A swooning study of "Mack the Knife" singer Bobby Darin and specifically his relationship with wife Sandra Dee.
Co-writer/Director: Kevin Spacey
Stars: Kevin Spacey, Kate Bosworth, John Goodman, Bob Hoskins.
Rob Ashford ... choreographer
Melanie A. Gage ... associate choreographer / dance teacher: Mr. Spacey
Carol Lee Meadows ... assistant choreographer
Spencer Soloman ... assistant to choreographer
disc arrived recently
24 songs in the Soundtracks, 6 (co-)written by Bobby Darin. KS did all his own singing (and did it well), using the original BD arrangements. Excellent song selections.
KS (b. '59, looking older) is much too old to play BD (d. age 37).
I'm not a huge BD fan, but La Mer is one of my favorite tunes, BD had a hit from the English version, and KS does it here. One of my favorite films, Come September ('61, sex farce with Rock Hudson, Gina Lollobrigida, Sandra Dee, Walter Slezak; my rating 8), co-stars BD, and he wrote the 2 songs there. That film is mentioned by name in this one; it's where BD met SD.
In a featurette, KS explains he did wall-to-wall musicals from age 14 to early 20s, but this is his 1st professional singing/dancing gig. It's his 2nd & last (so far) film direction credit.
The ensemble dancing is excellent, and KS keeps up. He's no D.Van Dyke, but I couldn't keep my eyes off him.
The story is presented interestingly. Some of the musical performances are there because this is a biopic of a singer, so he sings. But the really big production numbers are actual book-musical numbers to convey feelings/ideas about his life. Plus we get the child-Bobby contributor standing with adult BD, and he sings/dances well too. Really my kind of film.
Rated 6.7 (13,914)
LionsGate & more, dir. Spacey; 7
