Popcorn Reviews With Cybèle: Pleasantville 

By Cybèle Elaine Werts  
CybeleW@aol.com

Popcorn Kernel Rating (four possible): Three Kernels for a film better than the hype might suggest.

One can’t help but notice the brouhaha in the last six months about the Rat Pack. An HBO movie, a book, CD’s reintroduced. I generally ignored it because as I see it, the so called "rat pack" of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr, Peter Lawler and Joey Bishop was just a bunch of self indulgent star mongers who lived for wine, women, and song. Let’s face it, to us of the 30-something era, Frank Sinatra is just another Vegas headliner singing love songs to middle class white folk in polyester pantsuits.

I was wrong though, about Sinatra and about the movie. Yes, the Rat Pack did live for martinis, easy sex, and packed auditoriums. But thanks to alpha rat Sinatra (Ray Liotta), they also got tangled up in Washington politics, organized crime, racism, and communism. This film wasn’t the mob crime flick I expected, but a story about Sinatra, whose unwavering loyalty to his friends brought them to fame and degradation. While Dean Martin (Joe Mantegna) and Sammy Davis Jr. (Don Cheadle) are just as talented, it was Sinatra’s crooning voice, seductive talk, and sometimes outrageous temper that invited trouble in to dinner.

Suggested Gustatory Accompaniment: A heaping plate of mostaciolli

Copyright 2000