HBO’s The Rat Pack

by Lara on March 6th, 2008

I haven’t seen HBO’s The Rat Pack yet, as I grew up a child/teenager without the luxury of paid premium channels. Heck, I still don’t have them, and the boyfriend’s got the HBO’s for the first 6 months free deal, but after that, he’s canceling. Anyway, it sounds really good, and I’m thinking I might have to snag myself an early birthday present… to myself. ;)

Love this cheesy editorial review:

“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”