Frank Sinatra: Off the Record (1965)

Oh,what I would give for more like this

Since I received this film for Christmas I have probably watched it around twenty times. The dream I've had about witnessing a Sinatra recording session came true, and it's hard to imagine a better song than ''It Was a Very Good Year'' to see Sinatra perform. I'd already read a detailed description of the session, but the actual film was even better than I could possibly have imagined it. Just...Sinatra. It is amazing to watch every nuance, every gesture, every bit of body language that I've read about a million times but very, very rarely seen. It is obvious that, in that bare room ornamented only with musician's wives and control booth technicians and the trademark Gordon Jenkins slouch, Frank Sinatra is reliving every word of the classic song of days and loves gone by.
One thing I found interesting was that when Sinatra strolls casually over to chat with the bass player, all four or five people in the general vicinity leap to their feet and vigorously agree with his every word. His instantly commanding ''presence'' caught on film.
Other than the incomparable session footage, the whole thing is simply marvelous, including footage of prison inmates who look exactly like, well, prison inmates, nodding in rythm to the Count Basie beat and Sinatra vocal of ''Fly Me to the Moon'' inside the fences with a watchman with a gun supervising above. If I am correct, and I believe I am, this is the documentary Sinatra tried to stop from being shown in 1965, and in doing so caused the same increased interest that his disapproval of a certain very unattractive book in 1986 recieved. However, this is hardly a hatchet job. The interview, from which I'd read fragments but had never seen, is very good. I read somewhere that Chronkite asked Sinatra a question or two about Mia Farrow that he refused to answer, and other similarly personal questions were forbidden as well, so you rather have to read between the lines. For instance, his quite expressive pause after, when explaining about his six-year decline in the early fifties, he says,''And, I had a personal problem which I will NOT go into,'' certainly speaking about Ava Gardner.
Brief odds and end of footage include his arrival at the Pantages Theater with Nancy and Frank Sinatra Jr. to recieve his Oscar in 1954, leaving the Paramount sometime in 1943 or 4 to a background of bobbysoxer sqeals, a bit of Sinatra and Ava at an airport, and a scandalous collage of rather intriguing past headlines. The part of the Dismas House Rat Pack show is, obviously, terrific, as are his performances of ''I've Got You Under My Skin,'' ''You Make Me Feel So Young,'' and the few seconds of ''Luck Be a Lady.''
Well-written, well-made, and made priceless by its subject matter, it is certainly, if I may be slightly corny, Too Marvelous for Words. January 11, 2006

This video is incredible

One would hope somewhere more of this lies waiting to be found. To watch the recording of "It Was A Very Good Year" cannot be surpassed. This video shows a side to Sinatra that is very rare. We have so much music and film but very little of the man actually sitting down and discussing his life and music. Perhaps one day Capital and Reprise will search their vaults and find film of Sinatra putting down the classics. "Off the Record" is a great start. August 23, 2002

Perfect Insight into the Man and His Music

This video projects the true Sinatra of 1965 at his prime. Walter Cronkite performs an exceptional CBS interview behind the scene of the Sinatra Legend. The interview is candid and the performances exceptional. Check out the actual recording studio takes of "It Was A Very Good Year". He catches a 'clam' in the strings in the last four bars of the tune. The note "...should have been a F#". Did you hear it? No, but he did and he was right on!

This is an excellent review of the Sinatra personality, charisma, and performance we love. April 10, 1999

AN ASOLUTE MUST-SEE, FOR ALL SINATRA FANS

The only problem with this video is it is too short - CBS must be sitting on some more wonderful material, unless it's been lost to time. There are good live versions of You Make Me Feel So Young & ...Skin, but also a killer live version of Luck Be a Lady. But by far the most fascinating and rewarding 10 minutes is Sinatra recording It Was A Very Good Year live in the studio. It is absolutely electric, and even Sinatra shows a bit of emotion. Look quick, and you'll see tears fill his eyes for a second. This filmed recording session is one of the best films of him in action, and shows his tremendous concentration and vocal talent. A true gem. The rest is fine and revealing, but this is the high point. If only there were many more films of him in the studio...Why didn't he allow himself to be professionally filmed during his Capitol sessions and other Reprise sessions??? At least we have the brilliant records forever January 11, 1999

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