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Posted on 08/25/2025 9:09:37 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Despite being one of the most famaous men in the world, ‘Ol’ Blue Eyes’ remains somewhat of a mystery. With so many rumours swirling around Frank Sinatra’s decades long career, it’s hard to untangle the myth from the man.
The stories rang from the silly to the downright deranged, from the more boyish antics of him and his rat pack to him using his potential mafia connection to threaten the Mamas and Papas.
Some of the tales are believable. It’s easy to assume that the famed singer did have some level of mob ties, but is it believable that he might use them to organise for his own son to be kidnapped, as one conspiracy theory goes?
Wild times just seemed to follow him. As one of the best known singers in the world, and one of the most successful of his times, he had life at his feet. He could do anything he wanted, buy anything he wanted, seemingly marry anyone he desired or pick a fight with anyone he disliked, no matter how famous they also were.
But could he take on a whole country? In 1966, the answer to that question came through loud and clear – no.
In the mid-1960s, Sinatra was trying to spark his career back up. It wasn’t really that necessary, as he was still hugely successful, but as counterculture was taking hold and youth culture was gaining more and more power, he was trying to expand to appeal to a new audience. Part of that involved starting a feud with The Beatles, but another part included doing more films.
Perhaps as he was currently dating Mia Farrow, one of the new darlings of countercultural cinema, he thought he could get involved too. Could Sinatra emulate his feuding foe Marlon Brando and dabble in the counterculture? No. Instead, he starred in a run of middling movies that only really made waves because of his name attached. But one picture did leave him in hot water south of the border.
Why was Frank Sinatra banned from Mexico? In 1965, Sinatra was cast as the lead in Marriage On The Rocks, a comedy that was basically just about divorce. In the film, Deborah Kerr’s character is married to Sinatra’s character, and the pair go on a second honeymoon to Mexico. While there, in a country depicted as one where marriage and divorce are as simple as getting take out food, they accidentally are legally divorced and then Kerr accidentally marries his best friend. Funny, right?!
Mexico was the butt of the joke all the way through the film. The depiction of the country is less than kind as one where morals are loose, the people are uneducated and marriage means nothing. So when the movie came out, higher-ups in the Mexican government weren’t happy.
Given Sinatra’s status, the punishment landed on him. In 1966, when Sinatra attempted to visit the country, he was barred. Denied access by the big bouncer on the border, he discovered that the nation had banned him and his movies.
At first, they didn’t give a reason, citing that the law doesn’t actually require them to provide one. But eventually, it came out that Marriage On The Rocks was to blame as authorities described it as “offensive” to national dignity.
It was an issue for Sinatra beyond blocking him from his holiday. One of the many other stories around the man’s finances suggested that he had financial ties in Acapulco, singing of it in ‘Come Fly with Me’ and potentially hiding some money there back in the Rat Pack party days. But now the bouncer wouldn’t let him in, or they wouldn’t for a year, until the ban was lifted in 1967.
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“I’d exempt “The Manchurian Candidate” from that characterization.”
Add “Ocean’s Eleven” and “Von Ryan’s Express”.
If you haven’t seen it: Four for Texas try that one out, Great cast and pretty funny.
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