Clint Eastwood Presents: Tony Bennett - The Music Never Ends

Chris M. Slawecki

Senior Editor since 1996

Chris M. Slawecki has been published in music industry and related publications for more than thirty years and has served AllAboutJazz.com as Senior Editor since 1997.

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Published: April 11, 2008

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Other noteworthy clips include Bennett's mom reciting an obviously scripted interview response, appearing frightened as a rabbit; and Bing Crosby singing Cole Porter's "Now You Has Jazz" arm-in-arm with Louis Armstrong in the movie High Society (1956), a number they absolutely kill.

His breakout, "I Left My Heart in San Francisco," is reflected through several prisms. After the singer admits that he thought the flip side ("Once Upon a Time") would be the hit, he is shown performing it at Monterey, on The Ed Sullivan Show and in duet with the star of The Doris Day Show. It is also shown as a poignant duet between Bennett and the star of The Judy Garland Show, the pair seeming to crackle musical electricity; by its end, the oft-troubled Garland seems to cling to his arm like a lifeline, then bubbles over with out-loud laughter at the sheer joy of their joint performance of the song. "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" landed Bennett a 1962 headlining gig at Carnegie Hall which, to this day, he calls "the best moment of my whole career."

Tony Bennett—The Music Never Ends returns executive producer Eastwood and director Ricker to the heights of their previous collaboration on Thelonious Monk: Straight, No Chaser (2001, Warner Home Video), one of the most thorough, respectful and justifiably famous documentaries to ever honor a jazz musician.

Personnel: Clint Eastwood, Tony Bennett, Harry Belafonte, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong

Produced for PBS's American Masters series. Directed by Bruce Ricker. Narrator: Anthony Hopkins. Release date: October 13, 2007. Run time: 123 minutes. Region 1. Anamorphic Widescreen. Audio: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo. Disc 1: Clint Eastwood Presents Tony Bennett: the Music Never Ends; Disc 2: Bonus Disc—Tony Bennet Concert Performance at the 2005 Monterey Jazz Festival

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