Amazon.com essential video: 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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Rating: - 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 ... Read More
Rating: - 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.
Rating: - 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?
Rating: - 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.
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- Close but no cigar
- happy customer
- Henry Hill Does Frankie S.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
