The word on the street (not my street but somebody’s street) is that the Scorcese/DiCaprio Sinatra biopic now in the planning stages is set during the legendary singer/actor/prick’s slump years–basically 1948-53. This is when he deserted his family for Ava Gardner, pissed off most of the world’s press and melted down professionally. He had chronic laryngitis, got into ridiculous fights in nightclubs and was generally an even bigger horses ass than he was in other periods of his life. Seen here in the 1951 vehicle ‘Meet Danny Wilson’, Sinatra has none of his boyish charm nor his soon-to-be revealed middle-age menace. He is scrawny and mugs ridiculously during this duet with Shelley Winters. Shelley far outshines him in this rendition of ‘A Good Man Is Hard To Find’ and is so alluring that it’s hard to understand why Montgomery Clift killed her (sort of) on that lake in the same year’s ‘A Place In The Sun’. (Actually it’s not really that hard to understand; he had Elizabeth Taylor waiting for him at the family manor). I enjoy the Sinatra of this period as he’s hapless and distracted. I’m curious as to how (or why) DiCaprio winds up portraying him; as volatile washed-up diva? Or confused mess of a love-struck former star? Or a little bit of both? Apparently Frank and Shelley didn’t like each other and at some point she hauled off and actually socked him. Good for her!