Themes: Musician's Life, Dangerous Friends, Fish Out of Water
Main Cast: Ian Hart, Kelly MacDonald, Alun Armstrong, Brian Cox, Tommy Flanagan
Release Year: 2000
Country: UK
Run Time: 97 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
A nobody walks a dangerous path in a bid to become a big-shot in this gritty drama from the United Kingdom. Tony Cocozza (Ian Hart) is a small-time Scottish vocalist with a gimmick -- he loves the music of Frank Sinatra, and his repertoire consists almost entirely of songs associated with Ol' Blue Eyes. While Tony has a good voice and can bring off Sinatra's material quite well, he's a clueless nebbish offstage and hasn't been able to advance his career beyond the bottom rungs of the Scottish nightclub circuit. One night, while Tony waits out an intermission in his dressing room, an imposing-looking man named Chisolm (Brian Cox) arrives with a request -- his boss (Iain Cuthbertson) would prefer to hear some songs by Elvis Presley. Chisolm's boss turns out to be a powerful and dangerous crime kingpin, so Tony swallows his pride and sings like The King for a few minutes; the mobster is pleased, and Tony soon finds himself playing a better grade of nightclubs and spending his spare time with some of Glasgow's most notorious crime figures. Bill (Alun Armstrong), Tony's pianist and closest companion, warns Tony that he's getting in over his head with his new and dangerous friends, but imagining success is finally around the corner -- and emboldened by his new relationship with Irene (Kelly MacDonald), a pretty but cynical cigarette girl he met at a gig -- Tony refuses to listen to him. Strictly Sinatra also stars Tommy Flanagan and Richard E. Grant. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Iain Cuthbertson; Billy McColl; Richard E. Grant; Jimmy Tarbuck; Jimmy Yuill; Alex Howden; Pauline Lockhart
Credit
Mike Gunn - Art Director, Kate Carin - Costume Designer, David Gilchrist - First Assistant Director, Peter Capaldi - Director, Martin Walsh - Editor, Duncan Kenworthy - Executive Producer, Andrew Macdonald - Executive Producer, Stanislas Syrewicz - Composer (Music Score), Martyn John - Production Designer, Ruth Kenley-Letts - Producer, Jim Greenhorn - Sound/Sound Designer, Peter Capaldi - Screenwriter
The film is about a young Italian lounge singer, Toni Cocozza, with a passion for Frank Sinatra and the dream of becoming a hugely famous musician. When Toni crosses paths with the mob in his Glasgow neighborhood, it initially seems like he has found the fast track to success. But he soon discovers that the price of success is more costly than he anticipated. Tony finds himself doing favors for the mob that lead him deeper into an underworld of violence and trouble, and further away from the singing he loves.
Critical Reception
The film received less than stellar reviews from critics upon its release, despite the well-regarded cast. Filmcritic.com's Christopher Null wrote, "Aside from good singin' and the always engaging Kelly Macdonald (as a cigarette girl who becomes Cocozza's girlfriend), there's just not much movie here. [1]The BBC's Jamie Russell shared similar sentiments: "Lacking the scope or ambition that a feature film deserves, this could have made a passable TV drama, but on the big screen it's simply pointless. Not even the talented cast, which includes Ian Hart in the lead and the ever-reliable Brian Cox as one of the main gangsters, can enliven proceedings."[2]
