Sammy Davis Jr. – Singing At His Best
Picture: C
Sound: C Extras: D Main Program: B-
There is a great scenes, one of many, in Martin Scorsese’s
Goodfellas (1990) where a girlfriend of Joe Pesci’s Tommy DeVito stars
raving about how talented Sammy Davis Jr. is.
This irritates him very much, but we learn how talented she thinks he
is, form his singing, to his impersonations of other performers. The film does not show us this and much of
the material on Davis that usually shows up on DVD is when the Rat Pack is on
the prowl. Singing At His Best
is a new collection of older performances that shows exactly what that
girlfriend date was talking about, and it turns out she was right.
After a clip of when Davis was a child performer (You
Rascal You), we get song after clip after song that shows why Davis Jr. was
a great entertainer, whether it was his dancing, singing or those
impersonations. Such references will be
lost for the most part on current generations, but they are good for those who
do know, and at least amusing to those who do not. The songs are:
1) You
Rascal You
2) Hey
There
3) The
Birth Of The Blues
4) Because
Of You
5) This
Could be The Start Of Something Big (from the TV show Hullabaloo)
6) Toot
Toot Tootsie (with Diana Ross, Florence Ballard & Mary Wilson: The
Supremes)
7) My
Shining Hour
8) Who Can
I Turn To
9) I’ve Got
You Under My Skin
10) You Came A Long Way From St. Louis
11) One For My Baby
12) There’s A Boat Dat’s Leaving Soon For New
York
13) Shall We Dance
The set is only about 50 minutes; there is an introduction
and a montage at the end with an instrumental nod to Davis. The picture quality varies, but all the
footage is monochrome (black & white).
In a few cases, there is kinescope footage that has been reconfigured to
eliminate distortion and is slightly letterboxed. All the sound in Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono, adding up to average
playback performance, but it is a strong if all too short set of Davis is prime
form that is worth a look.
- Nicholas Sheffo
