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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.
Sinatra made several pictures in the late 60s early 70s that were not particularly very good. The one that stands out to me was one he did about 1970 or so called Dirty Dingus McGee. It was absolutely horrible..
The writer is not at all talented. The Mamas and Papas were The Mamas and the Papas. The stories ranged from not rang from. And misspelling famaous. I’m not an editor and I think that would be the only good reason to bother with the article.
Did Frank mess with some Mexican officials wife?
Andeerson Cooper’s mother was Gloria Vanderbilt. She had an affair with Frank Sinatra, thought he was great, but he couldn’t stay with any woman more than two weeks.
This was written in the very interesting book by Cooper, “The Rainbow Comes and Goes.” Anderson’’s younger brother came rusing into their 18th floor condo inn NYC and jumped off right in front of his mother. Friend who knew her said she cried every day for more than two years.
She also dated Gordon Parks, Marlon Brando, Howard Hughes, and Roald Dahl, so she had bad taste in men. But which one abused her sons?
He won an Academy Award for his role in “From Here to Eternity”.
Mexico was jealous because of his hit Chicago. Instead of singing “Each time I roam, Chicago is calling me home,” if he had just sang “Each time I roam, Nezahualcóyotl is calling me home,” everything would have been fine.
“”””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.””””
When America knew the real Mexico, before the colonization of America started and before the media and politicians started creating a mythological Mexico as the bastion of Christian faith and conservative family values and the home of hard working, highly skilled people living largely crime free.
Actually, they were "The Mamas & The Papas".
The writing is, indeed, poor.
“higher-ups in the Mexican government weren’t happy.”
The cartels are oddly sensitive at times.
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