Genre – Crime Musical
Movie Total Runtime – 2 Hours 3 Minutes
Spoilers – Yes
After the last Robin, lets see what the next one has in store. And it is… Frank Sinatra.
What?
Okay, I have never seen any Sinatra movies. I’m not particularly a fan of his music. The main thing I like in music is energetic. From Symphonic Metal, to regular Metal, to Rock, to Country, to Bluegrass, to Classical, my eclectic tastes all have two commonalities – a good sound, and a minimum threshold of energy. Sinatra’s style just puts me to sleep.
The box lists a bunch of his regular cronies as co-stars. And says it’s set in Chicago. So, not Sherwood forest. Interestingly, Peter Falk also gets credit just after the rat pack members. I was trying to come up with a joke about him and Sammy having a full head of eyes between them. All it got me was a glassy stare.
After the brass band plays the credits we get a birthday party with a bunch of dudes in tuxes. Turns out this is the “Boss of Chicago” and at his sides are Sheriff Glick, and Guy Gisborne. They wrap up with a toast where everyone guns down the Boss. Peter Falk plays Guy and proposes a mass merger of the syndicates. The Sheriff nominates Guy as boss. He wins by default as nobody contests it. From the dialog, we find that the absent Frank was friends with the now ventilated Boss. The inherent gripe the mobsters had was the inability to maintain order leading to needless infighting and assassinations under the previous leadership.
I was thrown when the mob leadership meeting broke out into song. I should have realized that with the given headliners, the potential for this to be a musical existed. After the song, Frank crashes the meeting and demands to know who took out the old Boss. Frank declines to join the united syndicate and walks out. The funeral for the old boss is surprisingly civil, despite a different funeral nearby disrupting the proceedings with their song. I expected something to come of it, but nothing did.
Guy then goes to visit Frank at a casino/speakeasy and finds another also waiting. Guy tries to negotiate but Frank opts to cut their meeting short, ensuring a war. Frank does meet with the other new arrival and they start a game of pool for absurd stakes in cash on hand. This turns into another song that puts me to sleep. Frank’s recklessness in betting against a pool hustler he doesn’t know tells me he’s not a rational actor. Hustler clears the table in a single round. We finally find out that this is the iteration of Little John.
Hustler advocates going on the offensive before Guy attacks. The two strike at the same time, hitting each others’ clubs in force, smashing the assets but not targeting people. I guess there’s escalation to be had. The musical number in the middle of smashing Guy’s casino just feels out of place. I’m wondering if the movie would have been improved if someone had told these singers “No musical numbers”. And Sammy’s revolvers hold about a thousand rounds each. I thought that was a later Hollywood trope. Worse, the prop Tommy gun looks faker than fake. They should have plenty of reference material.
In the aftermath, Frank hires Ze German to build a new casino that can’t be hit in the same manner. While discussing the plans, the phone starts ringing. It keeps ringing, and my mind keeps going “Isn’t that going to go to voicemail” forgetting two details – this film was made in 1964 and set in the 1920s. The phone would ring until picked up or the caller abandons the attempt.
Marian in this iteration is the daughter of the dead Boss, and she wants revenge and offers to hire Frank to do the killing. The question is left unresolved.
Seeking to renegotiate the Sheriff’s cut of the overall organization’s take, Guy finds the deputy sheriff willing to undercut his boss’ rates, so Sheriff Glick is offed off-screen. I’m guessing Hays Code compliance.
As it was A: Believed that Glick was the one who organized the removal of the old boss, and B: not Frank that did it, Frank declines to take Marian’s money. When she has it couriered over anyway, he gives it away to an orphanage, news of which is leaked to the press by a member of staff. This creates a newspaper frenzy with direct Robin Hood comparisons. We are now halfway through the runtime, and it has lacked the punch offered by the premise of “Robin Hood but gangland Chicago”. So I did a little reading on the Hays code, and in order to do the premise justice, you’d have to cross a lot of the lines you aren’t allowed to cross.
To earn the Robin Hood adaptation certificate, we get a few more instances of charity. And an annoying scene with Allen A Dale and the orphans as Frank leans into the Robin Hood comparison, and we get another annoying musical number where they try to change the manner of dress of Mr Dale. Quite frankly, in my opinion, Mr Dale was better dressed than any of the Hoods before the badgering began. The only problem was that they were holding a black tie event, for which the everyday suit was inappropriate.
