The Rat Pack (1998)

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

awesome!

I love, love, love this movie! I highly recommend it to any Rat Pack fan. The special features are horrible, though. I was hoping for better. August 10, 2006

More reviews at Amazon.com ...