The Rat Pack (1998)

Hey, chicky baby--it's a cuckoo thing, ya dig? You, too, will find yourself speaking Rat Pack lingo after watching this made-for-HBO biopic about that brief and shining moment when Camelot met Hoboken-on-the-Pacific. The film does a good job of capturing the heady, anything-goes feel of the late-1950s, early-1960s era when Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and their running buddies ruled Hollywood, Las Vegas, and, it seemed, the world. The story centers on Sinatra's relationship with John F. Kennedy (William F. Petersen) before and after he was elected president. It's not particularly flattering to either man, as Sinatra pimps Kennedy into a relationship with Judith Campbell, at the same time she was the favorite consort of mob boss Sam Giancana. Ray Liotta is a forceful Sinatra (though it's not much of an impression); Joe Mantegna has the look and the sound of the surprisingly sober Dean Martin; and Don Cheadle does a great job as the racially conflicted Sammy Davis Jr. Not great cinema but it's never less than engrossing. --Marshall Fine Amazon.com essential video

Close but no cigar

Last night I watched THE RAT PACK, starring Ray Liotta as Frank Sinatra, Joe Mantegna as Dean Martin and Don Cheadle as Sammy Davis, Jr. In some cases it seems they were going for physical resemblance, in others, vocal impressions and accents, and yet in others, merely hairstyles. In the case of Ray Liotta as Frank Sinatra, there doesn't seem to be much of any resemblance. Joe Mantegna looked too old for the Dean Martin of that time period. Don Cheadle as Sammy Davis was much too tall, but did a terrific job. William Peterson didn't look anything like JFK.

The portrait painted of Sinatra, Kennedy and others, is hardly flattering, regardless of the truth involved. In other cases (such as Dean Martin's isolation from the group or Peter Lawford's basically emasculated non-role other than as messenger boy between the Kennedys and Sinatra) is probably more accurate than any of the principles would like to have admitted. It's not a pretty picture, although it's marginally entertaining.

The producers obviously couldn't get (or afford) the rights to the original recordings of Sinatra, Davis or Martin, and the actors portraying those artists couldn't do their own vocals (with the exception of Angus MacFadyen as Peter Lawford), so ghost voices were hired, though they weren't given specific screen credit until the list of songs used on the soundtrack came up, which indicated the performers' names. In any event, they weren't particularly good. (The Dean Martin sound-alike missed notes on "Ain't That a Kick in the Head" that Martin would never have done.)

In all, I found it flawed but occasionally fun. And it filled in some blanks regarding the politics of that time.
October 26, 2008

happy customer

I am very pleased with my DVD. It came around the time they said it would and plays good. I am quite happy with it. December 29, 2007

This Movie Swings (in spite of itself)

This movie has several things about it that almost kill it.

I love the cast but...how do you have someone play Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin? Ray Liotta and Joe Mantegna are great actors but they're playing the Coolest King Giants of Vegas, Baby. Liotta still has that lethal edge from GOODFELLAS that he gives Sinatra a sinister presence he may or may not have had (temper, yes, but Liotta probably does violence a lot better than Frank could, sorry). And as much as I love Joe Mantegna, he fluctuates the amount of dashing Dino charm he can channel in his scenes.

Then there's the singing. Did one guy do all the singing? The Frank and Dean songs all kind of sound like one guy. I know the Sinatra family kept the filmmakers from using any original recordings but couldn't they have found any of the Vegas Rat Pack impersonators to crack at the songs?

(I saw an interview with the late Phil Hartman and he talked about how the Sinatra daughters threatened to withhold the rights to Frank for a Nestea commercial if they used Hartman to dub the voice, so I know they can be very sensitive about that kind of thing. The girls were offended at Hartman's take on Frank but I thought he was hilarious).

In spite of all this, I really enjoyed THE RAT PACK. Don Cheadle does an outstanding job as Sammy Davis Jr. while the rest of the cast is great. The script is fast-moving and covers a lot of ground, focusing on Frank's relationship with JFK but including Vegas shows, Hollywood deals, Mafia meetings, and FBI wiretaps. I could put the film in right now and watch it again--and I've seen it a half-dozen times.

The first time I saw it was one week after ABC aired a documentary about JFK and I was stunned that the doc backed up EVERYTHING in this movie. Not a lot of artistic license was played with the facts. None was needed.

In the mid-90s, some prelimenary announcements were made that Martin Scorsese was going to shoot a film version of Nick Tosches' great book about Dean Martin, DINO: LIVING HIGH IN THE DIRTY BUSINESS OF DREAMS. It was also announced that Tom Hanks would play Dino. A strange bit of casting but Hanks actually played Dean on a "Saturday Night Live" sketch and made it work (I thought so anyway). I'd also read that Hanks wanted to play the part so badly that he actually hosted a Christmas party completely in character as Dean. Dream casting notices appeared in the press that John Travolta would play Frank and Jim Carrey would be Jerry Lewis (Carrey's take on Jerry Lewis on "On Living Color" are classic).
And then nothing.
With all of those big names involved, the movie would cost more than TITANIC. As the DINO project fell apart, HBO shot and aired THE RAT PACK.

It's too bad. DINO sounded like an incredible movie.

Oh, well, at least we got something. And THE RAT PACK is a good movie. October 1, 2007

Henry Hill Does Frankie S.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This movie wasn't good, or even decent. It was just plain bad, ya dig? No you don't, you know why? Because this movie sucks eggs. Liotta was bad, so bad it wasn't even funny. It was seriously like Henry Hill was doing a bad Frankie impersonation. Good god, if you're feeling some bit nostalgia for the rat pack, please don't do them the disservice of watching this horrid thing. August 16, 2007

Sinatra's Beautiful voice

The Rat Pack is a movie about the love of glory and success, and the deceptions and pain that comes with it.
It tells the story of the Rat Pack, their success and problems in life and on the stage, the Untouchable Frank Sinatra and his climb to power through the mob and his political connection with The Kennedy's, his persistence and loyalty to his friends, his love to Eva Gardner and his deceptions in life.
A great entertaining movie with some good true history; perfect acting, with great sceneries from the 50' and the 60's not to mention the beautiful costumes and cars of that period.
The quality of the DVD is also perfect; no extra features unfortunately.
Recommended.
Note: After I watched this movie, I got involved in all Sinatra's music which I never was. Great music with a great voice.
February 5, 2007

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