At said event, the new Sheriff brings real police to raid and we see what Ze German has been up to. The new casino is built to hide away when the alarm is triggered, taking up the appearance a charitable mission full of homeless. Mr Dale gives a sermon for the gathered actors and officers as a lead-in to yet another musical number. For plot purposes, this scene does not need to be as drawn out as it is. Since it is not a particular strong or consistent musical number, the protracted morality show for the confused cops strikes me as trying to earn points with the code enforcers to offset the other places where the film approaches the line.
Unable to find the casino due to Ze German Engineering, Guy holds another meeting and the plan is suggested to frame Frank for Sheriff Glick’s murder. This is done off-screen and a newspaper headline teleports us into the trial proceedings. Outside of the courtroom, the density of musical numbers has increased. I get that the only talent these guys have is musical, but these songs are not catchy or memorable. We get a brief interlude of plot where Hustler makes moves on Marian, and then Frank is acquitted. Then another musical number.
I’m going to give credit – they identified who their audience was – fans of Sinatra’s music – and leaned into giving them something. This left nothing in the film for those of us outside that demographic. We haven’t had a single gunshot for over an hour of runtime at this point by my reckoning. We do find that Hustler has reorganized the organization during the trial to take over operations and begin shipping funny money in fake cans of soup.
I got distracted from the plot in a wide shot where my immediate thought was “Either Barbara Rush is very tall, Frank Sinatra is very short, those heels are doing a lot of work, or some combination thereof.” Turns out those heels didn’t have to be all that tall. Rush was 5′ 6″. Frank was 5′ 7.5″. Finding a CDC report from 1962 on average height and weight of adults in the US, I found that for the time, Frank was only an inch shorter than the national average for men. Rush was several inches above average for women. I could make short jokes about Frank’s height, but I’m bigger than that.
Marian is behind the takeover, and after a falling out with Hustler over the way she delivered the message to Frank that she intended for him to be a sidelined figurehead. Frank rejects her terms, Hustler walks out as well, so Marian meets with Guy to get her erstwhile business associates dealt with in a definitive manner. She’s an exceedingly bloodthirsty woman in terms of her hit list. Even Guy advocates for a smaller number of corpses.
In another concession to The Code, the attempt on Frank is made off-screen, and we are informed in dialog that Guy is no longer with us. Running out of potential business partners, Marian works on the Acting Sheriff. He gets less hospitality than her previous efforts. In a fit of spite, Marian starts a very public anti-crime campaign, exposing the operation she organized in order to hurt Frank and Hustler. This marks the start of a crack down on the organization, as she had all of the details necessary for the acting sheriff to bust the operations. In the meantime, her mob of angry women go Carrie Nation on his casino.
As the last stinger, we find Marian has discarded the Acting Sheriff in the same manner as the previous personages, and is now working with Mr Dale.
Roll Credits. Thankfully, as this is the ending credits at a time where those were front-loaded, they are short.
The Rat Pack’s acting was unremarkable. It was serviceable for the material provided. The material provided was hamstrung by the code such that the potential of the premise was erased. The internet claims this was a comedy. There was not a single laugh to be had in the runtime. I’ve made it clear that the music is not my cup of tea, but if it’s yours, have at it.
Given how much the code handicapped the ability to tell the story, I feel sorry for the audiences of the day.
Sorry to go directly off topic, but I’ve been catching up on TOG’s saga and I’ll join the chorus that you need to leave immediately. Go find a shelter or someone to stay with. Wherever you go, it can’t be as bad as what’s happening currently. This is your safety we’re talking about.
“He’s only 110 pounds, but 10 pounds of it is cock!”
-Ava Gardner talking about Sinatra
Sounds like he needs to see an oncologist and get treated for that tumor.
Or Ava needs to make an appointment with the local optometrist
Well, she had been married to Mickey Rooney. That might warp one’s view of how endowed men are.
