The Rat Pack
by Rob Cohen
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Angus Macfadyen, Don Cheadle, Joe Mantegna, Ray Liotta, William PetersenDirector: Rob Cohen
Cinematographer: Shane Hurlbut
Editor: Eric A. Sears
Producer: Neal H. Moritz
Writer: Kario Salem
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; Spanish (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 120 minutes
DVD Release Date: 1998-12-22
Studio: Home Box Office (HBO)
Movie Reviews of The Rat Pack
Movie Review: Close but no cigar
Summary: 3 Stars
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.
Summary of The Rat Pack
They had ' 'the world on a string' '. Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., Peter Lawford and Joey Bishop, known as ' 'The Rat Pack' ' set the style and the pace for 1950's America as the nation roller coastered its way towards the swinging '60s. But can the high life last forever? If Frank and the boys have their way by electing John F. Kennedy, the party has only just begun.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
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