Armstrong. But he's still here, both an embodiment of a bygone era and a still-vital performer of depthless class and style. We're lucky to have him. --Sam Graham
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