Out of curiosity, I looked up the titles of the musical numbers in the film to see if any had survived the test of time. I’d only ever heard of one of them – “My Kind of Town,” which I would rate as okay but certainly not in the highest tier of The Great American Songbook. Found one Fun Fact about it:
…which is not even the best song from Mary Poppins. 🙄
As much as I tend to enjoy musicals, I think I’ll take a miss on this one. I’d be more inclined to watch Guys and Dolls again. Its numbers are…shall we say… uneven in quality, but it has a handful that are at least enjoyable (to them as what like that sort of thing, as I do.)
What would be the best Mary Poppins musical number?
My favorite is “Feed the Birds,” probably followed by “Let’s Go Fly a Kite.” I’m fond of most of the songs, but I’m sure that’s in large part because I grew up with the musical.
There’s a charming scene (to me, but I’m weird) in Saving Mr. Banks, the back story of the making of Mary Poppins, in which Walt Disney is having the Sherman brothers play some of their songs for P.L. Travers (author of the original Mary Poppins books) as Disney tries to talk her into allowing them to make the film. Despite her stubborn resistance, we see her tapping her toes to “Fly a Kite.”
I like the “Dick van Dyke won’t rape you” song.
Two Fun Facts about Dick Van Dyke’s performance: A.) He has acknowledged publicly that his Cockney accent was…shall we say…lacking, but in his own defense, he pointed out that his vocal coach was Irish. 2.) He was a practicing alcoholic at the time and claims he remembers nothing about the filming of the quite athletic dancing in “Step in Time.”
All I remember is that on Diagnosis: Murder, his son, Barry Van Dyke, had the Exact Same Voice Look away and you could lose track of which one was talking.
Was Dick’s brother Jerry ever on the show with him?
I don’t recall.
imdb’s extensive cast list shows Jerry appeared in one episode in 1999. He was co-starring in Coach for a lot of D:M‘s run or I suspect he might have been in more. There are actually several other Van Dyke’s listed, as well as a LOT of familiar names. I wonder if it became as popular for well-known actors to show up on D:M as it had been to appear on Columbo.
I have never seen Diagnosis: Murder. Is it any good?
FWIW DvD played a wonderful murderer on Columbo.
It’s a formula mystery show catering to the same audience as Murder: She Wrote and similar. If that’s your jam, you’d probably like it. If not, then no.
Dick van Dyke in Columbo, ‘Negative Reaction,’ is fantastic , and a Top Tier episode. It’s damn, damn good. Strongly recommend, as well.
It’s not. 👍
“Was Dick’s brother Jerry ever on the show with him?”
——-
I do know that Dick appeared on “Coach” but I cannot remember if he was credited.
🙂👍
Von Ryan’s express
The real stars were the scenery (Alps and female) and the trains.
The genre is correct, musicals are criminal.
I’m surrounded by savages. 😒
Yes.
My older brothers’ HS did a musical every year. One was in band, another acting. Fond memories.
I think Guy and Dolls was one of them.
My son did a couple in HS, so I saw those. He couldn’t act, but can sing (and play guitar.)
ZWAK’s son?
I was Henry Higgins in my youth, if you put on “My Fair Lady” I still know most of the script (and every song). And I (still) own an original VHS copy of my performance.
***wild applause!!!*** (And I bet you sing better than Rex Harrison!)
some musicals have criminals
My wife hates Rock Operas and in general likes musicals.
I like rock operas like I enjoy the occasional movie that’s so bad they are good.
I can leave musicals b
Okay, I have never seen any Sinatra movies
Not The Manchurian Candidate?
Not From Here to Eternity?
What do you take me for, a cinemaphile?
And a morning person.
You just like being wrong.
Saw Manchurian Candidate decades ago. Remember it as being decent.
Always wondered if the original Ocean’s Eleven was better or worse than the remake.
I saw analysis once that said the original Oceans Eleven was not good and mostly just a means to generate money for the various cast members. The modern remake was considered far superior.
I have never seen the original and can’t comment on it.
Google says:
The 1960 original and 2001 remake of Ocean’s 11 are fundamentally different films, with the remake generally cited as superior in plot complexity and pacing, while the original is valued for its star power and charm.
Key Differences
Cast and Tone: The original relied on the Rat Pack (Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr.) for charisma and humor, resulting in a leisurely, lighter tone. The remake featured an all-star ensemble (George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon) and adopted a sleek, sophisticated, and frenetic pace.
