Main Cast: Ray Liotta, Joe Mantegna, Don Cheadle, Angus MacFadyen, William L. Petersen
Release Year: 1998
Country: US
Run Time: 120 minutes
Plot
Shot in 33 days, this $9.6 million biographical drama of behind-the-scenes interactions within the Rat Pack group of Frank Sinatra (Ray Liotta), Dean Martin (Joe Mantegna), and Sammy Davis Jr. (Don Cheadle) is set against the political backdrop of the '60s, establishing links of singers, gangsters, actors, and politicans (sometimes brushing shoulders in the same rooms). The film also explores Sinatra's relationship with John F. Kennedy (William Peterson). Deciding to support Kennedy, Sinatra patches up his feud with Peter Lawford (Angus Macfadyen), since Lawford's wife, Pat (Phyllis Lyons) is JFK's sister -- and a Sinatra-Kennedy friendship soon follows. However, when Joe Kennedy (Dan O'Herlihy) decides Sinatra's nightclub, mob and commie connections are a no-no for JFK, the patriarch's interference angers Sinatra. Meanwhile, Sammy Davis Jr. enters into an interracial liaison with May Britt (Megan Dodds), and the dynamics of the situation are visualized in an imaginative musical fantasy sequence in which Davis sees himself singing and dancing for an unresponsive line of white supremacists. Broadway's Savion Glover stepped in with the film's choreography. Substitute singers featured the voice of Michael Dees for Sinatra and Mantegna duplicating Dino. Also covered here are the events that led to the filming of Ocean's Eleven (1960). For an actual Rat Pack stage performance, see The Rat Pack Captured (1965). Filmed in LA, the TV movie premiered August 22, 1998 on HBO. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
Review
Little more than a gossipy trip down memory lane, Rob Cohen's Rat Pack is elevated by its performers. Ray Liotta, Joe Mantegna, and Don Cheadle do fine work as, respectively, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Sammy Davis Jr. Mantegna, who also did the singing for his character, gets at the truth that was far different from Martin's public image. Cheadle communicates real stress and pain in the life of the continually harassed Davis, while also capturing the ease and joy of the performer on stage. Liotta cannot hope to capture the particular qualities of Sinatra that made him a star, almost no actor could, but he does provide a solid center for the film. The material about JFK, RFK, Ava Gardner, and Marilyn Monroe all plays like little more than an expensive episode of Behind the Music, but when these men (along with Angus MacFadyen as Peter Lawford and Bobby Slayton as Joey Bishop) are depicted together the film finds life. The cast should be applauded for capturing the rhythm of the performers they are portraying, even if they have not been given material worthy of those performances. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
Bobby Slayton - Joey Bishop; Zeljko Ivanek - Bobby Kennedy; Robert Miranda - Momo Giancana; Todd Susman - Hank; Tyrees Allen - George Jacobs; Peter Iacangelo - Johnny; Greg Lipari Sr. - Jimmy; Veronica Cartwright - Rocky Cooper; Megan Dodds - May Britt; Barbara Niven - Marilyn Monroe; John Diehl - Joe DiMaggio; Dan O'Herlihy - Joe Kennedy; Alan Woolf - Mickey Cohen; Joe Cortese - Johnny Roselli; Deborah Kara Unger - Ava Gardner; Dey Young - Jeanne Martin; Tom Dressen - Caesar's Comedian; Mary Cadorette - Betty; Lewis Saunders - Big John; Michelle Grace - Judy Campbell; Phyllis Lyons - Pat Lawford; Charles Walker - Jefferson; Michael T. Wright - Walter Winchell
Credit
Nancy Foy - Casting, Savion Glover - Choreography, Stokely Chaffin - Co-producer, Rob Cohen - Director, Eric Sears - Editor, Neal H. Moritz - Executive Producer, Mark Adler - Composer (Music Score), Marvin Westmore - Makeup, Hilda Stark Manos - Production Designer, Shane Hurlbut - Cinematographer, Fred Caruso - Producer, Felipe Borrero - Sound/Sound Designer, Kario Salem - Screenwriter
Don Cheadle won a Golden Globe for his performance as Sammy Davis, Jr.
Plot
The Rat Pack, including Frank Sinatra (Ray Liotta), Dean Martin (Joe Mantegna), and Sammy Davis Jr. (Don Cheadle) is set against the political backdrop of the 1960, establishing links of singers, gangsters, actors, and politicians (sometimes brushing shoulders in the same rooms). The film also explores Sinatra's relationship with presidential candidate John F. Kennedy (William Peterson). Deciding to support Kennedy, Sinatra patches up his feud with Peter Lawford (Angus Macfadyen), since Lawford's wife, Pat (Phyllis Lyons) is JFK's sister—and a Sinatra-Kennedy friendship soon follows. However, when family patriarch Joe Kennedy (Dan O'Herlihy) decides Sinatra's nightclub, mob and commie connections are a no-no for JFK, all of Sinatra's big plans for White House access are threatened.
