Tony Bennett Movies

Hollywood music consultant Bruce Ricker teams with filmmaking legend Clint Eastwood to take an intimate look at the life and career of beloved crooner Tony Bennett. Utilizing Eastwood's interviews with the octogenarian vocalist and rare performance footage as a sturdy foundation, Ricker's documentary lovingly illustrates how Bennett has influenced American music and culture for over more than sixty years.. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

The concert film Tony Bennett: An American Classic serves as a video accompaniment and companion piece to the legendary crooner's 2006 album of the same title. On that LP, Bennett duets on a series of pop standards, with nineteen of the world's top rock and pop artists. In the film version - originally produced and aired on NBC - Bennett teams up with many of the same guests, including Christina Aguilera, k.d. Lang, Stevie Wonder, Chris Botti, Elton John, Juanes, John Legend, Barbra Streisand and Diana Krall, to celebrate his own 80th birthday. Rob Marshall, the helmer of Chicago, directs. Tracks include: "Smile" with Streisand, "Sing, You Sinners" with Legend, "Because of You" with Lang and Botti, "The Best is Yet to Come" with Krall, "The Shadow of Your Smile" with Juanes, "Rags to Riches with John, "Just in Time" with Michael Buble, "For Once in My Life" with Wonder and "Steppin' Out" with Aguilera. Bennett then performs his standard closer, the seminal "I Left My Heart in San Francisco," as a solo number. Throughout, Marshall and his collaborators re-create, via elaborate onstage production design, classic settings from various periods in Bennett's life and career, including the 52nd Street Swing Club, one of the earlier incarnations of Columbia's recording studio, Carnegie Hall, the stage of the 'Rat Pack,' the set of Bennett's infamous MTV Unplugged performance in the early nineties, and much, much more. As these settings magically come to life on stage, such celebrities as Catherine Zeta-Jones, Billy Crystal, Robert de Niro, John Travolta and Bruce Willis, recount the tale of Bennett's life, career and musical journey, and their narration is interwoven with the musical performances by Bennett and his fellow vocalists. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

After a bad day at work, a man suddenly gets a new job -- as the world's new Heavenly Father -- in this comedy. Bruce Nolan (Jim Carrey) is a television reporter working in Buffalo, NY, who has been growing increasingly dissatisfied with his existence, and after an especially bad day, he flies into a rage and curses God for making his life miserable. To Bruce's great surprise, the Supreme Being Himself (Morgan Freeman) appears, and tries to convince Bruce of the enormity of his task. Bruce, however, isn't buying it, so God gives him a chance to find out what he's up against; God bestows all of his powers on Bruce for a week, to see how he'd handle things. At first, Bruce has a great time bending the world around him to his will, much to the puzzlement of his girlfriend, Grace (Jennifer Aniston), but after six days God stops by to remind Bruce he hasn't done much to make the Earth a better place. Disappointed, God presents Bruce with an ultimatum -- he has one day to improve the world in a concrete way, or God will toss the planet back into the void. Bruce Almighty was directed by Tom Shadyac, who previously teamed with Jim Carrey for Liar, Liar and Ace Ventura: Pet Detective. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Dreamcatcher Records presents Kenny Rogers: A&E Live By Request, a live performance program originally shown on A&E. Released in 2001, the presentation includes the Rogers classics "Islands in the Stream," "Daytime Friends," "She Believes in Me," "Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town," "Love Will Turn You Around," "The Greatest," "Love or Something Like It," "Through the Years," "Lucille," "Don't Fall in Love With a Dreamer," "Coward of the County," "Lady," "Crazy," "The Gambler," "We've Got Tonight," and "You Decorated My Life." ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide

While Tony Bennett may have left his heart in San Francisco, don't think he doesn't love his hometown of New York City. This documentary video features the great vocalist answering questions about his life and career and taking in the sights of The City That Never Sleeps, intercut with concert footage of Tony wowing an audience in Atlantic City. Songs include "Rags to Riches," "For Once in My Life," "I Got Rhythm," "Just in Time," and many others. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Family, friends, and associates recall "The Chairman of the Board" in this compilation video that salutes the world renowned, sometimes controversial singer and celebrity Francis Albert Sinatra (1915-1998). Born in Hoboken, NJ, Sinatra became one of the world's most admired all-around entertainers. Besides making and breaking records (literally and figuratively), "Old Blue Eyes" made his mark as a radio star, an Academy Award-winning actor, and a quintessential Las Vegas act. His work in television was less celebrated, but he put in his time there as well, starring in musical variety shows for CBS and ABC, as well as numerous TV specials. Highlights of this video include archival performance footage and a clip of Sinatra being interviewed by the influential Edward R. Murrow. ~ Steve Blackburn, All Movie Guide

This video captures Tony Bennett performing before an adoring audience during a 1998 concert that was recorded for A&E as part of their Live By Request series. Featuring appearances by such luminaries as Elvis Costello, Billy Joel, and Sting, the concert fins Bennett performing timeless favorites like "Fly Me to the Moon", "Steppin' Out With My Baby", "Chicago", and "They Can't Take That Away From Me". ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

Some of the most legendary rock & roll artists perform some of their hit songs acoustically before a small, intimate studio audience in this collection of clips from MTV's popular Unplugged series. Some of the performers and songs featured on this tape include "Late in the Evening" by Paul Simon; "Pulling Mussels From a Shell" performed by Squeeze; the venerable Tony Bennett singing "I Left My Heart in San Francisco"; "We Can Work It Out" by Paul McCartney; "Hold My Hand" by Hootie and the Blowfish; Hall and Oates singing "She's Gone"; "Back to You" by Bryan Adams; and the remarkable Eric Clapton performing "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out." ~ Forrest Spencer, All Movie Guide

Hosted by standup comedian David Steinberg, ABC television's Music Scene was a unique, eclectic, and never-equaled program that the network nevertheless canceled after half a season. It aired prime time on Tuesday nights and ran an unusual slot-time of 45 minutes (paired with Aaron Spelling's 45-minute dramatic series The New People, about hip college kids stranded on an island). Music Scene regulars included Lily Tomlin and Larry Hankin. This sixth episode in the video release of the series features James Brown performing "Mother Popcorn," Dusty Springfield doing "A Brand New Me" and "The Look of Love," The Everly Brothers harmonizing a medley of their hits, Joe Cocker singing "Something," and Zager & Evans singing their hit sci-fi song about the "progress" of humanity, "In the Year 2525." Each week's musical guest line-up was based on Billboard Magazine's hit-record charts, so these episodes provide priceless television performances by virtually every major music star from the time, whether they worked in rock, country, soul, folk, or pop. Steinberg went on to become a successful television director. ~ Steve Blackburn, All Movie Guide

The basic cable station A&E created the Live By Request series in order to showcase performers who would play songs requested via E-mail by the home viewing audience. This video contains Johnny Mathis' appearance on the program. Among the over a dozen songs performed by the crooner are "Chances Are", "Misty", "Too Much. Too Little, Too Late", and "Wonderful! Wonderful!" ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

After several weeks filming The Scout in the late 1970s, star Peter Falk and director Howard Zieff abandoned the project. Two decades later, writer Andrew Bergman gave his original script to Albert Brooks and Monica Johnson, who polished it as a vehicle for Brooks and director Michael Ritchie. Brooks stars as Al Percolo, a talent scout for the New York Yankees whose latest recruit (Michael Rapaport) has just vomited on the field and fled. Sent to Mexico as punishment by his boss (Lane Smith), Percolo finds phenomenal young pitcher Steve Nebraska (Brendan Fraser). Before he can get back to the Big Apple, however, Percolo gets pink-slipped by the Yankees, so he offers Nebraska as a free agent. After a stellar tryout, Nebraska is signed for millions. Soon after, he starts to exhibit odd behaviors that may be linked to psychological problems. A psychiatrist (Dianne Wiest) hired by the ball club wants Nebraska in daily therapy, so Percolo ends up babysitting a mentally unstable pitcher. Brooks' normally winning mix of laughs with psychological insights didn't add up to box office or critical success, despite cameos from real-life sports figures such as George Steinbrenner and Steve Garvey. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide