''The Rat Pack'' is a 1998 American HBO made-for-television

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super- ...

about the

Rat Pack The Rat Pack was an informal group of entertainers, the second iteration of which ultimately made films and appeared together in Las Vegas casino venues. They originated in the late 1940s and early 1950s as a group of A-list show business frie ...

. The movie stars Ray Liotta as

Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Nicknamed the " Chairman of the Board" and later called "Ol' Blue Eyes", Sinatra was one of the most popular entertainers of the 1940s, 1950s, and ...

Joe Mantegna Joseph Anthony Mantegna (, ; born November 13, 1947) is an American actor. Mantegna began his career on stage in 1969 in the Chicago production of the musical ''Hair''. He earned a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play and a Joseph Jeff ...

Dean Martin Dean Martin (born Dino Paul Crocetti; June 7, 1917 – December 25, 1995) was an American singer, actor and comedian. One of the most popular and enduring American entertainers of the mid-20th century, Martin was nicknamed "The King of Cool". M ...

Don Cheadle Donald Frank Cheadle Jr. (; born November 29, 1964) is an American actor. He is the recipient of multiple accolades, including two Grammy Awards, a Tony Award, two Golden Globe Awards and two Screen Actors Guild Awards. He has also earned nom ...

as Sammy Davis, Jr., and Angus Macfadyen as

Peter Lawford Peter Sydney Ernest Lawford ( Aylen; 7 September 1923 – 24 December 1984) was an English-American actor.Obituary '' Variety'', 26 December 1984. He was a member of the " Rat Pack" and the brother-in-law of US president John F. Kennedy and se ...

. Despite his membership in the Pack,

Joey Bishop Joseph Abraham Gottlieb (February 3, 1918 – October 17, 2007), known professionally as Joey Bishop, was an American entertainer who appeared on television as early as 1948 and eventually starred in his own weekly comedy series playing a talk ...

(played by

Bobby Slayton Robert Michael Slayton (born May 25, 1955) is an American actor and stand-up comedian. Slayton is probably best known for a supporting role in the 2001 film ''Bandits'', and as a frequent guest on '' The Adam Carolla Show'' (2006-2009). Career Sl ...

) is given minimal screen time, while John F. Kennedy (played by

William L. Petersen William Louis Petersen (born February 21, 1953) is an American actor and producer. He is best known for his role as Gil Grissom in the CBS drama series '' CSI: Crime Scene Investigation'' (2000–2015), for which he won a Screen Actors Guild A ...

), depicted as an on-and-off friend of Sinatra's, is given a more central role. Also featured in supporting roles are

Željko Ivanek Željko Ivanek (né Šimić-Ivanek; ; ; born August 15, 1957) is an American actor, known for his role as Ray Fiske on '' Damages'', for which he won a Primetime Emmy Award. Ivanek is also known for his role of Ed Danvers on '' Homicide: Life on ...

as Bobby Kennedy,

Veronica Cartwright Veronica Cartwright (born April 20, 1949) is a British-American actress. She is known for appearing in science fiction and horror films, and has earned numerous accolades, including three Primetime Emmy Award nominations. As a child actress, sh ...

as Rocky Cooper (wife of

Gary Cooper Gary Cooper (born Frank James Cooper; May 7, 1901May 13, 1961) was an American actor known for his strong, quiet screen persona and understated acting style. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice and had a further three nominations, a ...

), Deborah Kara Unger as

Ava Gardner Ava Lavinia Gardner (December 24, 1922 – January 25, 1990) was an American actress. She first signed a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1941 and appeared mainly in small roles until she drew critics' attention in 1946 with her perform ...

, Megan Dodds as

May Britt May Britt (born May Britt Wilkens; 22 March 1934) is a Swedish actress who had a brief career in the 1950s in Italy and later in the United States. She was married to American entertainer Sammy Davis Jr. from 1960 to 1968. Career Britt was ...

