Saturday, October 15, 2011

Tony Bennett: The Music Never Ends

Over the past 60 years Tony Bennett has become synonymous with the Great American Songbook, beautifully crooning works from Gershwin, Cole Porter, Duke Ellington, and Rodgers and Hammerstein to name a few. In the loving retrospective, Bennett's life and career is celebrated by some of his closest friends including Clint Eastwood, Harry Belafonte, Mel Brooks, and Martin Scorsese (there's some great footage of Marty and his editor Thelma Schoonmaker inserting "Rags to Riches" into "Goodfellas") in addition to his sons as well as interviews with the legend himself. With narration from Anthony Hopkins, the film is wonderfully assembled as we see rare performances and footage and watch songs from old film clips as Tony picks up where Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, and Dean Martin leave off. There are also many wonderful extended performances of staples such as "(I Left My Heart) In San Francisco" and "Come Fly with Me". "Tony Bennett: The Music Never Ends" is an affectionate portrait of an enduring entertainer.