Character Depth: The 1960 version had two-dimensional characters with limited backstories, serving primarily as an excuse for the stars to perform. The 2001 version invested time in fleshing out motivations, giving the crew distinct roles and deeper relationships.
Heist Execution: The original heist was low-tech and occurred midway through the film, followed by a comedic resolution involving a coffin. The remake focused on intricate planning and tension, with the heist serving as the climactic payoff and featuring a more believable, high-stakes scheme.
Motivation: In the original, the crew was motivated by friendship and personal favors. In the remake, Danny Ocean’s primary drive was reuniting with his ex-wife, Tess, adding an emotional core to the robbery.
Huh. I’ve seen the remake decades ago and never had any desire to rewatch.
The original sounds more up my alley, esp. in cast and tone.
One seen the original Oceans 11 and all I remember of it is that I’ve seen it.
The remake is one of Dad’s favorite things to watch. When it’s on TV, it will be watched. See also: Unforgiven, Good Bad and the Indifferent. Strange, its inclusion to his List, IMO.
I rewatched most of it fairly recently. Better made than I remember, and it’s just fun. Slick, well-made fun. And largely, yes, an excuse for the cast to have a good time. Oooh, it is Carl Reiner!
Thanks Kinnath. I saw a shorter version of that argument but your post provides a more robust view. I like the remake and will often watch part of it if it shows up when I’m not doing much. I want to watch the original just because I feel like I need to watch some Rat Pack stuff.
You are welcome.
The first movie came out during the era of movies stars being cool on camera. That was entertainment enough. I remember those movies, and that’s exactly why we watched them and enjoyed them.
The rat pack movies were some of the best from that era.
But the original and the remake are really different movies and need to be judged differently.
Yeah, it may be a generational thing, but the Rat Pack just exude “cool.” Today’s stars have charisma, but it’s just different, IMO.
Today’s stars don’t shut up about politics. See George Clooney as Exhibit #1. Instant turn-off.
That’s odd to me. Because my impression was not of coolness but of assholes. Maybe it was just their screen presence and they were nice guys in real life, but I’d have cast them as villains.
I’m sure they were even bigger assholes off the screen.
Because my impression was not of coolness but of assholes.
I have a vague recollection of reading that the Rat Pack spent most of the filming of Ocean’s Eleven drunk, to the extent that script rewrites and expanding the roles of secondary characters was required.
Trump is such a camera whore.
Ugh is he flapping his gums again?
The best, most beautiful gums. There have never been any like them in history. Can you believe it? When the dentist sees my gums they are amazed, they tell me, you know I’ve seen a lot of dentists in my time. They tell me it’s because I drink the Diet Coke. No sugar. Sugar is bad for your teeth, see no plaque on my gum line.
*polite applause*
He reminded me of Homer Simpson in the episode where he ends up in the superbowl-winning team’s dressing room.
Didn’t this have Sammy Davis Jr singing “Bang Bang?”
yes. His thousand round revolvers were the last gunshots in the movie. The remainder of the violence was only implied and off-screen.
That is the song of my people
They killed Columbo off screen? That’s a sincere shame. I bet the cast was paid well and had a good time. Your punographic fun was noted, and Hays Code compliant.
Reminds me I should rewatch “Murder by Death,” or watch it for the first time, cuz I saw it as a kid. I remember Capote being very goofy, but Falk is fun cuz he’s playing a not-Columbo detective. Also stars Peter Sellers, David Niven, Eileen Brennen, Maggie Smith, and Alec Guinness with Capote.
Agreed on “Murder by Death” – it’s great fun.
Wait, Neil Simon wrote “Murder By Death”?!
Yes. Yes, he did.
He also wrote something Jerry’s girlfriend ‘stole’ to express how much she misses him after they broke up.
Think about it.
Catherine Keener. An actress I really like.
I’ve got it on DVD. The wife hates when it goes on.
Thanks for reminding me – I’d meant to acknowledge this:
…with this: 🤨
🙇♂️
(and also a golf clap.)