Dan O'Herlihy Daniel Peter O'Herlihy (May 1, 1919 – February 17, 2005) was an Irish actor of film, television, and radio. With a distinguished appearance and rich, resonant speaking voice, O'Herlihy's best known-roles included his Oscar-nominated portraya ...

as Joseph Kennedy, Robert Miranda as

Sam Giancana Salvatore Mooney Giancana (; born Gilormo Giangana; ; May 24, 1908 – June 19, 1975) was an American mobster who was boss of the Chicago Outfit from 1957 to 1966. Giancana was born in Chicago to Italian immigrant parents. He joined the 4 ...

John Diehl John Henry Diehl (born May 1, 1950) is an American character actor. Noted for his work in avant-garde theater, Diehl has performed in more than 140 films and television shows, including ''Land of Plenty'', '' Stripes'', ''City Limits'', ''Nixon ...

Joe DiMaggio Joseph Paul DiMaggio (November 25, 1914 – March 8, 1999), nicknamed "Joltin' Joe", "The Yankee Clipper" and "Joe D.", was an American baseball center fielder who played his entire 13-year career in Major League Baseball for the New York Yank ...

and

Barbara Niven Barbara Lee Niven (née Bucholz; born February 26, 1953) is an American actress, writer and producer, best known for her performances in Hallmark and Lifetime movies, and for television roles in ''Pensacola: Wings of Gold'', ''One Life to Live'' ...

Marilyn Monroe Marilyn Monroe (; born Norma Jeane Mortenson; 1 June 1926 4 August 1962) was an American actress. Famous for playing comedic " blonde bombshell" characters, she became one of the most popular sex symbols of the 1950s and early 1960s, as wel ...

. Don Cheadle won a

Golden Globe The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of ...

for his performance as Sammy Davis Jr. ''The Rat Pack'' won three

Emmy The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

awards and earned several more nominations, including acting ones for Cheadle and Mantegna.

Plot

The main icon

discusses the movie's main narrative begins during high points in the solo careers of the Rat Pack:

was doing well without the help of the Rat Pack posy

Jerry Lewis Jerry Lewis (born Joseph Levitch; March 16, 1926 – August 20, 2017) was an American comedian, actor, singer, filmmaker and humanitarian. As his contributions to comedy and charity made him a global figure in popular culture, pop culture ...

; Sinatra's career never dwindled and was actually doing better than ever during this moment; Sammy Davis Jr., is recovering not only his career, but his health after a car crash in which he lost an eyeball, and standup comic

is attempting to get his foot in the door by doing opening comedy acts. The Pack merges into one whole unite with actor

, who has been ostracized since being caught in the public eye with Sinatra's ex-wife,

. Lawford has married Patricia Kennedy. Abandoning a notion to seduce Pat for his own amusement, Sinatra becomes more interested in her brother John F. Kennedy's political goals. He sincerely believes Jack Kennedy would be a great president, but he also feels having a close connection in the White House could majorly benefit his own public image. Sinatra arranges for the entire Pack to perform at a JFK campaign fund-raiser. Sinatra also knows Kennedy's infatuation with the opposite sex and introduces him to

, who begins seeing Kennedy behind the back of her husband, baseball star

. Kennedy's pompous father, Joseph P. Kennedy, feels Sinatra's mob ties might hurt Jack's chances of defeating

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...

in the election. He insists that Sinatra help the campaign from behind the scenes only; hypocritically, he also asks Sinatra to use those same mob ties to pursue

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the ...

unions' support Kennedy's way. They go on to combine their stage acts for joint performances. They even parlay their friendship into a movie collaboration, ''

Ocean's 11 ''Ocean's 11'' is a 1960 American heist film directed and produced by Lewis Milestone from a screenplay by Harry Brown and Charles Lederer, based on a story by George Clayton Johnson and Jack Golden Russell. The film stars five of the Rat Pack ...

