Bobby Darin - Mack Is Back
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Bobby DarinDVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0
Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 70 minutes
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Questar
Movie Reviews of Bobby Darin - Mack Is Back
Movie Review: A Legendary Performer's Last Recorded Performance
Summary: 5 Stars
"Mack is Back" is a must-have for any Darin fan. Other reviewers have commented that Darin was "trying too hard" to keep up with the times by performing a great deal of country, folk and R&B during this 1973 show for NBC. I beg to differ, however.While songs like "Bridge Over Troubled Water" and "Midnight Special" may not be as musically sophisticated as "Mack the Knife" and "Beyond the Sea," that is not the point. The point is that Darin could do anything, in any genre, and do it better than so-called "legends" of those genres, like Paul Simon for instance. Darin's rendition of "Bridge Over Troubled Water" is soulful, bluesy and ga-zillions of times better than the Simon version. Ditto for every other song Darin performs that is not one of his own originals.
Darin was unusual. He wanted to excel in every genre, and did. He was also driven to do that to a degree that most of us aren't. As practically every biography of him has stated, Darin was always haunted by the fact that he was likely to die young. Therefore, there was a lot that he felt he had to cram into a short time. So for those who think that Darin was merely "trying to be hip", I disagree. Rather, it was more likely that he was always experimenting and trying new things because he might never again have the chance.
Plus, watching this performance, one would never guess that Darin would be dead in less than a year. He was quite ill at the time he did this, but you'd never guess that from his tour de force performance.
So to sum up, this is a great performance from a great entertainer. There never has been, and never will be, another one like Bobby Darin.
Summary of Bobby Darin - Mack Is Back
Now for the first time, viewers get an up close and personal look at Darin's last television performance that was never aired! Presented in its original unedited format, audiences can experience the show from the front row, as if they were there. And although recorded in 1973, the vibrant color camera-work, lighting and audio production of NBC studios appear as current as Mr. Darin's timeless appeal. The DVD also features family photographs and never-before-released home movies of Bobby with his wife Sandra Dee and their son Dodd. Seldom-seen TV footage of The Andy Williams and Flip Wilson Shows and rare Hollywood trailers of his early feature films Come September and Pressure Point are included as well as commentary about Darin's Oscar-nominated role in Captain Newman, M.D. by the film's star Gregory Peck. Plus, the interactive discography makes the DVD an invaluable source on the Darin era.Singer Bobby Darin's last recorded performance is an entertaining look at a versatile, freewheeling talent. Taped in March 1973 in Los Angeles, the 70-minute show spotlights a finger-snappin', jive-talkin' hipster who combined Frank Sinatra's saloon-singer sophistication with Elvis Presley's blues/rock/country/R&B chops. Darin hits like "Splish Splash," the lovely "If I Were a Carpenter," and "Beyond the Sea" are included, along with the inevitable "Mack the Knife" (which is tacked onto the end and appears to come from another performance entirely) and a variety of other familiar tunes. Darin, of course, is the cynosure, telling jokes and stories, doing impressions, playing guitar, piano, and even some very decent blues harp. And while the tone of the show occasionally veers toward slick, Vegas-style vacuity, one can only wonder how brightly Darin's star might have shone had his chronically weak heart not given out nine months later, when he was just 37. --Sam Graham
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