Yes, not opaque is he. One Frank Skinner had a great story on QI about him and his writing partner: “Peter Falk only has one eye, but Columbo has both. Discuss.” Skinner and his partner had an ‘hours-long’ debate over the question of whether Peter Falk’s glass eye was actually “playing the part” of a real eye as Columbo.
Funny stuff, that.
Fun fact: he referenced his eye in a latter episode.
Some quip along the lines of “three eyes are better than two”.
@rhy: Oooh! I don’t remember that! I’ve certainly seen ’em all, but I’m sure there are a few I don’t remember. I watched the Jack Cassidy Great Santini one last night on Pluto. That one had slipped my mind. I think he died a few months after that one came out.
Personal theory: There *is* no Mrs. Columbo. He certainly has a dog, and some Mrs. Columbo references are him re-framing stuff she does. Think about it. (That one, isn’t the worst theory I’ve ever had.)
“Murder by Death” is great.
“You feed cat dog food?”
Hey, speaking of musicals: Have we done Cannibal! The Musical yet on glibflicks?
If not, I checked and it’s currently free on Tubi and Pluto and a few other sites.
I did Team America: World Police a few weeks back and it got a very “meh” response. I absolutely will add it for you, but it might be a low tide for comments.
If we’re (where-by we, I mean you) doing a Parker & Stone series, I think “Orgazmo” would be a good choice. It’s about the right humor level for this crows. Well, for me anyway. Who cares about all you other barbarians and savages?
I still have the STEVE SMITH contract clause. If I drop below 50 comments, STEVE pays a visit.
BY VISIT MEAN…
Orgazmo would be a better choice, but I didn’t see it streaming anywhere for free.
It was appreciated. Just not as good as I thought I remembered.
It was appreciated
I appreciate even the bad movies even if I’m wondering “WTF am I watching?” or thinking “This wasn’t as good as I remember”. GlibFlick is a good series.
I’m not a fan of musical theater (ex wife has her MFA in theater education) but I wont turn off “Guys and Dolls” if its on.
so, she truly has an MrS degree. Is it from a finishing school, like Oberlin?
Miami of Ohio
I would tell people “i make it seem like she has a degree in drama- she legit has a degree in drama”.
/which I paid for but luckily Im not bitter
Oddly excited to get back to work tomorrow. I’m fully aware I’m gonna have a few, understandable, gaps to relearn, after only two ‘full’ property purchases under my belt. More like one and a half. But new dude and I are doing well. He’s also a Cubs fan.
I also learned I have tomorrow and Tuesday to myself. Mom’s got a performance and she’s doing her one-woman show as Mary Todd Lincoln, post beau’s death. Thankfully, Dad doesn’t act but he’s written and produced a few plays. (Hers is very well done. Much, much better.)
Kinda an exciting breech to go down. I just hate waking up when everyone else is trained to. From now on, Central Standard Evan Time. Universal. Deal.
Im the old guy at work now. After two weeks off of work doing fuck all…I don’t want to go back. But I will, and I will do all that is required. Cherry on top is fixing and restoring radars that will be replaced in 5 months. Unleashing funding and cutting red tape on this venture; I will give Trump the win.
I’m so, so tired of my coworkers’ shit. I spend so much of my time trying to fix their mistakes.
It makes me real tired of all this breathing shit.
It would be interesting to see a study of how many CEO’s used to actually come from the lower ranks of the company they go on to oversee versus today where you have a bunch of hacks who just seem to shuffle along to the next board or CEO position and have no fucking clue what’s really going on in a specific industry. It seems a hell of a lot more common. A parasitic managerial class with MBA’s from the Ivy’s who all think they’re god’s gift to business. Come in, do some dumb shit to try and get a few good quarters to boost their image and stock options and then move on to the next sinking ship.
The WB guy was brought on to helm the ship for a few years. Goal – make the company look slightly less shitty so it could be sold off. No long term plan to fix things and Paramount is inheriting a mess and massive debt.
There’s like no fundamentals guiding the decisions of most of these corporations. CEO’s are like widgets you can change in and out these days.
Not just the ivies.
Still don’t see ToG in my inbox. This is a very concerning situation, but I am not the least bit shocked.
I asked earlier, but I’ll repeat – has anyone gotten any real details as to what is even going on? We have some vague idea it seems like unless I missed something over the last few days.