'', working and playing together at the same time. Davis is sometimes secretly hurt by the racist jokes of their stage act, especially after his girlfriend, actress

, insinuates that the rest of the Pack is laughing at him, not with him. Davis has a more serious brush with racism when he and Britt announce their engagement, which results in a mixed-marriage protest in front of Davis's hotel. Davis day-dreams about scaring the protesters away with a song and dance routine in which he wields a gun. But he concedes the possible political repercussions of an interracial marriage. He postpones the wedding to avoid hurting Sinatra, who had agreed to serve as best man. In the White House, President Kennedy seeks to renew his friendship with Sinatra. The two go sailing and plan for Kennedy to stay at Sinatra's

Palm Springs Palm Springs (Cahuilla: ''Séc-he'') is a desert resort city in Riverside County, California, United States, within the Colorado Desert's Coachella Valley. The city covers approximately , making it the largest city in Riverside County by land ...

residence during an upcoming West Coast presidential trip. Thrilled by the idea, Sinatra returns home and arranges for a guest compound to be built for Kennedy and his entourage. However, the FBI finds a potential mafia link to the White House through a woman, Judy Campbell, who shared phone calls, and possibly affairs, with both Kennedy and mob boss Sam "Momo" Giancana after being introduced by Sinatra to each. Kennedy's brother, attorney general Robert F. Kennedy, insists that the President cancel his stay at Sinatra's house and cut off all ties to the entertainer. This enrages Sinatra, who had sunk a lot of money and time into the renovation and had been at least partially responsible for Kennedy's being elected president. Sinatra takes out his wrath on Lawford, who as Kennedy's brother-in-law was Sinatra's direct link to the White House. Lawford finds himself repeatedly serving as a messenger between Sinatra and the Kennedys, including JFK's secret dalliances with Monroe, and he is sick of it. Lawford dreads delivering the news of Kennedy's decision to cancel his visit to Sinatra's house and stay instead with

Bing Crosby Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, musician and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwide. He was a ...

, a Republican. A furious Sinatra physically throws Lawford out of his home and vows never to forgive him. The movie depicts this incident as the beginning of the end of the Rat Pack's influence in both politics and entertainment.

Cast

* Ray Liotta as

** Michael Dees as his singing voice *

Warren Wiebe Warren Wiebe (July 18, 1953 – October 25, 1998) was an American vocalist and session artist from San Diego. Career After playing bass with several bands, Warren Wiebe was discovered by David Foster and Burt Bacharach in Los Angeles in 1987 ...

as his singing voice *

as Sammy Davis Jr. ** Gunnar Madsen as his singing voice * Angus Macfadyen as

as John F. Kennedy *

as Robert F. Kennedy *

as Joseph Kennedy * Deborah Kara Unger as

* Megan Dodds as

as Rocky Cooper *

* Michelle Grace as Judy Campbell * Craig Richard Nelson as

Lewis Milestone Lewis Milestone (born Leib Milstein (Russian: Лейб Мильштейн); September 30, 1895 – September 25, 1980) was a Moldovan-American film director. He is known for directing '' Two Arabian Knights'' (1927) and ''All Quiet on the Weste ...

Reception

The film received mixed reviews from critics. On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

, it holds a rating of 57% from 30 reviews with the consensus: "While it evokes its time period with a keen sense of swagger, ''The Rat Pack'' is troubled by uneven lead performances and fairly routine biopic trappings."

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rat Pack, The 1998 television films 1998 films Films about Frank Sinatra Films directed by Rob Cohen Films set in California HBO Films films Original Film films Cultural depictions of John F. Kennedy Cultural depictions of Robert F. Kennedy Cultural depictions of Frank Sinatra Cultural depictions of Marilyn Monroe Cultural depictions of Joe DiMaggio Cultural depictions of Sammy Davis Jr. Cultural depictions of Sam Giancana Films set in the 1960s 1990s English-language films

Plot

Cast

Reception

See also

References

External links