Rat Pack - Da Hollywood a Washington

The Rat Pack Review

As my wife is a Sinatra fan, it was only a matter of time before I ended up seeing this. And since it was somehow only $4 at Wal-Mart, you can bet that matter of time just happened. Ray Liotta, Don Cheadle, and Joe Mantenga star in this film, portraying their counterparts (Sinatra, Davis Jr., & Dean Martin respectively) rather convincingly.

This film is not so much about the Rat Pack as it is about Sinatra and the help he offered to get John F. Kennedy elected as President of the United States. JFK is portrayed by none other than Gil Grissom from CSI. At any rate, the rest of the Rat Pack is only lightly touched upon as Sinatra is followed around almost constantly. But then, what do you expect? He practically owned the other guys.

Here's the breakdown:

The Good:

--The acting is superb, Liotta is a mind-blowingly convincing Sinatra.

--Good story and nice focus on character development.

--Based on actual events, always makes for a good movie. Complex story.

--For a lot of people, this music will be right up their alley. Not my taste, personally, but not bad stuff. If you like it, you'll love it here.

--Generally good cinematography and atmosphere.

Didn't Hurt It, Didn't Help:

--The music appears to be lip-synched from actual performers rather than our actors. I haven't yet double-checked whether or not this is so, but it didn't hurt anything.

--Only mild violence, mostly culled from Sinatra's attitude.

--A lot of focus on Sinatra helping get Kennedy elected and the consequences of his doing so in his life and in relation to the attack against Mobsters.

--The opening seemed a little needless, and the conclusion never again revisited it.

The Bad:

--A bit too much character development just on Sinatra, quite a bit on his relationships that get him involved with the Kennedy's, and some focus on Sammy Davis, Jr. Everyone else, however, is hardly touched upon. Might as well have been titled the "Sinatra Pack." And yes, I am aware of how big a role he played in everything, I just think we could've gotten to know the other guys a bit more.

--With all the women out there that can so perfectly reflect Marilyn Monroe, why did they settle with the woman they picked here?? She's about the only real disappointment.

The Ugly:

--One would be quite surprised at the level of racism Sammy Davis Jr. had to endure for his position.

Memorable Scene:

--Whenever you see those less-than-respectable bits of JFK. No wonder he was on his way to impeachment before his assassination.

--When Nixon was referred to as "Hip."

Fun Fact:

--Don Cheadle stars in this as Sammy Davis Jr. who eventually stars in "Ocean's 11." Don Cheadle also had a role in the remake of "Ocean's 11."

Acting: 9/10 Story: 8/10 Atmosphere: 8/10 Cinematography: 8/10 Character Development: 8/10 Special Effects/Make-up: 0/10 Nudity/Sexuality: 3/10 Violence: 3/10 Gore: 0/10 Dialog: 9/10 Music: 9/10 (The Rat Pack's tunes, mostly) Direction: 9/10

Cheesiness: 1/10 Crappiness: 0/10

Overall: 8/10

Overall, this is a pretty solid film, but not without it's missteps. It has a pretty wide-ranging story set in the late 50's and 1960 mostly. A decent drama for the rest of us, helped along by its factual history, and a piece any Sinatra fan will likely love to have. Recommended.

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I enjoyed watching it quite a bit. Best actor there-Don Cheadle, was prob the most miscast though it was fun to watch him play Sammy. Deano was done alright by Montengna, while Lawford was shown to be a real wuss. Joey Bishop well he was just a cameo so who can say? Now Sinatra-Liotta has the attitude and manner down, but sure doesn't look like him. He's also over 6 foot while Ol' Blue Eyes was 5-9 maybe and skinny. But as Sinatra, Liotta wasn't a bad choice.

