Official Trailer for 'Sammy Davis, Jr.: I've Gotta Be Me' Documentary

"Sammy Davis, Jr's whole life was about confronting obstacles." PBS has debuted an official trailer for the documentary Sammy Davis, Jr.: I've Gotta Be Me, a feature-length documentary about legendary Rat Pack member Sammy Davis, Jr. While this is premiering on TV in February, the film originally premiered at the Toronto Film Festival and a number of other film festivals last year, so we're happy to feature it anyway. Described as the "first major film documentary to examine Davis' vast talent and his journey for identity through the shifting tides of civil rights and racial progress during 20th-century America." The doc features interviews with Billy Crystal, Norman Lear, Jerry Lewis, Whoopi Goldberg, and Kim Novak, with never-before-seen photographs from Davis' personal collection, excerpts from his electric performances. The film "explores the life and art of a uniquely gifted entertainer whose trajectory blazed across the major flashpoints of American society from the Depression through the 1980s." Sounds like this is worth a watch.

Here's the official trailer for Samuel D. Pollard's doc Sammy Davis, Jr.: I've Gotta Be Me, on YouTube:

Sammy Davis, Jr. had the kind of career that was indisputably legendary, so vast and multi-faceted that it was dizzying in its scope and scale. And yet, his life was complex, complicated and contradictory. Davis strove to achieve the American Dream in a time of racial prejudice and shifting political territory. He was the veteran of increasingly outdated show business traditions trying to stay relevant; he frequently found himself bracketed by the bigotry of white America and the distaste of black America; he was the most public black figure to embrace Judaism, thereby yoking his identity to another persecuted minority. PBS' Sammy Davis, Jr.: I've Gotta Be Me is directed by doc filmmaker Samuel D. Pollard, a veteran producer / director behind the docs Two Trains Runnin', ACORN and the Firestorm, and Maynard previously. This premiered at the Toronto Film Festival last year, and also played at AFI Fest, DOC NYC, and other festivals. PBS will premiere the doc starting February 19th, 2019 coming up, part of the "American Masters" series.