The Rat Pack

Day 83 - 3/24/09 - Movie # 80

BEFORE: I'll continue "Dark Side of Fame" week with this HBO-produced bio about Frank Sinatra and friends in the early 1960's.

THE PLOT: Controversial account of the exploits of the Rat Pack (Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford, and Joey Bishop). The film focuses on their ties to organized crime, to the Kennedy clan, and on their often turbulent personal lives.

AFTER: Like the Peter Sellers biopic, this film's success hinges greatly on the casting. Ray Liotta as Sinatra and Joe Mantegna as Dean Martin are solid - but Don Cheadle is simply brilliant as Sammy Davis Jr. And William "CSI" Petersen as JFK? Inspired! The movie does a good job of portraying the political climate around the 1960 presidential election - civil rights, the mob, and JFK's affairs.

RATING: 7 out of 10 cocktails