You get a crash course in familiar faces/big names here: Sam Giancana, JFK, Joseph Kennedy, RFK, Marilyn, Joltin Joe, Johnny Rosselli, Ava Gardner, hmmmmm I am sure I'm leaving someone out but you get the idea. All this and some Hoover eavesdropping too! You even have allusions to J. Edgar and that infamous blackmail pic of him and Clyde Tolson, Mickey Cohen, a ludicrous scene of Sinatra trying to phone Nixon to concede the election(!) and of course, Dan O'Herlihy(from Robocop etc etc) running everything too. And yes the Klan shows. O and don't forget May Britt...Oh the buying of West Virgina primary votes and the Chicago votes by the mob too. That we all heard of as well.

So was this any good?! Sure. Did I buy into it? Well...mostly. I got a kick outta Sinatra's tantrum when he found out that BING of all people was getting to host JFK instead of himself in California, and he starts to bash apart the half-finished additions to his Palm Springs mansion. Quite funny.

The woman playing Ava was beautiful though Marilyn wasn't so convincing. Judith Campbell/Exner well that came off okay. Momo was shown w/ Rosselli tossing around the idea of 'whacking Frank', which hadda be a twist on things if ever there was one. This I did actually buy.

Overall you will enjoy it though it did need some more of JFK's time in office, the CSI guy as JFK was a hoot. I liked their sailing scene together him and Sinatra.

You won't go wrong with this if you just sit back and take it with a grain of salt.

*** outta ****

Y'know, I really liked this film which recalls a year or two in the life of the Rat Pack, but I can't tell you why. I've watched the DVD four times in the last three days.

On the one hand, it is just a rehashing of some old cliches and an extended display of celebrity impersonations. (When Sinatra performs, for example, it is Ray Liotta's body and the voice of a fellow named Michael Dees)

Forget about the rest of the players ... they do OK, but this anonymous guy named Michael Dees is the real star ... a flawless recreation of Sinatra's phrasing on the Kennedy campaign song, the best-ever rendition of "One More for the Road", and more. This guy is so good it is eerie.

I guess what I liked about the movie is that it was just so much damned fun to live in those days again for a couple of hours. The movie did a decent job of showing what it was like to be hung up in the ring-a-ding, koo-koo life of the guys who had "the world on a string" for a couple of decades.

Forget the deep insights. There aren't any but, as Dino said, "you can't share your deepest feelings when you don't have any". The film did make an effort to show Sammy's inner conflict between his own sense of self-worth and the second class citizenship he was accorded by his country and even his buddies, but it was a clumsy attempt to be serious, like a drunken guy telling you how much he loves you, and frankly it provided some of the slowest moments in the movie.

But you'll marvel again at Dino's centered calm, Sammy's dazzling talent, Frank's complex and godlike power, JFK's charisma, and Frank's incomparable phrasing of a song ... even when it's actually sung by Michael Dees.

Most of us of a certain age will remember the events in this movie as newspaper headlines. I have no idea how much fictionalisation there is but the film does capture the mood of the time and the sleazy blend of Las Vegas show business, gangsterism and American politics. There is no attempt to get look alikes for the main roles but their personalities are suggested rather cleverly. In the smaller roles I thought Dan O'Herlihy was a standout as the evil, conniving Joe Kennedy. The musical numbers are well integrated into the plot and nicely done.

The HBO movie, "The Rat Pack" chronicles the high-living times of the famous Rat Pack (Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., and Peter Lawford) during the years 1958-1962. Supposedly based on fact, the story centers on the collision of personalities between the Rat Pack's leader, Frank Sinatra, and the Kennedy clan. In the story, Frank Sinatra so admires Senator Jack Kennedy that he'll do anything to help him be elected President. When it involves the dirty and unethical dealings of Joe Sr., Frank's reluctant, but game. Frank manipulates friends, brings in the Mafiosi, dumps on the downtrodden. So when Kennedy is elected what's Frank get? The shaft.

How much of the story is true? Who knows? But it does make for good entertainment, bringing along Marilyn Monroe, Bobby Kennedy, Joe DiMaggio and other period luminaries. The story is moved along by some excellent acting especially Don Cheadle as the tortured Sammy Davis Jr, Ray Liotta as Frank Sinatra and Joe Montegna as Dean Martin. It may twist the truth, but it's decent entertainment.