Actors:
Tony Bennett,Clint Eastwood
Description:
A class act in every respect, Tony Bennett deserves the same in a documentary tribute, and The Music Never Ends is just that, an 87-minute compilation of music and words that's as likably modest as the octogenarian singer himself. Born in New York in 1926, the former Anthony Benedetto grew up during the Depression, served in World War II, hit the big time in the 1950s, marched in Selma, Alabama with Martin Luther King, Jr., faded from the scene during the rock-dominated '60s, became an estimable painter, and then, with son Danny as his manager, staged a revival that earned him many young fans and continues to this day. All of that is detailed (by celeb talking heads like Harry Belafonte, Martin Scorsese, Mel Brooks, and Alec Baldwin, as well as various critics and pundits) in the film, but the most entertaining content, of course, is the music. There are concert and television performances spanning more than half a century, from "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" in '53 to Monterey in '05 (his gig at that year's Jazz Festival occupies a second disc, with bits and pieces scattered throughout the main documentary); we see Bennett at the Grand Ol' Opry in '55 (singing Hank Williams' "Cold Cold Heart"), on several TV talk fests (including a wonderful, if too short, clip with the great jazz pianist Bill Evans on The Tonight Show), and even on Saturday Night Live, in an amusing bit with Baldwin impersonating Bennett and "Anthony Benedetto" as one of his talk show guests. The presentation is pretty impressive, too: the composers and lyricists of every song are identified, Clint Eastwood co-produced (the principal bonus feature is an informal conversation between the two), Anthony Hopkins narrates, and medleys of several songs (including the inevitable "I Left My Heart in San Francisco") combine Bennett performances from different eras; two especially delightful sequences intersperse Bennett's versions of "They Can't Take That Away From Me" and "I Got Rhythm" with clips from films featuring Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly, respectively. Hot stuff. --Sam Graham
