Product Details

• Format: Color, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Questar
• VHS Release Date: July 25, 2000
• Run Time: 70 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (49 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 1568556896
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #143,059 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

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

Beyond the Sea soundtrack liner notes

"I recently watched 1973's Mack is Back! The man...is without question in a league of his own."--Kevin Spacey

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

60 of 61 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a timeless entertainer, February 14, 2002

By 

Alejandra Vernon "artist & illustrator" (Long Beach, California) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

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This review is from: Bobby Darin - Mack is Back [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This is an uncut tape Darin made for NBC in '73, and he exudes so much energy throughout that it's hard to believe he was so ill at the time, and that 9 months later he would be gone from this earth.
It's also a strange tape in that it doesn't feel dated...outside of the oh-so-'70's haircuts on the band (Darin makes fun of his "fake" !), it has such freshness and vitality, that it somehow feels as though it could have been made yesterday.

His breath control and phrasing are marvelous, in the up-tempo numbers as well as the ballads...the songs performed are: For Once in My Life/ Help Me Make it Through the Night/ Can't Take My Eyes off of You/ Bridge Over Troubled Water/ Beyond the Sea/ Higher and Higher/ Midnight Special/ If I Was a Carpenter/ Lonesome Whistle/ A Simple Song of Freedom/ You are My Sunshine/ Bo Diddley/ Splish Splash, and it ends with Mack the Knife, which is taken from the beginning of the show while he's still wearing his tie.

A few ad-libs are not miked well and are nearly inaudible, but most of them are fine and very funny. He plays the guitar in a flamenco bit, the piano and the harmonica, and his back-up band is terrific, as well as the trio of singers called The Last Chapter.
This is a fast moving hour and 12 minutes...and a wonderful record of this multi-talented showman. If you're a Darin fan, don't miss it.

29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A true performer!, January 14, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Bobby Darin - Mack is Back [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Bobby Darin was (and still is) an original! What an excellent performer. There was nobody like him and this video proves it. I am only 39 at this writing (Jan. 2001) and believe that Bobby Darin is among the all-time greats. I discovered him while watching a television documentary and have since been listening to his music. But it is this video which spotlights his varied talents and love for different musical styles. He could do it all. What a loss to have such a magnificent entertainer die so young. This video should be shown to all performance arts students to show them what real stage presence is. This guy had charisma dripping out of every pore in his body. He never stopped moving and you can tell by watching this that he felt every note of every song. There are only a very few true performers and Bobby Darin is one of them. It is such a shame he was taken away from us so soon. It is also a shame in the midst of all of this horrible so-called music, younger people will never know what real entertainment really is. If you loved Darin, this video is a MUST! If you want to see what a true, talented entertainer does - this is the video! Bobby Darin had such a smooth and what appeared to be effortless vocal delivery and a totally unique and special vocal style and voice. Grab every Darin video and CD that you can. Talent does not come along like this anymore!

32 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Most Electrifiying Roller-Coaster of a Nightclub Act, November 8, 2004

By 

Mack_T_Knife "dbmcsd" (USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Bobby Darin - Mack Is Back (DVD)

Bobby Darin's energy is absolutely remarkable in his last recorded performance before his death. He sings, dances, plays the harmonica, guitar, and piano with remarkable soul, feeling, and unabashed confidence. This is one of those shows where you walk out with your heart beating fast, feeling refreshed and alive.

Darin swings the big band numbers hard, croons better than Sinatra, rocks out with soul and power like James Brown and Jerry Lee Lewis rolled together, and whispers tender folk songs like a Dylanesque-poet bard.

Some reviewers may wish that he stay in one type (crooner, rocker, folkie, etc.) that is their particular favorite genre of music, but Darin will wow you with his command of all styles of music. Even more remarkably, he shifts genres seamlessly to maintain the continuity of the show, thus giving the audience an appreciation for all types of music and how they are inter-related and fused.

See this video and be energized at the remarkable last recorded show of a man that has been repeatedly called by fans and musicians "the greatest performer of the 20th century."

Even his elder and more famous rival, Frank Sinatra, said it best when he said, "Nobody does it better than Darin."

Too right!

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