TV Review : ‘Heart’ a Singing Valentine to Frank Sinatra

It strains credulity beyond the max but, if you’re in the mood, that’s part of what makes Sunday’s CBS movie, “Young at Heart,” with its special appearance by Frank Sinatra, a guilty pleasure.

Other reasons? This contrived Olympia Dukakis vehicle, co-executive produced by Tina Sinatra, not only features an appealing cast but also doubles as a song-filled valentine to Sinatra, punctuated throughout with irresistible snippets of recordings featuring the singer at his mellifluous best.

Dukakis plays Rosie, an Italian American grandma in Hoboken whose lifelong adoration of “Frankie Sinatra” helps her pick up the pieces after the death of her husband, Joe (Louis Zorich).

“Do it your way, Rosie,” a mysterious whisper keeps telling her--in Sinatra’s voice, of course. That advice enables her to open a restaurant, to set her unruly extended family to rights and to deal with the shock of learning that Joe gambled their house away to the Mob just before he died.

Before the happy ending and Sinatra’s walk-on, Rosie has stood up to the Mob, broken up the adulterous relationship between her cop son, Mike (Joe Penny), and his gorgeous mistress (Audrey Landers) and matched up said mistress with Mike’s pal, Vinnie (Tony Longo), a 300-pound Vietnam vet who resembles Curly of the Three Stooges and whose unintentionally comical flashbacks propel the plot.

In the process, writer (and co-executive producer) Judith Paige Mitchell offers viewers an almost endearing disregard for logic and plausibility and demonstrates touching faith in the power of fashion make-overs, a device used twice to influence errant menfolk.

Allan Arkush directed. With a straight face, one presumes.

* “Young at Heart” airs at 9 p.m. Sunday on CBS (Channels 2 and 8).