ToG often speaks obliquely, but what I think is happening is that she invited Yusef for a visit or a place to stay (don’t know which) and I guess her mom’s involved somehow, and Yusef’s being a danger to himself and others. Possibly violence? Not sure, but enough for her to say “things are bad here” and post her actual address with zip code two nights in a row. Not sure if we were supposed to take that and run with it, but I’m hesitant to call cops if I’m not sure it’ll help.
I was hoping she’d leave the house and contact somebody here so we could round up some resources for her. It’s not like we don’t have an idea what she’s dealing with.
My understanding was similar and I’m not questioning anything you said. But we all seem to know very little and we are getting nowhere just repeatedly asking her to reach out or explain or do anything else.
I think it’s at the point where it’s like a wellness check or nothing if her address is known. It’s either that or do nothing as I see it.
This is a community that obviously has at least a mild distrust of law enforcement, but nothing else seems actionable.
Yes. That’s where I’ve landed philosophically, so, we wait. Or we don’t. I’m not your supervisor.
I don’t know what the next step should be either. I hope she gets out of the situation safely.
ToG: “Help, things are bad here!”
Glibs: “Here’s my email and/or phone number, reach out to me if you need help. And get to a shelter if you have to.”
::A day passes::
ToG: “Help, things are bad here!”
Every day this pattern repeats, it seems more like a cry for attention than a cry for help.
This is also a community where we believe people have agency. If she needs help, she can ask for it. Directly.
Let her sort out her own business, whatever that actually is, unless an explicit plea is given.
“Not sure if we were supposed to take that and run with it, but I’m hesitant to call cops if I’m not sure it’ll help.”
——-
This is where I was too. And I also felt a bit hesitant to make an international emergency call (as I recall Lil’ Stretch Trump had more info/evidence when he acted).
ToG’s a big girl. If she wants to leave, call the cops, reach out for real help, she knows how. If she hasn’t, well, she hasn’t, and that’s her call.
It’s that time again, my Glibs. Mornin.
⏰🍩
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z71df68qLp0
🎶🎶
Good morning, Sean, Stinky, ChipP, and Grumble!
Good morning!
Good morning, Ted’S.! How are you today?
Good morning!
I’m actually taking a three-day weekend.
How’s the air quality where you are, ChipP? Hope you’re not in the thick of the wildfire smoke!
That’s great, Ted’S.! Going hiking some more?
Morning, all y’all,
Smoke has been gone for a couple days, wind from the south keeping it out.
Life is good.
Good morning, 4(20)! Glad to hear that!
Morning, GT.
I called out of work today. It’s actually been a remarkably long time since my last sick day. Honestly, improving my diet and starting to lose weight has done wonders for overall health, as sick days were more common before I started this run.
Recovering from yesterday, since that’s one of the steeper hikes.
https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/new-york/devils-path-to-the-jimmy-dolan-notch-overlook-and-twin-mountain-summit
About 1450′ of vertical gain in 2½ miles, but looking at the topographical map, half of that gain is in the last 2/3 of a mile or so. Quite a few spots where I have to sit down and shimmy my way down the rocks, especially with Saturday’s rain not having dried.
The hikes up to the various fire towers are *much* easier.
That’s wonderful, U! I hope you’re not really feeling too bad today. (If you’re just playing hooky, we won’t tell!)
Wow! That looks like quite the workout, Ted’S.!
A little brown haze, but much better than last week.
@GT – It’s relatively minor, but I also could have soldiered on through it.
Why put yourself through that when you have the time available, U? Take it easy!
GT: https://x.com/JustACineast/status/2078835177413812706
If you can expand the photo you might see the red trail marker on the tree in the top right.
suh’ fam
whats goody
Good morning, homey!
I’m quite literally forcing myself into work today. I’m tired of the job, but its my only marketable skill.
The one thing Im good at and I hate it.
You could start a niche OnlyFans.
Lots of big stars have done “gay for pay”, it’s just a stepping stone Tres 😉
For most of the second half of my career, I didn’t have to force myself to go to work. For the last year or so, though, I was just, I dunno, tired and ready to be done with it. Heart not in it anymore.
And I feel very fortunate that before I just wore out on it, I really did enjoy my work.